Armored Fighting Vehicles of World War II

Product Spotlight: Up the Boot

Armored Fighting Vehicles of World War II 1:43 scale US M18 Hellcat Light Tank Destroyer – “Black Cat”, 805th Tank Destroyer Battalion, 5th Armored Division, Italy, 1944

The tank destroyer battalion was a type of military unit used by the United States Army during World War II. The unit was organized in one of two different forms – a towed battalion equipped with anti-tank guns, or a mechanized battalion equipped with armored self-propelled guns. The tank destroyer units were formed in response to the German use of massed formations of armored vehicles units early in WWII. The tank destroyer concept envisioned the battalions acting as independent units that would respond at high speed to large enemy tank attacks. In this role, they would be attached in groups or brigades to corps or armies. In practice, they were usually individually attached to infantry divisions. Over one hundred battalions were formed, of which more than half saw combat service. The force was disbanded shortly after the end of the war when the concept had been shown to be militarily unsound.

One such unit was the 805th Tank Destroyer Battalion. The 805th was formed from the 105th Anti-tank Battalion on December 15th, 1941, in line with the reorganization of the anti-tank force. It was shipped to the United Kingdom in August 1942, and then deployed for the North African Campaign in January 1943, equipped with M3 GMC tank destroyers. It was attached briefly to the 34th Infantry Division, then attached to the 1st Armored Division on February 20th, just in time to see action at the Battle of the Kasserine Pass, where it took heavy losses. On March 23rd, equipped with the new M10 tank destroyer, it fought at the Battle of El Guettar.

In October 1943, it converted to a towed battalion equipped with 3″ anti-tank guns, and was shipped to Italy, arriving in the Naples area on October 25th – the first 3″ towed battalion to see combat. It was attached to the 34th Infantry Division in January 1944, and supported the division in fighting on the Bernhardt Line and at Monte Cassino, before being shipped to the Anzio beachhead in mid-March and attached to the 36th Infantry Division. In June, it was attached to the 1st Armored Division.

It re-equipped with M18 Hellcats in the summer of 1944, but continue to be used mainly for indirect-fire missions through the remainder of the war, attached to a variety of different units during the drive north. On April 21st, 1945, they were attached to the 34th Infantry Division when it captured Bologna, and with the 88th Infantry Division when it reached the Brenner Pass in early May.

The second batch of six Armored Fighting Vehicles of World War II, which includes the Hellcat shown here, are now in stock and ready for immediate shipment. And if you’re looking to retake Italy from the Nazis, you may want to deploy this combat vehicle to the front lines.

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Father’s Day is Fast Approaching

Even though we haven’t as yet actually received our latest Panzerkampf and AFV shipment, we are going to mark them as received so that we can begin processing these orders ahead of their imminent receipt. As always, we would appreciate it if you do not contact us regarding any pre-orders you may have placed with us since responding tends to slow us down and prevents us from addressing each order with proper care. We will do our due diligence and process each order as expeditiously as possible but bear in mind that issues such as invalid credit card authorizations or splitting up orders periodically pops up and leads to added delays. We will do our best to get out all of the orders before Father’s Day but we are making no assurances that said orders will actually be received prior to June 19th.

Incidentally, there was a change to one of the AFVs that are in the latest batch of arrivals. AFV009 is actually a US built and operated M18 Hellcat and not the supposed French M10 we had originally listed as being inbound. Frankly, the US vehicle is a better fit for many of our customers who may prefer to collect US built and operated vehicles as opposed to those tanks that were operated by some of our allies during the Second World War. We can only assume that the M10 will come out at a later date.

Update: We were informed this morning, June 13th, that our shipment is leaving Nevada today. Originally, it was scheduled to leave last Friday, which would have meant it would reach us here in New York by mid week. So, it would appear as if this shipment will likely arrive at our facility by the end of this week, which means that any orders intended as Father’s Day gifts will not make it for the holiday. That said, we also know a great many of you placed orders for these items without concern for the holiday, so a few more days of waiting may not be crucial. If it is, please contact us and we will cancel your order. Because of the delay, we have decided to hold off processing these orders until later this week. Furthermore, this year, most of the major carriers are closed for Juneteenth, so the soonest we can start shipping out orders is Tuesday is the 21st. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but things often change on a daily basis despite our best efforts to make them go as smoothly as possible.

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The ABCs of AFVs

AFVs 1:43 scale US M26 Pershing Heavy Tank – 2nd Armored Division, Cologne, Germany, April 1945

Finally some good news in regard to the Armored Fighting Vehicles of World War II line. Word has reached us that the next six vehicles are due to hit our distributor’s warehouse by Friday so we should be receiving our order by the close of next week. Moreover, the next nine vehicles in the range are well on their way towards being completed and should be available by the end of the summer. As we have noted previously, we will be relocating our business around the same time as the vehicles arrive in the US, so we’ve listed them as September arrivals. All nine vehicles have been listed in the AFV section and are available for pre-order. Lastly, it would appear as if the manufacturer is finally back on track getting this series up to speed, so we are hoping that another six vehicles will arrive by Thanksgiving, possibly earlier if things go smoothly in the supply chain.

