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1st Armored Division Sergeant - Tunisia 1943
Sergeant
1st Platoon
Fox Company
2nd Battalion
Combat Command B
1st Armored Regiment
1st Armored Division
Sidi Bou Zid : 15 February, 1943:
Day two of Rommel ' s Unternehmen Frühlingswind (Operation Spring Wind) finds the remnants of Combat Command A of the 1st Armored Division and two battalions of the 168th infantry regiment of the 34th Infantry Division retreating and badly bloodied by two Panzer divisions, the 10th and 21st, as they punch through Faïd Pass. In an attempt to stabilize the rapidly degrading front in the face of what is assumed to be a diversionary attack and countermanded at every turn by II Corps commander Major General Lloyd Fredendall, Major General Orlando Ward is finally able to authorize 2/1st Armored Regiment from Combat Command B of the 1st Armored Division to move towards the Sidi Bou Zid area in preparation for a counterattack.
Jumping off just after midday, the Sherman tanks of Lieutenant Colonel James Alger ' s 2/1st Armored sallied forth in a V formation in what can only be described as a cavalry charge into a prepared anti-tank gun screen with supporting tanks from two Panzer divisions. What followed must have been a spectacularly horrific sight to behold: a modern-day Charge of the Light Brigade culminating in Custer ' s last stand. Lacking desert warfare training, the fast charging Shermans kicked up an immense cloud of dust, allowing the Germans to zero in tank and anti-tank guns of every caliber on the advancing battalion. The dust from the charge also blinded all but the front ranks of Shermans, preventing the subsequent ranks from taking effective evasive maneuvers once they saw the front ranks ablaze. With the anti-tank screen trap sprung, Panzers moved in on the flanks to finish off the remaining Shermans. Four 2/1st Armored Shermans survived the day, leaving 48 destroyed on the battlefield while the remaining US forces in the area began to withdraw towards Kasserine Pass.
The figure is based off of the 1st Armored Division buck sergeant in Mike Chappell ' s color plate B, figure three in Osprey ' s Men-at-Arms No. 347: The US Army in World War II (2): The Mediterranean title:
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