Patriots had been fighting the Germans ever since the fall of France. Hundreds of small groups were constantly sabotaging rail lines, demolishing German supply depots and sending invaluable information to the Allies. A small movement at first, it grew to over 100,000 members by D-Day. In true cloak-and-dagger fashion, these brave men and women risked torture and death to get…
The 17 year old French resistance fighter known as “Nicole Minet” was a farm girl when the war broke out. A few years later in 1943 she joined the Franc Tireur Partisan Français (which translates to “free shooters”), which was named after the saboteurs who fought the Germans during the Franco-Prussian War. The resistance was…
Carentan was a small town of about 4,000 people. It also happened to be right next to the N-13 highway as well as the Cherbourg-Paris railroad, and sat in between Utah and Omaha beaches. Soon after the invasion of Normandy, this sleepy French port town would become a critical objective. The day after D-Day, Omaha and Utah beaches had…
Major Howard was in command of the 2nd Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry, which would spearhead the assault into German occupied France. Howard had risen through the ranks and had earned the respect of his men along the way, eventually taking command of D company. The need for an airborne assault rose very quickly in…
Originally designed as a troop support tank, its role was to be reconfigured with the need to replace the Panzer III, after facing the Soviet T-34. The Panzer IV was rolled out as Germany’s primary battle tank. The most widely produced German tank of WW2, the Panzer IV was used as the template for many…
Decorated World War II veteran Paul Andert, consultant on the imminent Hollywood movie ‘Fury’, shares some genuine stories about the realities of war. With the forthcoming release of our ‘Armoured Fury’ Tank War Starter Set later this month, and with the October release of the movie ‘Fury’ – which chronicles the experiences of a US…
History It is said that knowing is half the battle – and in war that responsibility falls on the reconnaissance units. During World War II if British Armoured formations needed to gather information quickly they could turn to the Cromwell cruiser tank as an alternative to armoured cars for recce duty. A reliable mix of…
As German engineering churned-out ever more advanced war machines – bigger tanks with more powerful guns and thicker sloped armour – the British facing the big cats needed to continuously develop weapons to counter them. From the sands of the Desert campaign to the hedgerows of Normandy, British forces were accompanied to battle by a…
With the Tiger I tank being the king of the battlefield, and the Tiger II being the god of it by the end of the war, the Panther tank was by far the shining champion of the German Armoured Forces of World War 2. Introduced in 1943, the Panther tank was Germany’s counter to Russia’s…
History The Panther was the main battle tank of the German army and was one of the best all round tanks of the war. Sharing the same engine of the larger Tigers, the Panther was lighter, meaning it had greater manoeuvrability and speed. The sloped frontal armour gave it more protection from head on assaults,…
Rich Dando