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Panzer Greift An

Armored Fighting Vehicles of World War II French Char 2C Super Heavy Tank – “Alsace”, 51e Bataillon de Chars de Combat, France, 1939

In 1937, Erwin Rommel wrote and published his seminal military treatise Infanterie Greift An (Infantry Attacks), which caught the attention of both the German General staff as well as the Fuhrer, Adolf Hitler. Rommel intended to publish a companion piece entitled Panzer Greift An (Armor Attacks), but was both caught up in his exploits during the second world war as well as his supposed complicity in the plot to kill Hitler.

Fortunately, we are in a different position. After a strong start with the first six vehicles released in 2021, the publisher of the highly successful Armored Fighting Vehicles of World War II series has asked us to pick out no less than 16 new introductions, all of which will be out at varying intervals in 2022. The next batch will include several soft-skinned military vehicles, transports and, as the name implies, a bevy of tanks from all the world’s armies that fought in World War II, both in the ETO as well as the PTO. A number of highly requested vehicles made the cut, including the massive French Char 2C super heavy tank seen here. We will post updates to our web site as soon as we have more solid information to work from. If you previously placed a pre-order for the Char 2C, then we will apply your order to this vehicle and honor the price quoted. Otherwise, each vehicle in this series has been priced at $39.99 apiece.

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AFVs of World War II Advance!

AFV British Valentine Mk. III Infantry Tank – 8th Royal Tank Regiment, 7th Armoured Brigade, Libya, November 1941

The Armored Fighting Vehicles of World War II line is back on track, now that the holiday season is fast coming to an end and production has resumed in Asia. We’ve done some shuffling around and the next six vehicles in the range are currently up on our site and available for pre-order. Currently, the next batch of vehicles are slated to arrive in the May/June time frame, although this could slip if issues related to the global supply chain have not been remedied. Moreover, there has been a slight bump up in the price to $39.99. Still, considering their weight, size, features and overall appearance, the line represents great value. When compared with Corgi’s smaller 1:72 scale vehicles now selling for $74.99 or Forces of Valor’s 1:32 scale series pegged at $89.99-$129.99, the AFV series speaks for itself and offers many vehicles that are simply not available elsewhere from any manufacturer.

One final note. If you pre-ordered any of these items at $34.99 we will still honor this price once your order is ready to be shipped. Any future orders will, however, be set at the revised price of $39.99. Our original goal was to release six vehicles every sixty days. Obviously both the pandemic and disruption in the world wide logistical network has altered things somewhat.

In a related announcement, we will soon be unveiling an all-new series dubbed Warships of World War II. Imagination notwithstanding, this new series offers up a wide assortment of diecast preassembled battleships and aircraft carriers that sailed the seven seas during the second world war. Each is scaled at 1:1250 and five warships have made the initial cut with more due to put into port in the coming year. Enjoy!

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Introducing the AFVs of WWII at a Break the Bank Price!

AFV’s of WWII 1:43 scale German Sd. Kfz. 186 Jagdpanzer VI Jagdtiger Heavy Tank Destroyer with Henschel Turret – “211”, schwere Panzerjager Abteilung 512, Germany, 1945

Even though they are well behind schedule, our distributor claims that the first four vehicles in the AFVs of WWII series are still pegged for a March release. We’re pretty jazzed about this lineup, largely because there aren’t very many high quality 1:43 scale military vehicles on the market today, particularly when it comes to armored fighting vehicles. To help communicate our enthusiasm, and hopefully get you to order more of the vehicles when they finally roll in at a more predictable rate, we’ve decided to lower the price of the Jagdtiger heavy tank destroyer (#AFV00004) to just $24.99, a whopping $10 off the regular price for each of the other vehicles in the series. Frankly, that’s a huge savings and brings the item well below the price of some of the smaller 1:72 scale vehicles we also offer. Heck, you can buy several and give one to a friend at that price!

Our hope is that once you see the detail, heft and fabulous affordability of the range, that you’ll want to collect more, provided, of course, you are willing to wait for the entire series to make it to market. If you’ve already pre-ordered this particular vehicle then we will adjust your invoice to reflect this introductory price once the vehicles start to ship out. If you haven’t, well then you’re getting in on the ground floor of one of the most highly sought after series released in recent memory. These are incredible finds and certainly well worth your time collecting. Panzers vor!

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