The weapon this grenadier is firing changed infantry combat forever. The StG 44 — Sturmgewehr, "assault rifle" — was the first of its kind: a selective-fire weapon built around a new intermediate cartridge, shorter and lighter than a full rifle round, that let a single soldier deliver controllable automatic fire out to the ranges where infantry actually fought. It bridged the gap between the bolt-action rifle and the submachine gun, and every assault rifle since, from the AK-47 to the M16, descends from the idea. But it arrived late, in 1943-44, and never in the numbers to matter; German industry, hammered from the air, could not build enough to rearm the army.

The figure kneels to fire in a reversible winter parka worn white-side out over field grey, steel helmet low, StG magazine pouches at his belt. Group him in a winter defensive line with fellow parka grenadiers — the Grenadier Pointing with StG 44 and the Grenadier Firing 98k in White Parka — laying fire across the snow at the advancing U.S. Infantryman Firing M1 Garand.

W. Britain model 25114. 1/30 scale (approximately 60mm), matte-painted metal. Single kneeling foot figure on a sculpted groundwork base. Boxed.