Photo Album 16 - The First Time I Saw Paris

WORLD WAR II DIORAMAS

"The First Time I Saw Paris"

M-10 Tank Destroyer

Above: An M-10 Tank Destroyer stops on the Hills of St. Cloud, just outside of Paris, on August 25, 1944. The crews of the M-10 and the Jeep are awed by their first look at the City of Light sprawled before them in all its splendor. The M-10 was built by GMC and armed with a high velocity 3 inch anti aircraft gun. The gun was mounted in an open turret, itself mounted on the chassis of the M-4A2 Sherman tank. The idea of the "tank destroyer" (TD), fast, agile and with good firepower, was borne of the superiority of German armor. The TD units were supposed to move in fast, hit hard, and get out. Great in theory, but in practice, the TD battalions did poorly in tank vs tank combat and for the most part were used as mobile artillery and for close support of ground troops. This scene is based on a real street in St. Cloud. The streets are clay, the sidewalks balsa wood, the groundwork is Celluclay and the stone walls are Celluclay with aquarium stones set in the clay while still wet. The M-10 is Tamiya, and the jeep and gun I believe are Monogram. The sign above the street reads "Happy Welcome for you Allies", and is an authentic reproduction of a sign I have in photos of that great day for France. The graveyard has names on the headstones. I was feeling a bit "humorously morbid" that day, so I named the dead after infamous French serial killers, such as the 19th century Paris killer Landru.

Above: A view of the whole project.

Above: A Frenchman, his daughter and their dog. The man carries French bread and a miniature version of Paris Soir, a Parisian Newspaper. The date on the paper is August 25, 1944. The street is named after my mother, France Asaban.The dog and the man were easy enough to find inTamiya kits - the girl was a whole different story. I found her in a series of very poorly detailed "railroad" people sold at a train hobby store. All these figures were made of pink plastic and had grossly disproportionate body parts...so getting her to look human was quite the challenge.

Above: The rear deck of the M-10, complete with a case of French Calvados wine (scratch made from balsa wood) and a case of C-rations. Note the billboard full of German propaganda posters in the background. This street is named after my father, Maurice Asaban.