One cartridge fed almost the entire American squad, and that was no accident. The .30-06 Springfield round — designed back in 1906, as its name records — was the common thread running through the U.S. infantry's firepower: the rifleman's M1 Garand fired it, and so did the BAR gunner's automatic rifle, the sniper's Springfield, and the belt-fed Browning machine guns supporting them. It meant a single kind of ammunition could resupply riflemen, automatic riflemen and machine gunners alike — a quiet logistical elegance that kept a squad in the fight when the shooting was heaviest. Powerful and long-ranged, the .30-06 gave American infantry reach and hitting power from the smallest weapon to the largest.

The rifleman moves forward at a wary crouch, M1 Garand held ready across his body, field pack on his back and net-covered helmet — the ordinary infantryman who made up the bulk of the squad. He shares his .30-06 with the men beside him: link him to the BAR Gunner and the Sniper, whose very different weapons all eat the same round, and to the advancing riflemen of Hitting the Beach. Strung out in a cautious advance across a Normandy field or hedgerow, riflemen like this are the connective tissue of any D-Day diorama — the many, moving forward.

Model: DD400 / King & Country / 1/30 (60mm) scale / matte finish / 1 piece set