Painting and Finishing "D-32"

Getting excited to move into the finishing stages, I totally neglected to take any photos of the priming process. No new information here, I always prime in acrylic Flat Black, and did so this time around too. I just didn't think anyone would be interested in looking at and all-black model miniature. Before applying the paint, I dabbed a very light and selective coat of acrylic gel medium to areas of the lower hull to give relief and the impression of accumulated mud/dirt.

My base color coat is acrylic Polly Scale USAAF Olive Drab, with a camouflage coat made by mixing acrylic Tamiya Flat Black and NATO Black. Airbrushed freehand, I tried to make the edges as sharp as possible. In scale, from a casual viewing distance, the feathering should appear sharp - almost like hard-edged camouflage.

For the first time, I painted the Pioneer Tools in place on the miniature, with the camouflage coat crossing over them. I used Lion Roar Stencils to airbrush the US National Symbols on the engine deck and turret roof.

I worked the same colors on the lower hull as I used in creating a display base, which I ultimately decided not to use. I used acrylic Polly Scale Dirt, along with VLS Figments and MiG's Europe Dust - all three colors complimentary and showing accumulated mud/dirt in slightly different shades. I painted the track runs and Road Wheels separately, before bringing them all together for the weathering steps.

To add some depth to the lower hull dirtying process, I applied a localized wash of Raw Umber oils. I thinned my Dirt airbrush mixture and reduced the air pressure in the airbrush as I proceeded to blend in subassemblies as I added them to the miniature in phases.

Modeling a Panther Killer

Though Dragon's decal sheet is really attractive, I decided that I wanted to model a different M4A1(76)W for my collection. I chose to render one of a force of Shermans assigned to Task Force Kane - one that destroyed two German Panzer V Panther Medium Tanks on Christmas Eve, 1944. The description of the battle influenced how I went about weathering and finishing the miniature.

Task Force Kane and other elements of the US 3rd Armored Division engaged the German 2nd SS Panzer Division "Das Reich" on 12/24/44 during what would later be called the Battle of the Bulge. I referenced the engagement as described by George Winter in the book "Frieneux and La Mormenil - The Ardennes", JJ Fedorowicz Publishing, for building my miniature. Further description of the battle comes from an interview with Reece Graham on the 3rd Armored Division Association Website. What I relate about the action below is pulled together from both sources.

Task Force MacDonald was a small sub-force of ten Sherman Combat Tanks and two Assault Tanks dispatched from Task Force Kane down from HWY 15 to help protect the Crossroads (Objective 576853). Colonel Kane split his Task Force into three teams to reconnoiter the German positions and to ascertain their objectives in the vicinity of Stolberg, sending TF MacDonald on their mission 21 December 1944. The two Assault Tanks of TF MacDonald would be left behind at the Crossroads in the aftermath of repulsing a German attack, and the ten Sherman Combat Tanks remaining were ordered to head westerly to aid Task Force Orr, in the vicinity of Odeigne, La Mormenil (Objective 503861) and Frieneux (Objective 513862) on 22 December. TF MacDonald remained in Odeigne overnight and moved into Frieneux on the morning of 23 December to clean out German resistance. They encountered a large pocket of German troops outside the village, but were unable to capture or breakup this force.

One M4A1(76)W Sherman Tank of "D" Company, 32nd Armored Regiment, a part of Task Force MacDonald, was positioned next to a small house in the village of Frieneux. This tank was under control of Tank Commander Sergeant Reese Graham at daybreak on 24 December. Graham recalls an infantryman running up to his tank, mounting it and informing him that four German tanks were approaching from across the valley in the general direction of village of La Mormenil. Across the road from their position was a small stone fence, beyond that an open field across the valley towards the village of La Mormenil.

Another runner came up to Sergeant Graham's tank, telling him that their Sherman couldn't move - it had gotten frozen into the soft ground overnight. This tank had pulled up behind a woodpile near a barn the previous afternoon. Sergeant Graham and his crew moved their Sherman over to hitch it to the stuck tank and attempted to free it. While hooked up to the stuck Sherman, a Panther got off a shot that penetrated it - disabling it. Sergeant Graham's crew had a difficult time unhooking from the disabled Sherman, but did so and returned to their previous position next to the small house.

