My original plan back in the 70s was to duplicate the units assembled for forcing a crossing of the Moselle south of Metz at Dornot mid-Sept., 1944. Soooo, I started acquiring the vehicles for these units. As the TO&Es started to fill & after visiting the site in France in 2017, it became clear this was too ambitious. Just the 7thArmored 23AI HQ & B Companies were huge & would require modeling the whole village of Dornot & surroundings up to the top of the ridge, not to mention the 11th Inf. Regiment vehicles that would be in the village & along the riverside railroad line. The attached 2nd Chem Mortar Bat. & smoke elements, 735 Medium Tank C Co., & 818 Tank Destroyer C Company would require modeling the area to the south all the way beyond Corny almost to Arnaville. 11th Inf. Cannon Co., 449AAA elements of Battery D & elements of the 7thEngineer Battalion would require modeling the road net & farms to the west of the ridge to Gorze & south to the Arnaville area. All this just on the west side of the river. The east side had the 'Horseshoe Wood', orchards up to the ridge & the Verdun Forts. The 17thSS PG elements including the 37thSS PG Rg'mt. were refitting in this area between Jouy-aux-Arches to the north & Corny to the south, alongside the 282Inf. Reg'mt., SS Signals School & fortress units who were stationed there. Needless to say, mission creep prevailed & I've pretty much modeled way more vehicles than I can present on both sides of the Moselle. My son tells me the Germans I've modeled have more punch than most late war Panzer Regiments. My favorite uncle was wounded & decorated for his actions during the "Battle of the Horseshoe Wood", and that is what focused my attention on this battle.