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 US Willys Jeep with a towed M3A1 37mm anti-tank gun that was attached to the 95th Armored Field Artillery Battalion, 5th Armored Division, then deployed to Normandy during 1944. Sold Out!

Dimensions:
Length: 2-1/2-inches
Width: 1-1/4-inches

Release Date: June 2011

Historical Account: "Hard Fighting" - The 5th Armored Division plunged into combat in August 1944, when it was charged with seizing Le Mans in France. The unit swept between Coutances and St Lo, then across the Selune River thus starting the organization's 300 mile exploitation behind the German Seventh Army. Le Mans fell and the 5th pursued the enemy, wrecking their armor and inflicting heavy casualties all the way to the Seine River. The Euro-Seine Campaign, waged toward the end of August, was the culmination of a successful strike to the south bank of the Seine.

When September opened, the 5th began a 130-mile push from Paris north to Belgium. The Division cut through the Compiegne Forest, crossed the Olse and Aisne Rivers, and then the Somme. New orders sent the unit racing another 100 miles to the Meuse River, advancing southeast below the Belgium border. Speeding onward, the 5th figured in the freeing of Luxembourg. On September 11th, the Our River was crossed in the vicinity of Stalzembourg, and Germany had been entered. In November, the 5th Armored Division, along with the 90th Inf Division, participated in the original crossing of the Moselle River. Retarded by the terrain, weather and thousands of mines, the tankers and infantrymen fought a slow, hacking foot-by-foot engagement through the Huertgen Forest. They lived in mud, rain and ice and were constantly exposed to tremendous artillery fire. Fighting hard in December during the 'Bulge' period, the 5th greeted 1945 by continuing to advance through Germany and by crushing enemy armor within XV Corps objectives. At Coblenz, the unit smashed and then mopped up all enemy resistance. By Spring 1945, the Division had rolled to the Wesser River and in May, driving north of Brunswick, it reached the Elbe, fanning out in the vicinity of Tangermuonde, 50 miles northeast of Magdeburg. In crossing the Elbe the 5th became the nearest US unit to Berlin just prior to V-E Day.