DD334
King & Country
This K&C model is in the markings of a ‘B’ Squadron vehicle of the 23rd Hussars, belonging to the 11th Armoured Division during the battle for Normandy.
Because the ‘Firefly’ had a visibly longer main gun barrel, crews often tried to camouflage it with paint so that the tank would look like, from a distance, the more normal and numerous, 75mm-gun M4 Sherman.
This King & Country ‘Firefly’ comes with a ‘half-body’ tank commander and a ‘head and shoulders’ driver in the open hatches. As additional protection, this ‘Firefly’ also has extra tank tracks mounted around the turret and on the tank hull itself.
The Sherman Firefly was the best tank used by British and some Commonwealth and Allied armoured formations in WW2. It was based on the US M4 Sherman but fitted with the more powerful British 17-pounder gun as its main weapon.
During the war, the British Army made extensive use of the American-made and supplied Sherman tanks but found the US 75mm main gun less than effective against German armor. The answer was to ‘upgun’ the Sherman with the tried and battle-tested, British 17-pounder gun. Because of its large size this also meant redesigning the Sherman turret to accommodate the bigger gun.
By early 1944 this ‘new’ configuration was christened the ‘Firefly’ and put into full production in the UK.
In Normandy, following the landings in June 1944, the Sherman ‘Firefly’ proved its worth by becoming the first Allied tank to successfully take on and penetrate the armor of the mighty German tanks such as the ‘Panther’ and ‘Tiger’.