Sergeant Graham spotted and fired upon the Panther that knocked out the stuck tank. The Panther returned fire. Two rounds missed Graham's Sherman, but hit the house behind his tank, showering it with debris. His Sherman tank fired two more rounds at the Panther, both missing high because the Panther sat in a shallow depression out in the dale and Graham's tank could not depress the 76mm cannon deep enough to hit it. Sergeant Graham relates that he could see the Panther's gun barrel sticking up, and backing down out of sight, as the German crew jockeyed for position to fire upon him again.

Sergeant Graham spotted another Panther opening fire. He estimated the range at 2000 yards, and gave the order to his Gunner. Firing a tracer round, he saw that the shell struck in direct line to target, but fell short. Sergeant Graham gave adjusting fire orders and his Gunner fired again. This shot penetrated the rear quadrant of the Panther, setting it on fire.

Sergeant Graham then spotted another Panther moving from right to left behind the one he just knocked out, heading up the road towards Odegin. He called out fire orders, and his Gunner scored another kill - the shot also striking the rear quadrant of the second Panther, setting it ablaze.

"D-31", another M4A1(76)W Sherman commanded by Lieutenant Meyers, was positioned near Sergeant Graham's tank "D-32". Lieutenant Meyers was attending the morning briefing with the other officers when the action began, with Gunner Corporal James Vance in charge of "D-31". Vance was alerted to the approaching German Force in the same manner that Sergeant Graham was over in his tank. With his Sherman positioned alongside a stone wall next to a Church, Vance ordered his Driver to start the tank and traversed his Turret towards the open field in effort to get a good shot off as soon as the Germans came into view.
Corporal Vance opened fire upon the advancing German Panthers at the moment the two lead tanks crested a small hill out in the field beyond his position. Erich Heller's Panzergrenadiers jumped off the Panther they had been riding, to seek cover nearby when the round came in. Heller relates he spotted the fire coming from Vance's Sherman, partially hidden behind a Church wall ahead of them. Corporal Vance states he watched the four Panzers coming across the hill with their flanks to his position. Vance ordered his Gunner to fire, striking Obersturmfuhrer (1st Lieutenant) Pippert's Panther. On fire, Pippert's crew bailed out of their tank.

When Vance saw that he had hit one of the Panthers, he came up from his sights to locate another tank. Picking up a new target, Corporal Vance ducked back down into the Turret, sighted, and fired another round. This round hit the second Panther.

Then Untersturmfuhrer (2nd Lieutenant) Fritz Langanke relates in the narrative that the second tank Vance hit was Untersturmfuhrer (2nd Lieutenant) Kurt Seeger's Panther. The Panther had suffered a frontal hit - but low on the underside where the armor was thinnest - as the Panther crested the hill.

Corporal Vance quickly located a third Panther (Kirchner's tank), and prepared to fire upon it. As he ducked down to his sights, and got ready to pull the trigger, Vance saw that Kirchner's Panther had just been hit. It's likely that Kirchner's Panther was hit by Sergeant Graham's Gunner. By the time Corporal Vance reemerged from the Turret to locate the fourth Panther, it was gone from his field of view.

Out of the view of Graham's and Vance's tanks, the fourth Panther had determined the location or vicinity from which Corporal Vance's "D-31" lay - because it opened fire upon it. The Panther's round hit the stone wall just to the right front side of "D-31", but did not damage the Sherman. Unable to locate the Panther for counterfire, Corporal Vance ordered his Driver to back "D-31" behind the Church and out of the line of fire.

The actions of Vance's "D-31" and Graham's "D-32" M4A1(76)W Sherman Tanks partially halted the advance of the German 2nd SS Panzer Regiment into Frieneux that day. At the end of the engagement, eight Shermans and eight Panthers had been either disabled or destroyed. I was not able to gather from either German nor American accounts of the action any nicknames or special features (like chrome yellow codes) on either tank American tank participating in the action.

I took a conservative approach in modeling "D-32", refraining from heavy damage and over weathering popular in AFV modeling today because the photos of the vehicles in the unit show well-maintained and equipped Sherman tanks. I positioned my turret crew midway between popping up in their hatches, and ducking back down into them, so that I could imagine any phase of that battle on Christmas Eve morning.

Looking back over the project, I don't think I could have picked a better model kit than Dragon Models M4A1(76)W Operation Cobra Sherman for this project idea. I remember putting it together fondly and I hope it does justice to the memory of the men who fought a battle little known to AFV modelers.