On 6th June 1944 British, Canadian and American forces stormed ashore on the beaches of Normandy, France. The D-Day invasion signalled the beginning of an eleven month campaign which would result in the liberation of North-West Europe after four years of German occupation.
The figures and models in this box are representative of a typical British (or Canadian) infantry unit involved in that famous campaign.
The basic infantry fighting formation was the battalion which consisted of 845 men (36 officers and 809 other ranks) commanded by a lieutenant-colonel. A battalion was organised into a headquarters company, a support company and four rifle companies (numbered A, B, C, and D). Three battalions made up an infantry brigade and three brigades with supporting arms (artillerymen, engineers, reconnaissance troops, machine gunners and medics) formed an infantry division.
A battalion was equipped with a wide variety of weapons including the reliable Lee Enfield rifle, Sten sub-machine gun, Bren light machine gun, 2" and 3" mortars, 6 pounder anti-tank guns and the spring loaded PIAT (projector infantry anti-tank). Additional support fire was often available from Vickers medium machine guns attached from the divisional machine gun battalion.