For all Germany's reputation for advanced weaponry, the ordinary German soldier fought the whole war with a bolt-action rifle. The Karabiner 98k, a shortened Mauser little changed from the one his father carried in 1918, was accurate, robust, and reliable — and it had to be worked by hand between every shot. Across the line the American infantryman answered with the semi-automatic Garand, and a U.S. squad could simply put more lead in the air. The wonder weapons — the StG 44, the MG 42 — grabbed the headlines, but they never came close to replacing the 98k, and the great mass of German riflemen carried this Mauser from the first day of the war to the last.

The figure kneels to fire in a white winter parka pulled over his field grey, steel helmet low against the snow. Set him in a winter firing line beside the squad's automatic firepower, the Grenadier Firing StG 44, and the Grenadier Standing Firing 98k — trading fire across the snow with the U.S. Infantryman Firing M1 Garand.

W. Britain model 25115. 1/30 scale (approximately 60mm), matte-painted metal. Single kneeling foot figure on a sculpted groundwork base. Boxed.