Churchill Avre with Bobbin

After the Dieppe raid it was obvious that new equipment was needed to breach beach defences and other fortifications. The Armoured Vehicle Royal Engineers (AVRE) was designed to fill that need. Essentially the AVRE was a Mk III or IV Churchill with a new main gun and a host of attachments for various engineering tasks welded on. These attachments allowed the AVRE to lay tracks across soft going, to bridge small gaps, clear mines and so on. However, in the course of a normal Bolt Action battle, the most important change is the main armament. The AVRE is armed with a 290mm Petard mortar which fires an 18kg round, specially designed to level fortifications. The ‘flying dustbin’ of explosives moves slow enough for it to be seen, but the effect is devastating...

The Churchill AVRE Bobbin was a reel of 10 feet wide canvas cloth that was reinforced with steel poles. This would be unrolled to form a “path” upon which the AVRE, and any following vehicles, could advance and avoid sinking into soft ground during beach assaults.

This stunning Trenchworx kit consists of resin, metal and 3-D printed components.