Sicily: The Race to Messina (July 1943 - August 1943)

The M4 Sherman medium tank was regarded by many as the workhorse of the US Army during World War II. In fact, virtually all of the Allied armies employed the Sherman in their armed forces, including the British, who developed an upgunned variant called the "Firefly".

Nicknamed the 'Priest' by British crews because of its pulpit-shaped machine-gun turret at the front, the M7 grew from US experience with howitzers mounted on half-tracked vehicles. The War Department soon realized that a fully tracked carriage was required, and the M3 tank was modified to fill the role.

Development of the Sd. Kfz. 7 can be traced back to a 1934 requirement for an 8-ton half-track. The vehicle first appeared in 1938 and was destined to be used mainly as the tractor for the 8.8cm flak gun. The Sd. Kfz. 7 was an extremely useful vehicle, employed both as a weapons carrier and prime mover by the Wehrmacht.

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The Dodge WC series was a prolific range of light 4WD and medium 6WD military utility trucks, produced by Dodge / Fargo during World War II. Together with the 1/4-ton jeeps produced by Willys and Ford, the Dodge 1/2-tons and 3/4-tons made up nearly all of the light 4WD trucks supplied to the U.S. Army in WW II - with Dodge contributing some 337,500 4WD units - over half as many of these as the jeep.

The 3/4 ton weapons carrier was used to transport weapons, tools and equipment in the field to frontline combat units. The body is of the commercial pickup type, with a removable canvas top mounted on three bows.

The Sturmgeschutz III (StuG III) assault gun was Germany's most-produced armored fighting vehicle during World War II. It was built on the chassis of the proven Panzer III tank, replacing the turret with an armored, fixed superstructure mounting a more powerful gun.