I bet that’s street legal (the Japanese Kei trucks aren’t). That jeep is strange, though, with the armor plating instead of a windshield. Is this a modification meant for the landings specifically?
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That’s an ETO SAS Jeep.
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The “Sturm” bit is the giveaway, it was designed for very close support of assaulting infantry, with the same gun as the infantry-support Pz.IV (the Pz.III with the long 5cm was the tank-vs-tank fighter). As the war progressed and the Germans weren’t doing the assaulting things changed, with the Pz.IV becoming the general purpose tank with a long 75mm, where this was a retro-fit their short 75mm went into Pz.IIIs (which didn’t loose much tank-killing capacity thanks to new ammunition) and the similarly re-gunned StuGs donated their short guns to half-tracks, heavy armoured cars and the like. With the StuGs now being increasingly used in the anti-tank role, the 10.5cm howitzer-armed StuH 42s were able to support the infantry with better HE when things got up close and personal…
Cheers,
M
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I am, in fact, working on a StuG III G right now!
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One thing that fascinates me is that the local research continues. There is an exhibition dedicated to excavations done on the Brecourt site (Winters/EasyCp Assault on a german battery) as late as May 2024 ! They found Carcano bullets indicating that the germans manning the guns were equipped with italian Carcano rifles !
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Oh and for all the diorama builders few pictures showing how wide the “roads” realy are. Taken in the bocage around Come-du-Mont and Carentan.
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SAS Jeep. Not sure about their use in Normandy, but they were certainly used later to spread mayhem behind the lines!
They were paradropped in underneath Halifax bombers with the bomb doors cut off.
Airfix’s recent 1/76 Jeep can be built as one of these and they even included the paradrop pallet to sit it on!
Italeri do one in 1/35 and it’s not a bad little kit.
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Didnt know about that option in the Airfix kit, I will have to check that out.
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They packed a lot in that small kit.
Have a look at the instructions here.
https://www.scalemates.com/kits/airfix-a02339-willys-british-airborne-jeep--246315
They’re not mentioned on the sheet, but they also provide the twin Vickers K’s and shields. I keep expecting an SAS boxing to appear.
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I was amazed by what a nice kit the Airfix jeep is when my son built it, having a bit of fun with using some of the extra parts on the sprues.
Maybe not 100% historically accurate but a fun build for a (then) 8 year old.
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I think it was known as a Standard Utility; “Standard” being the motor company/manufacturer. The nameplate is visible on the engine grill. Obviously with all that woodwork it may well have a different definition. I’m sure someone on here will know.
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That’s great work!
Having fun with the build is what it’s all about when you’re that age. I would’ve done exactly the same thing to. Tooled it up with every gun AND towing the 75 for extra firepower!
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So last coupple of pictures to wrap this one up. Most people started to leave Yesterday already. Strange feeling. As if an era is coming to an end. Im still looking for the pictures of those caissons. I will post them later.
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Plenty of SAS ops in Normandy; not all ended well. See in particular “Bulbasket”.
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@ Jacob (Naseby). Thank you for sharing the pics. 
—mike
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Some really outstanding pics of vehicles here!
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So sad when you think about all those veterans that we saw at the 80th anniversary, chances are that none of them will be around for the 90th anniversary…when you see the newsreels of all the WW2 battles etc…everyone in them are dead and gone. Rest in peace, you have earned it, and I salute you all.
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I remember being in Normandy a few weeks before the 50th anniversary of D-Day, and the locals then didn’t expect there to be any further big anniversary commemorations due to falling numbers of veterans. They’ve done well to get 3 more since then.
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Ehhh…it is a matter of math…the veterans at the 50th anniversary were probably around 70 at the youngest…the 80th, the youngest were around 100…Father Time always wins.
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