Hobby Master HG4211 Free French 1/4-Ton Willys Jeep with Bantam T3 Trailer - French 2nd Armored Division, Ksar Ghilane, Tunisia, 1943 (1:72 Scale)
"In war there is no second prize for the runner-up."
- General Omar Bradley
The Willys MB and the Ford GPW, both formally called the U.S. Army Truck, 1/4‑ton, 4x4, Command Reconnaissance, commonly known as the Willys Jeep, Jeep, or jeep, and sometimes referred to by its supply catalogue designation G503, were highly successful American off-road capable, light military utility vehicles. Over 600,000 were built to a single standardized design, for the United States and the Allied forces in World War II, from 1941 until 1945. This also made it (by its light weight) the world's first mass-produced four-wheel drive car, made in 6-figure numbers.
The 1/4-ton jeep became the primary light, wheeled, multi-role vehicle of the United States military and its allies, with President Eisenhower once calling it "one of three decisive weapons the U.S. had during WWII."With some 640,000 units built, the 1/4‑ton jeeps constituted a quarter of the total military support motor vehicles that the U.S. produced during the war, and almost two-thirds of the 988,000 light 4WD vehicles produced, when counted together with the Dodge WC series. Large numbers of jeeps were provided to U.S. allies, including the Soviet Union at the time. Aside from large amounts of 1-1/2 and 2-1/2‑ton trucks, and 25,000 3/4‑ton Dodges - some 50,000 1/4‑ton jeeps were shipped to help Russia during WWII - against Nazi-Germany's total production of just over 50,000 Kubelwagens, the jeep's primary counterpart.
Pictured here is a 1:72 scale replica of a Free French Army Willys Jeep with a Bantam T3 trailer that was attached to the French 2nd Armored Division.
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Dimensions:
Length: 2-1/2-inches
Width: 1-1/4-inches
Release Date: December 2012
Historical Account: "Liberation" - General Leclerc's French 2nd Armored Division left Southampton England bound for Normandy on July 29th, 1944. Among their accomplishments in 1944 was the liberation of Paris in August, the tank battles in Lorraine and the defeat of the German 112th Panzer brigade at Dompaire on September 13th, 1944. Next, they quickly moved through the Saverne gap and took part in the liberation of Strasbourg in November. General Leclerc's 2nd Division ended WWII in the Nazi town of Berchtesgaden near Hitler's mountain resort, the Berghof.