{"product_id":"the-m5a1-stuart-bocage-buster","title":"The M5A1 STUART Bocage Buster","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe hedgerows almost stopped the invasion. Inland from the Normandy beaches lay the bocage — a centuries-old patchwork of small fields walled by dense hedges grown atop earthen banks, some thick enough to halt a tank. A vehicle that tried to climb over reared up and bared its thin belly armour to German guns; one that stayed on the road drove into a killing zone. The answer was improvised in the field: Sergeant Curtis Culin welded steel prongs — cut from German beach obstacles — to the front of a tank so it could punch straight through a hedge bank at ground level. Tanks fitted with them were nicknamed \"Rhinos,\" and they broke the deadlock.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThis King \u0026amp; Country model — the fourth and finest of their Stuarts — is the M5A1 light tank \"Sloppy Joe,\" a quartet of those hedgerow-cutting forks welded to its lower bow and a tank commander up in the open turret glassing the ground ahead. Armed with a 37mm gun and .30 calibre machine guns, the M5A1 was a scout and infantry-support tank used by both the U.S. and British armies — the British called theirs the \"Honey\" — and armour like it nosed ahead of the foot soldiers through the lanes beyond the beaches. Set it with the infantry it shepherded, the \u003ca href=\"\/products\/gold-beach-advancing-rifleman\"\u003eGold Beach Advancing Rifleman\u003c\/a\u003e and \u003ca href=\"\/products\/gold-beach-bren-gunner\"\u003eBren Gunner\u003c\/a\u003e, under the campaign's commander \u003ca href=\"\/products\/monty-in-normandy\"\u003eField Marshal Montgomery in Normandy\u003c\/a\u003e. A Stuart bursting through a hedgerow bank with infantry in its lee is one of the definitive Normandy diorama scenes.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eModel: DD395 \/ King \u0026amp; Country \/ 1\/30 (60mm) scale \/ matte finish \/ tank with commander figure\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"King and Country","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":49497794576612,"sku":"DD395","price":299.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0655\/7024\/2788\/files\/21709_m.jpg?v=1784920650","url":"https:\/\/breagans.com\/products\/the-m5a1-stuart-bocage-buster","provider":"Breagans","version":"1.0","type":"link"}