American designers built the Thompson around a big, slow, hard-hitting bullet. Its .45 ACP round weighed 230 grains — nearly twice the mass of the 9mm the German submachine guns fired — and at the short ranges where these weapons actually fought, across a room or a trench or a gap in a hedgerow, that heavy slug's stopping power was exactly the point. The trade-offs were real: the gun ran better than ten pounds loaded, its muzzle climbed under automatic fire, and the weight of the ammunition meant a man carried fewer rounds. But for the scout, the patrol leader, and the point man who might meet the enemy at arm's length, few weapons inspired more confidence.

The figure is planted and firing the Thompson from the shoulder, in an M1943 field jacket and netted helmet, magazine pouches at his belt. He is the muscle of a close-quarters assault team: set him with the Infantry NCO with Thompson and the NCO Crouching with Thompson, with the Infantryman Advancing with Caution clearing the way in a street-fighting diorama.

W. Britain model 25152. 1/30 scale (approximately 60mm), matte-painted metal. Single foot figure on a sculpted groundwork base. Boxed.