1:72 German Panzergrenadiers (WWII)

The infantry that belongs with tanks

The armored grenadiers (Panzergrenadiere) arose from a simple need: a tank on its own cannot seize ground or defend itself in close combat, and a foot soldier on his own feet cannot keep up with an armored unit. The answer was infantry carried on armored personnel carriers or trucks, which unloads at the moment of contact and advances along the flanks of the vehicles. Its armament was therefore richer in automatic weapons than that of line infantry.

A set that does not build itself

This is the most interesting quality of such a package. While other figures make up a scene by themselves, the grenadiers need a counterpart: without a vehicle half the poses lose their point. Figures cast leaning forward, with a hand stretched out toward an invisible edge or hunched behind cover, read only when the bed of a carrier or the armor of a tank stands next to them. When planning a diorama, therefore, start with the vehicle and place the figures around it afterward.

Intervals have their rules

The grenadiers kept their distance from the vehicles, because the nearness of armor drew fire. Spread the group over a wide band beside the vehicle and slightly to the rear, leave one pair in a forward position and put a man turned toward the vehicle between them, as if he were passing on a report.

Matching the vehicle model

Adapt the colors of the figures to the vehicle, not the other way round. The same shade of dust on the boots and on the fenders will join the two parts into one scene; different dusting, on the other hand, will give away that they have come together from two different kits.