The soldier's world in battle was small and uncertain. Clausewitz called it friction, and later writers "the fog of war" — the state of ignorance in which men fight, unsure of the enemy's strength or position and often of their own comrades'. A rifleman advancing across unfamiliar ground rarely had the god's-eye view of the map table; he had a hedgerow, a corner, a treeline, and no way to know what waited behind it. Ambush, a hidden machine gun, or fire from his own side were all live possibilities. Speed could carry an attack, but the man out front learned to move deliberately — weapon up, eyes working, one careful step at a time.

The figure edges forward in a low crouch, M1 Garand leveled with the bayonet fixed, in khaki and a netted helmet. He is the point of a wary advance diorama: send the Company Officer Looking Around the Corner and the NCO Crouching with Thompson forward with him, with the Infantryman Running bounding to the next cover.

W. Britain model 25187. 1/30 scale (approximately 60mm), matte-painted metal. Single foot figure on a sculpted groundwork base. Boxed.