Although Britain was fairly late in adding paratroop units to its armed forces, those units quickly demonstrated their value in the war, proving their critics wrong. Such men needed not only courage but also initiative and resilience as they would find themselves behind enemy lines with very limited resources and support. Their last major operation of the war was the crossing of the Rhine in 1945, but inevitably their most famous exploits are those that have since been immortalised on film, namely the D-Day invasion and Operation Market Garden at Arnhem.
This is the second set of British paras from Mars, and the first set gave us some pretty solid and useful poses for what is quite a popular subject. This second set delivers more of the same, with men in action carrying a variety of weapons, and we thought they were very good. The soldier running forward and carrying both weapon and ammunition is particularly well done as this is a difficult pose to achieve with a traditional mould, but we did pause on seeing the kneeling man with the PIAT. The block on which this weapon stands is undetailed, but the box image suggests it is a handy block of wood sourced on the scene. The PIAT had a hefty recoil, which might have been an issue here, and we were not sure why using it in this way would be seen as advantageous. Usually it was used on the ground, which also meant the gunner was less of a target, so while it could be used in this way, it would have been very rare if indeed it ever happened. The officer is also a nice pose, apparently shouting behind him as he moves forward. At least he has not holding just a pistol, as so many are in this hobby!
Despite only having eight poses, there is a wide range of weapons on display here. Three of the figures hold a rifle – presumably the Lee Enfield No. 4, which was the standard issue at the time. One of these (held by the third figure in our top row) has a telescopic sight fitted to it, which makes it suitable for a sniper, though it is clearly not being used as such here. Submachine guns were well liked in airborne forces as they were small and light, and there are two on these figures. The first man in the top row holds a Sten, a simple but very effective weapon, and since it has a front pistol grip, it is a Mk. V, the most common version at the time. The other submachine gun is being fired by the second figure in that row, and is a later-model Thompson. These were lovely weapons, and very popular, but were much more expensive than the Sten, so not as common, but still to be seen in British airborne forces through to the end of the war. The officer figure also carries an American weapon, which looks to be an M1 Carbine. Another good weapon, these were provided to Britain under Lend-Lease, but by 1944 would have been quite unusual in British hands, though certainly not impossible, so an interesting choice. The first man in the second row carries a Bren gun, yet another good and popular weapon, while the last is the effective but less glamorous PIAT already mentioned. If the paras were dropped into the fight then the PIAT was probably the only anti-tank weapon they had until relieved, so while the method of usage is rather strange here, it is a weapon worth including.
After initial experiments the uniform of the paratrooper settled down to feature the rimless M1943 jump helmet and the Denison smock over ordinary battledress. Here four of the poses wear the helmet, mostly with the netting and scrim we would expect, and four wear the beret, which offered no protection of course, yet was an object of enormous unit pride, and often worn even in combat. The smock looks to have been properly sculpted here, and the trousers also look fine, though they could be either battledress trousers or the paratrooper’s version, which were similar. All of the men wear anklets over the boots, which completes the historically correct look.
All but the officer wear the normal pattern 37 webbing, with the two large pouches at the front. It also includes the water bottle carrier, and in most cases also an entrenching tool. Many also have bandoliers for the ammunition for their weapon, and most have the haversack on their back, so all look good. The officer has different webbing, with a single small pouch on the right side of the waist belt for his ammunition, and the pistol holster on the correct left side.
The sculpting of these figures is okay but the detail is quite soft and sometimes hard to make out. Weapons in particular lack much of the required detail, with the PIAT in particular being very poor. The man running and carrying the PIAT ammunition container has some sort of handle sticking out from his haversack, but we could not guess what this was supposed to be, and it does not appear on the 1/32 scale version of the set at all. There is also quite a bit of flash on all seams, and we found the ultra-slim and minimalistic bases annoying as the figures are very unsteady and easy to topple. In our view, if you make a base then it should be a firm platform for the figure, not so meagre as to be only just adequate for the figure to stand unaided on a firm and smooth surface.
As is usual for this subject, the set concentrates on the later war period for these men, when they were performing their most famous actions. So for example the Mk. V Sten was first introduced in early 1944, and the uniforms too were not those of the early months of the unit’s existence. This is understandable, and we really liked most of the poses, and all of the clothing, kit and weaponry. The quality of production is what really lets this set down, though even then we have seen worse, so this is still a perfectly usable collection of figures, if you have the time and patience to smarten them up, and even issues like the smooth, featureless weapons will not be so important if these are part of a larger display or wargame.