A machine gun that stays put gets found and killed. The German MG42, with its buzzsaw rate of fire and a barrel a crew could swap in seconds, set the standard, and it taught every side the same lesson — fire in short bursts, then move before the enemy pins the position. The Americans reached for that portability with the M1919A6, an M1919 fitted with a buttstock, bipod, and carrying handle so a crew could work it like a light machine gun. It was heavier and slower to re-barrel than the German gun, which made "displacing" — picking up and relocating under fire — punishing work, and exactly the work that kept a crew alive.

The set shows that moment of movement: one trooper hefting the M1919A6 by its handle, the other lugging the ammo cans, both at a run in jump uniforms and netted helmets on separate groundwork bases. Pair them with the "Suppressing Fire" M1919 Team as the gun they're shifting between positions, cover the move with the 101st Airborne Advancing with BAR, and set the action under Capt. Dick Winters in a squad-in-action diorama.

W. Britain model 25238. 1/30 scale (approximately 60mm), matte-painted metal. Two-figure gun crew with an M1919A6 machine gun, on separate sculpted groundwork bases. Boxed.