Winter Shermans
Compare the whitewash, hull numbers and stowage on the two M4 Shermans. Number 55 is “Battlin’ Betty.” Number 47 is “Kraut Killer.”
King & Country / Ardennes, winter 1944–45
BATTLE OF THE BULGE
Explore the Ardennes campaign through archival maps and King & Country’s hand-painted 1:30 miniatures. See the two winter Shermans side by side, then browse American and German figures by set code.
16 December 1944–25 January 1945
The Ardennes offensive
The German advance pushed a bulge into Allied lines. Follow the opening attacks and see why the road junctions at St. Vith and Bastogne mattered.
16 December 1944
The German attack
German forces struck through the Ardennes in Belgium and Luxembourg. The advance pushed west through gaps in the American lines and threatened the roads the Allies used to move troops and supplies.
December 1944
St. Vith and Bastogne
American defenders delayed the German advance around St. Vith. At Bastogne, the 101st Airborne and attached troops held the road junction after German forces surrounded it.
26 December–25 January
The Allied counterattack
Patton’s Third Army opened a route into Bastogne on 26 December. Allied attacks from the north and south pushed the German forces back. The U.S. Army dates the end of the battle to 25 January 1945.
BBA / U.S. Army
Americans
Archival photograph / 24 January 1945
American soldiers in St. Vith
Soldiers of the 48th Armored Infantry Battalion move through the ruins of St. Vith, Belgium, in the snow.
U.S. Army / Harry S. Truman Library & Museum, 63-522Infantry & weapons teams
Start with riflemen and add a command group, a Browning Automatic Rifle gunner or a .30-caliber machine-gun team to build a position along a road or tree line.
Support & life in the cold
A medic and radioman add support roles. Guards and figures eating, smoking or warming themselves give a winter camp a different pace.
BBG / German winter troops
Germans
Archival photograph / 24 January 1945
A prisoner near Bütgenbach
A German prisoner photographed near Bütgenbach, Belgium, during the closing days of the battle.
U.S. Army / Harry S. Truman Library & Museum, 63-520Winter infantry & patrols
A scout, an officer and moving infantry give a patrol distinct roles. Use the low poses at the edge of a road or along a ditch.
Machine guns & anti-tank teams
Compare the two machine-gun teams with the Panzerschreck crew. Leave space around each model so the weapon and both crew members are easy to see.
Operation ToyBox / Unboxing and diorama
The Ardennes in miniature
Watch Vlad unbox the infantry and tanks and place them in a winter battlefield diorama.
Model identification
Find it by set code
BBA identifies the American sets. BBG identifies the German winter range.
- BBA091
- BBA092
- BBA094
- BBA095
- BBA096
- BBA097
- BBA101
- BBA102
- BBA103
- BBA104
- BBA108
- BBA109
- BBA110
- BBA112
- BBA113
- BBA115
- BBA116
- BBA117
- BBA118
- BBG-S03
- BBG090
- BBG094
- BBG121
- BBG122
- BBG123
- BBG125
- BBG126
- BBG127
- BBG128
- BBG129
- BBG132
- BBG133
- BBG134
- BBG135
- BBG136
- BBG137
- BBG139
- BBG142
Miniature photographs: King & Country and the Operation ToyBox Armory.