The Pacific Theatre of Operations (PTO) was a bitter campaign for Allied forces as they pressed fanatical Japanese defenders back towards their homeland By the end of WWII the Pacific War had resulted in the deaths of some 6 million soldiers and 18 million civilians. One of the costliest battles was the capture of the volcanic island of Iwo Jima from 19 February 26 March 1945. Codenamed Operation Detachment. this first taking of a Japanese home island eventually embroiled some 70.000 US Marines One of the vehicles the Marines relied on to get them onto Iwo Jima was the LVT-4. also referred to as the Water Buffalo This amphibious tractor had a ramp at the rear to allow troops to disembark after the vehicle had swum ashore With a total of 8351 LVT-4 vehicles produced it was the most common version of the LVT family

Dragon is releasing its first ever 1/72 scale plastic kit of the Water Buffalo, M4H so naturally it employs all-new mouldings. The arrival of the LVT-4 adds nicely to the armoured LVT(A).1 and LVT(A)-4 vehicle kits that are already available in the 1/72 line up. It has crisp detail, with elements like the weld seams and complex suspension system carefully reproduced. The LVT-4 comes with DS tracks so that detail on the links can be as fine as possible. The rear ramp can be portrayed either raised or lowered, plus the inclusion of a 4x4 truck, an icon of WWII, provides the potential for an instant Pacific War diorama The smaller vehicle comes with a mounted .50-cal machine gun. and the truck can be parked inside the LVT-4. or it can be shown embarking or even disembarking during a fierce amphibious assault on an Iwo Jima beach. Modellers have a novel diorama straight from the box with this new LVT-4 and 4x4 truck combo!