December 05, 2025

Preview: 1/35th scale U.S. Tank Riders Winter 1944-45 from MiniArt

A new set of winter-weighted US Infantrymen tank riders from MiniArt. We have art & sprues (& some history on who sat where) in our preview...


Preview: 1/35th scale U.S. Tank Riders Winter 1944-45 from MiniArt

U.S. Tank Riders Winter 1944-45
From MiniArt
Kit No. 53045
1/35th scale
The kit contains four figures, weapons & equipment
The subject: US infantry tank riders during WWII.
Soldiers sometimes hitched rides on tanks in order to keep up with a rapid advance. Often seen on newsreels of victorious (and sometimes retreating) soldiers trying to get an easier or faster way to and from the front. This gave the tank infantry at close hand in case they came across any issues better suited to infantry warfare, like closed-in streets or alleys in towns and villages or any urban warfare.

Infantrymen ride into battle atop a foliage-covered Sherman tank near Freyneux in December 1944.
Below: This squad of infantrymen from Lieutenant General Courtney Hodges’ First Army caught a ride on a Sherman tank as they moved through the French town of La Ferté-Macé on August 14, 1944. These troops were in a hurry to catch retreating Germans of the 5th Panzer and Seventh Armies in the Falaise Pocket. After having defeated the German counterattack at Mortain on August 7, the American First and Third Armies swept around behind the enemy from the south-west and forced them to flee eastward to escape entrapment.

Not just tanks! Four American soldiers riding on a half-track during the Battle of the Bulge. The National WWII Museum, Gift of John J. Janik Family, 2013.297.258.
The US Army even had a map of sorts or a procedure for who sat where on the tanks. Whether this was followed rigidly is up for speculation...
An image of the proposed mounting diagram for troops. Again, this was not strictly adhered to.

The kit from MiniArt:
This kit contains four figures with not only their own gear but also extra weapons and equipment on the extra sprues of the kit.

The four figures of US infantry to ride the tanks each come on their own sprue, dressed in standard winter US Army fatigues, ammo, pouches and gear
The regular US soldier's helmets, packs, entrenching tools, water flasks, and bayonets are included to vary your soldier. In the case of self-defence, Garand rifles and M1 carbines of two types are are also included on this sprue.

This kit will be available from Miniart's distributors worldwide next month. See more about all of MiniArt's kits on their website...