250th Anniversary Independence Day Parade

 Happy 4th July to our US cousins! As it is the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, I thought I'd have a parade for my WW2 US troops. I'm afraid the US has always rather played second fiddle to the British and Germans in my various collections, although my first proper allied army for Charles Grants 'Battle' was American (Airfix US Marines, Shermans and Halftracks) . My 15mm US  collection has been acquired relatively recently so isn't as large as some of the others.

The US forces lined up for inspection. Unlike their Russian comrades, I arranged these in ranks rather than marching down the table. They take up rather less space that way (many thanks to Mr Kemp for that idea!).

Eisenhower himself is here to inspect them (Roco personality figure).

First up the Queen of Battle, the US infantry. Just some representative figures put out, roughly a Regiment of three battalions in Command Decision terms. These are almost exclusively PSC hard plastic figures, and very nice they are too, if a pain to assemble. 

These are all on 30x30 bases and in theory could be used as teams for WRG etc as one base per group of three has a leader on it and another has a BAR. They are pretty generic infantry in tan/khaki uniforms rather than OD, and I confess I use them for everything including US Paras.

We also have half a dozen halftracks for the Armored Infantry, mainly QRF. I've got a load of unbuilt PSC halftracks I should assemble at some point as really I need another four or five at least.

Next the Cavalry. Three MG armed jeeps (BPM 3D prints), three M8 armoured cars (QRF) and a QRF White Scout Car. Nice models of which the Scout Car has been used the most. I want to do some more NWE scenarios featuring US forces so hopefully the Greyhounds will have some more outings.

Tank Destroyers, a pair of Battlefront M10s, a pair of towed 57mm guns and a Battlefield 3D 75mm SP. I cant recall the 57mm manufacturer, possibly Skytrex? They are the US version of the 6 pdr anyway.

I actually have four Battlefront M10s, but I converted two of them into Achilles, although they can stand in as M36 Jacksons if needs be.  

A lot of this US stuff is interchangeable between the later war British and Russians.

The mighty Armor command! A fleet of green tanks.

The front rank are the Light Tanks. Left to right, a pair of QRF M3s (rather undersized), a Skytrex M3A5, a Battlefield 3D M8 Scott, and then three PSC M5s - all hideously oversized. I've got several more of the PSC ones unbuilt. They came in the 'US Tank Company' box.

Behind them we have the first rank of Medium Tanks. Three PSC 75mm Shermans of various types and three Zvezda M3 Lees, which have seen a surprising amount action albeit in Russia mainly and just once under US command in Tunisia.

Two more ranks of Medium Tanks. Three more PSC Shermans and three Peter Pig Shermans, with the final rank being four PSC 76mm Shermans. Many of these are interchangeable with British and Russian stuff, and some of the Shermans have very clearly got British commanders. The 76mm Shermans have seen more service with the Russians than anyone else, although iirc I did use a couple in some Bulge games. I've got several spare turrets, including a couple of Firefly turrets, 75mm turrets and a 105mm. I've put the 105mm turret on the Sherman third from the left in the front rank.

I used to have more Shermans but thinned them out a few years ago, moving on some QRF, Roskopf and a few PSC ones to John A.

The artillery park is quite small but you don't actually need a lot of artillery as it is mostly off table although I like to use the gun models if I have them. Front row are a pair of 75mm pack howitzers mainly for Airborne use. Second rank is three 105mm howitzers (Peter Pig), and the third rank is a PP 155mm howitzer, a Roco 8" howitzer and a Quad .50 cal AA halftrack. The latter is a PSC chassis and I built the AA mount out of spare .50 cal MGs! What was I thinking....

The 75mm howitzers were recently seen engaging Tigers in Sicily.

Various HQ/rear area vehicles. First rank Sherman ARV (a bodged up spare turret on a PSC Sherman chassis), a lovely Battlefield 3D (maybe BPM?) Dodge Ambulance and a B3D armoured bulldozer.

Second rank is a Roco Dodge radio truck, a six wheel radio lorry built on a Roco chassis and a QRF Dodge Ambulance I use as a radio truck. The radio lorry I cleverly made so it is too high fit into my normal slimline A4 box files, so it goes in a special box.

I've got loads more US softskins, but how many Dodge and GMC trucks do you want to see?

And lined up on the airfield, we have the USAAF. It is quite right that the US should have lots and lots of planes. These are all 1/144th scale and largely various donations from Tims immense collection.

The first rather motley group of fighters. A P40 Warhawk, a P-47 Thunderbolt and an Airacobra. In the rear is a metal Spitfire in US colours. The P47 has been out to play for ground support but I've not used any of the others.

And some more late war fighters, a pair of P-51 Mustangs and a pair of P-38 Lightnings. I've used the P-38s a few times as everyone likes a Lightning. All plastic kits.

Finally some bombers. A B-20 Havoc (diecast), a B-25 Mitchell, a B-26 Marauder and a B-17 Flying Fortress. The medium bombers have seen quite a bit of action as I like to use them for air interdiction in my WW2 games, but the B17 has only been in use once - the opening bombardment for Operation Goodwood. Apart from the Havoc, these are all plastic kits.

Finally we have the utility aircraft, three 'Dakotas', actually Zevzda IL-3s(?) minus the gun turret. I did them in plain OD without markings, but I'm thinking I should mark them up really. I realised as well that I completely forgot to put out the tiny resin L2 spotter plane. It is so small I forgot about it in the aircraft box.

So there we have it, the US Army. While they haven't featured as much on the blog as some others, I have plenty of US themed games planned - more trips to Market Garden and Normandy, the Battle of the Westwall and perhaps even some trips to Tunisia.

Happy Independence Day!