The grenade in this GI's hand is one of the most recognizable weapons of the war — the Mk 2 "pineapple," its cast-iron body cut into a grid of squares. Almost everyone assumes those grooves were there to break the casing into neat fragments; in fact they were mostly for grip and ease of casting, and the body actually shattered unpredictably. What mattered was the four-to-five-second fuze. Throw too soon and a quick enemy could scoop it up and hurl it back, so experienced soldiers "cooked" the grenade — releasing the safety lever and counting a beat or two before letting go, so it burst before it could be returned. It was a nerve-steadying trick, and a dangerous one.

The rifleman drops to one knee, M1 Garand gripped in his left hand, and cocks his right arm back to throw — caught in the instant before release, the pose that carries a squad's assault forward. He completes the collection's close-combat line: the Standing Rifleman and Kneeling Rifleman putting down covering fire, and the Tommy-Gunner rushing in behind the blast. Grenade range is knife-fighting range, so a diorama built around this figure — men closing on a bunker or a treeline — carries real tension.

Model: BBA096 / King & Country / 1/30 (60mm) scale / matte finish / 1 piece set