The 192nd Tank Battalion was sent to strengthen US military forces in the Philippines in Sept. 1941. That same year they were thrust into war after Japan began attacking US and Philippine forces beginning Dec. 8. By mid December, they were sent north of the capital city of Manila to repel Japanese ground forces that landed along the northern coastlines of Luzon Island. On December 22, 1941, the 192nd would be the first US tank force to go head to head with enemy tanks in WW2 near Damortis, La Union. For the next 3 months, they, along with other US ground forces and Filipino Scouts would defend the Bataan Peninsula. They would eventually surrender on April 9, 1942, 70 years ago, due to lack of supplies (food, ammo, medicine) and decease. Corregidor Island will fall a few weeks after.

The defense caused the Japanese to delay their invasion timetable of the rest of South East Asia and Australia. As a reward for their bravery, the Japanese would force all Filipino and US soldiers captured in Bataan to march over 128km to a prison camp. It would be later known as the Bataan Death March.

This is my tribute to the brave tankers of the 192nd who fought along side the Filipino soldiers. This is a Hasegawa 1/72nd M3 Stuart. It is painted in a Steve Zaloga OD mix of Gunze olive drab with a wee bit of dark yellow. weathered using Mig dark wash, Vallejo washes, Vallejo and Mig pigments and Tamiya weathering sets. The figure came from a different Hasegawa tank kit, more specifically the M24 Chaffee becuase the figure that came with M3 had a weird pose. Sadly I took photos of the figure before realizing the paint on the left side of the face needed fixing.











MABUHAY ANG KALAYAAN

Very nice.
I once stumbled on a web page about these guys which provided some very interesting reading. It spoke of many of the individuals in the Unit and how much of a pain they proved to be to the Japanese. Their courage was outstanding and the way some died was down right heroic like the crew that was buried alive in the vehicle by the enemy because they wouldn't surrender.
Thanks for this tribute to some very brave soldiers.

Very cool Toby and nice to see you back here!

A fine build and tribute to those who served. Nice work.

An extremely poignant tribute and acknowledgement of these gallant forces. Very glad to have you back and sharing your work with this community.

Cheers,
Jan

Hello, a nice result. Better than mine ...
cheers..

Thanks Val! Its great to be back.

Thank you too John & Michael. I wish i could read more about these men too. Hope a movie is made about these men one of these days.

@ChaosXVI – Toby,

For me this is what I like the most about doing models, the history behind the build to tie it all together and bring meaning to an otherwise well painted and displayed piece of plastic or resin. Your build is not only terrific but inspirational and touching. A fine tribute to all those brave men that fought so hard and lost their lives in the belief of freedom for all mankind from the cruelty of oppression.

Thank you for taking the time to do the research and for sharing and posting your build. Hoping to see more of your work here.

Eddy

P.S. If anyone is interested here is a link where you can do some reading about the 192nd tank battalion - Bataan commemorative Research Project Just click on the home page icon links. Enjoy, I did!