To support its mobile concept of modern warfare, Germany introduced a wide range of tracked and wheeled armored vehicles. One wheeled family of vehicles introduced in 1936 included 4x4 armored cars known as the, which translates as Light Armored Reconnaissance Vehicle. Powered by a Horch engine, these vehicles were based on a Horch 801 heavy car chassis to which an armored body was added. Early in WWII it performed well enough as a reconnaissance vehicle for panzer divisions, although its off-road capability let it down. Dragon Armor is introducing a model from the Leichter Panzerspahwagen family - the Sd. Kfz. 222. It is armed with a 2cm KwK.30 L/55 cannon and MG34 machine gun in an open-top turret. A crew of three operated the Sd. Kfz. 222.

Thanks to a superb level of detail, Dragon Armor's 1/72 scale model of the Sd. Kfz. 222 is impressive in appearance. This sentiment is underscored when the viewer picks up the little model, for it has been especially weighted. This internal ballast certainly gives it a more realistic and satisfying feel. Dragon Armor's fully assembled Sd. Kfz. 222 possesses all the detail expected of such a model. For example, the mesh screen covering the open-topped turret resorts to a photo-etched part to ensure it's true to scale. The gun muzzle, too, is realistically hollowed out. The vehicle is finished in an accurate shade of 'panzer gray' camouflage paint, depicting a vehicle serving in the early campaigns of WWII. Sold Out!

Dimensions:
Length: 2-1/2 inches
Width: 1-1/4 inches

Release Date: May 2011

Historical Account: "Fall Gelb" - In the Second World War, the Battle of France was the German invasion of France and the Low Countries, executed on May 10th, 1940, which ended the Phoney War. The battle consisted of two main operations. In the first, Fall Gelb (Case Yellow), German armoured units pushed through the Ardennes, to cut off and surround the Allied units that had advanced into Belgium. During the fighting, the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) and many French soldiers were evacuated from Dunkirk in Operation Dynamo.

In the second operation, Fall Rot (Case Red), executed on June 5th, German forces outflanked the Maginot Line and pushed deep into France. Italy declared war on France on June 10th and soon afterwards the French government fled to the city of Bordeaux. France's capital of Paris was occupied on June 14th. On June 17th, Philippe Petain publicly announced France would ask for an armistice. On June 22nd, an armistice was signed between France and Germany, going into effect on June 25th. For the Axis Powers, the campaign was a spectacular victory.

France was divided into a German occupation zone in the north and west, a small Italian occupation zone in the southeast, and an unoccupied zone, the zone libre, in the south. A rump state, Vichy France, administered all three zones according to the terms laid out in the armistice. In November 1942, the Axis forces also occupied the zone libre, and metropolitan France remained under Axis occupation until after the Allied landings in 1944. The Low Countries remained under German occupation until 1944 and 1945.