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Leopard II Tank Miniature

$183.75

SKU: 17.102

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On Sunday, December 3, 2006, near the village of Panjwaii, Afghanistan, Taliban forces fired two rockets at a Canadian squadron of Leopard tanks. When the tanks returned fire with their 105-millimetre guns, it was the first time since the Korean War that Canadian tanks were involved in combat.

With the sound of those big guns echoing through the surrounding mountains — an area regarded as the spiritual home of the Taliban — Canada became the first NATO country to send tanks into combat in Afghanistan.

“Back in 2006 people wondered why Canada brought Leopard tanks to build stability in Afghanistan,” says Lee Windsor, deputy director of The Gregg Centre for the Study of War and Society at UNB, and co-author of Kandahar Tour: The Turning Point In Canada's Afghan Mission. “But the Cold War tanks proved they could travel anywhere and do the unexpected. When the Taliban opened fire from farm buildings beside villages to lure Canadians into harming the innocent, our tank crews ended the clash with one precision shot.”

size: 4.5" long, 2" wide