AP The Lieutenant

The little rifle in the lieutenant's hands solved a very specific problem. Officers, radiomen, mortar crews, drivers and paratroopers all needed a weapon, but the full-size M1 Garand was long and heavy for men whose main job was something other than shooting, while the pistol was next to useless past a few yards. The answer was the M1 Carbine — light, short, semi-automatic, firing its own reduced-power .30 cartridge from a fifteen-round magazine. Handy and easy to carry, it was made in staggering numbers: more than six million, making it the most-produced American small arm of the entire war. Men loved how little it weighed, even as some cursed its lack of punch at distance. The young officer walks forward with his carbine held ready, a white vertical bar painted on his helmet — the mark of an officer, where a sergeant's bar ran horizontal — and the 2nd Division patch at his shoulder, a holstered pistol on his hip. He commands the men of the patrol: pair him with his senior NCO the Sergeant, his Radioman (who carries the same handy carbine and keeps him in touch with higher command), and the Advancing Rifleman he is leading forward. In a diorama the officer is the figure the others orient on — the decision at the center of the group. Model: DD399 / King & Country / 1/30 (60mm) scale / matte finish / 1 piece set