¹⁄35

Never Abandoned

Introduction

The idea for this diorama was to combine an abandoned Jagdpanther with U.S. soldiers, one of which has been wounded, in a battle scene. A medic figure stands by to assist the wounded paratrooper, in a sign that a brother in arms will never be abandoned, despite the attempts by the Germans to recapture the vehicle. I had read that many Jagdpanthers had been abandoned due to lack of fuel rather than being knocked out in battle. I wanted to depict the interior in working order so I chose to represent a vehicle that was still serviceable and perhaps just recently left behind due to advancing U.S. forces. In my research I also read that the 101st Airborne had hooked up with the 2nd Infantry in France during 1944 and thought this would give me the opportunity to mix up the types of figures I could build and paint.

The model I chose was Dragon's 1/35 Jagdpanther Late Production Smart Kit (no. 6393) which I complimented with CMK's Interior Set and Griffon Models Full Detail Set of photo etched brass. The building is a modified Miniart Italian City Building and the base is scratch built from cork.