German Stosstrupper
Cambrai, 1917

One of the main characteristics of the First World War on the Western Front was the stationary nature of the fighting. The development of new deadly warfare technologies, like highly precise artillery or automatic guns, led to a situation in which quite comparable armies had to resort to positional warfare, organised around highly defended trenches and fortifications that were very difficult to capture or overrun.

In the later part of the war, both the Allies and the Central Powers tried to break the stalemate, investing heavily in revolutionary strategies and attack elements. Those were the early days of tanks, combat aviation or gas warfare.

With this purpose in mind, the German Army created a new type of infantry, the Stormtroopers. These small commando-like units specialized in infiltration tactics and favoured the use of a variety of light small arms, early submachineguns and hand-to-hand combat weapons. The aim was to capture portions of the front through a myriad of small coordinated actions that would disrupt and disorganise the enemy lines.

Our bust carries one of the many possible configurations of equipment of these troopers, including a Mauser automatic pistol, some hand grenades carried in Hessian bags, and a short shovel, which was frequently used as a close combat weapon with deadly results.

Note: This is a resin miniature kit that requires assembly and painting.