Crossing open ground under fire came down to a few seconds of sprinting and a lot of nerve. Infantry advanced by fire and movement — one part of the squad shooting to keep enemy heads down while another dashed forward to the next scrap of cover, then swapped roles. The individual rush was drilled to be short, three to five seconds, on the theory that a running man was hard to hit before an enemy could line up his sights: up, run, and down again behind a wall or into a shell hole before the bullets found the space you had just left. Every yard of an advance was paid for in these small, sprinting gambles.

The figure is frozen at full stride, M1 Garand in hand, full field pack bouncing, netted helmet down — the instant of the rush. Build the battle drill around him in a diorama: put the base of fire down with the Infantryman Standing Firing M1 Garand, send the Infantryman Advancing with Caution up on his flank, and set the Infantry NCO Shouting timing the bounds.

W. Britain model 25197. 1/30 scale (approximately 60mm), matte-painted metal. Single running foot figure on a sculpted groundwork base. Boxed.