Friday 6 May 2022

ColdWar '58: US M103 Heavy Tank Company

As previously stated, one of the attractions of late '50's cold war gaming are the heavy tanks and for the Americans that means the M103... In 1958 the US Army had consolidated some of its M103's in the 2nd Heavy Tank Battalion, 33rd Armoured Regiment, replacing its original M103's with M103A1's borrowed from the USMC the following year.

US organisation is a bit fluid at this time with initially a heavy tank company comprised of three tank platoons before switching to five tank platoons (along USMC lines) - with the Fort Benning training battalion having four tank platoons! To start I have gone with a company comprised of 5 three tank platoons plus two company command tanks which gives me the flexibility to switch to a 3 five tank platoon company if I want (that is the organisation of the medium M48 tanks!)

The models are 1/285th 3D prints from ResinHistoricals. I may be beginning to sound like an advert for them but they are great and just 60p a model. Like the British and Soviets, US tanks are over green but the I-94 Enterprises star decals and company markings on the barrels contrast nicely (not 100% sure about the company markings but some US Army units used barrel rings in Vietnam so I decided to go with that - and it helps you see the impressive length of the 120mm cannon).

2 comments:

  1. Nice. The real thing is flipping massive! (there's one at Bovington)

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  2. Great looking models! And thanks for mentioning ResinHistoricals.

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