COBI Sd.Kfz. 251/1 Ausf. A - Limited Edition Set 2551

COBI's Sd.Kfz. 251/1 Ausf. A Limited Edition is built from 636 blocks, 23.5 cm long, in the early dark grey finish. The wheels move on realistic tires, the track links work, the side compartments and the rear double doors open, and machine guns are fitted. Four figures are included: a field marshal and a war reporter with a camera, both exclusive to this edition, plus two mechanics. A road sign on a stand pointing to a field hospital, barbed wire with connectors, a numbered laser-engraved plate and a matching certificate signed by COBI's president complete the set.

The man with the camera was a soldier

Germany's war photographers and cameramen were not journalists in any sense a modern reader would recognise. They belonged to the Propagandakompanien — propaganda companies — which were military units under the Wehrmacht, and their members were soldiers with ranks, uniforms and weapons who happened to carry a camera.

Around 15,000 men served in them. They went forward with the assault units, and several hundred were killed doing it.

What they produced is the reason this matters. The overwhelming majority of photographs and film of the German side of that war — the images in every documentary, every book, every museum — were taken by these men, under orders, for a ministry. Every frame was shot to be published and passed a censor before it was.

That does not make the images false. It does mean that what we can see of one side of the war was chosen by the people fighting it, and what was not photographed was not photographed on purpose.

COBI has put one of them in the box next to a field marshal. It is an unusually thoughtful pair of figures.

The vehicle

Built from 1939 to 1945 in four models, A to D, and 23 official variants — personnel carrier, mortar carrier, flamethrower, anti-tank, radio, ambulance, rocket launcher. The Ausf. A is the earliest and rarest, with the multi-faceted early hull. The armoured body was welded from plates and bolted together in two sections, and the rear compartment carried ten men.

The number of variants makes this a good set for anyone who likes modifying rather than following instructions.

In the COBI range

Set 2552 is the same vehicle in the standard edition.

Specifications

Pieces: 636 · Figures: 4, two exclusive to this edition · Working track links · Numbered plate and signed certificate
Model dimensions: 23.5 × 8.5 × 9 cm (9.3 × 3.3 × 3.5 in)