MASTER BOX 1/35 The 101st light company. US Paratroopers & British Tankman, France, 1944

The first attempts to use airborne units took place in the US armed forces in the early 1930s, but they turned out to be unsuccessful. Only the outbreak of World War II in Europe accelerated the development of this formation in the United States, and the first parachute unit in the history of the US Army was one of the platoons of the 29th Infantry Regiment, which in 1940 underwent appropriate training. One of the most important figures in the development of American airborne units was General William C. Lee, also known as the father of this formation. During World War II, two airborne divisions were formed: 82nd ("All American") and 101st ("Screaming Eagle"). American troops of this type played a huge role in the first days of the operation in Normandy (June 1944), but also fought later as part of Operation Market-Garden (1944) or Varsity (1945).

At the outbreak of World War II, the British Army had only two Armored Division: the Mobile Division and the Egyptian Mobile Division. In 1939-1940 they were transformed into the 1st and 7th Panzer Divisions. In the course of the war, another 9 armored divisions were formed, but not all of them entered action, and some of them did not go beyond the stage of formation and training. In 1940, the position of the British armored division envisaged two tank brigades, which included after a motorized infantry battalion, as well as numerous support units, including anti-tank artillery, field artillery, relatively numerous repair and transport units and sapper units. The division formed in this way consisted of about 220 tanks of various types. However, in 1944, the structure of the British armored division changed based on the experience of the fighting in North Africa and Normandy. The post from 1944 provided for the deployment of one armored brigade with three armored regiments of 78 tanks each ((total - 234 tanks), a motorized (de facto mechanized) infantry brigade with three battalions and relatively strong field artillery and support units - between It is worth adding that in the declining period of World War II, the British Armored Divisions were mainly equipped with Sherman tanks (also in the Firefly version), A34 Comet or the light M5 Stuart.