Generally the American infantry were jealous of tank crew in World War II, seeing that they did not have to walk anywhere, and were protected from enemy fire inside a steel shell. However tank crew faced enormous dangers and needed plenty of courage to go into battle. In Europe (where most of the US tank activity took place), the main tank was the medium M4 Sherman, which was intended as an infantry support weapon, but when facing a German Panther or Tiger it was a significantly inferior machine, with less armour and a weaker gun. If hit, the crew had to get out very quickly or face incineration as the Sherman was well-known for bursting into flames; a grisly way to die. Despite this the Americans had some advantages over the Germans - they usually had all the ammunition and fuel they needed, far better air cover, and there were simply more Allied tanks than there were German. US tankers had a huge impact on the fighting in North-West Europe, despite often poor training and weaker tanks.
The US had developed much specialized clothing for its fighting services during World War II, and for armoured troops that included a winter uniform made up of a winter combat jacket, winter combat trousers and a cloth winter helmet. As this set is labelled as winter, these are what we were expecting to see, particularly as the jacket was actually widely worn throughout the year, not just in winter. Every figure in this set is largely dressed the same, starting with the tanker’s helmet. This is the Rawlings helmet, the usual one by the Normandy campaign, and is well done here. However there is no sign of any figure wearing the winter helmet, either underneath or instead of the Rawlings, which we thought was a pity. The winter jacket (second model, and the most common) is worn by all, which is good, and properly done except for the position of the two slash pockets, which sources disagree on, but most show them further up the body than is sculpted here. No one here wears the winter trousers. Instead, they all have trousers with cargo pockets on each thigh, which suggests these men are wearing overalls or fatigues. This would not be impossible, but the winter trousers (which had no external pockets, but did have a bib front) were popular and common (and less likely to snag on the tank), so to exclude them entirely here is a mistake. Lastly, the men wear a mixture of long leggings (like the infantry, but equally disliked), short anklets and no leggings at all, plus the normal ankle boots. This mix is reasonable, although the proportions of each here may not reflect the reality closely.
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