A Day At The Museum: Part One

A Day At The Museum: Part One Visiting Bovington Tank Museum with Jökull Gíslason and Brjánn Jónasson. On our way to this year’s European Grand Tournament, the four of us from Iceland decided to come a day early in order to visit the Tank Museum at Bovington. For us it was akin to a pilgrimage, seeing the real-life versions of the miniatures we’ve spent so many hours painting and moving around the table. Read about Jökull's experience at the European GT here...

I had no plans writing about it, but for Blake from Battlefront, who convinced me to write an article on it (Editor's Note: Mainly because he hasn't been there himself). I would have taken a few different photos if I had planned all along to do an article. Even so, these are only the highlights of our visit and a small portion of all the wonderful tanks at the Tank Museum. The tank Museum is right next to the Bovington Camp – Armour Centre and when we were driving up to the museum we could hear tank gunnery practice off in the distance. Historically, this was the training camp of the Heavy Branch of the Machine Gun Corps, who were responsible for the operation of the tank in the British Army in World War One. So in a way it is very fitting that the museum should be right in the place where the tank has its origins and is still a tank training area today.

The museum is entirely indoors and has four large halls. They are in the following order: the first is dedicated to World War One and has a full-sized diorama called the Trench Experience; this leads to the main hall, brimming with armoured fighting vehicles; then there is Battlegroup Afghanistan that focuses on the most recent deployment of the Armoured Troops; and finally a very large hall leads you through the Tank Story or the history of the tank, displaying the development of the tank with real historical tanks. Right: Next to a World War One era Mark IV.

Since we had the entire day, we begun at the Great War. Period music played as we walked through an old French town before we found ourselves in the trenches with their deplorable living conditions. After passing through the Allied trenches we crossed into the German trenches, where all of a sudden a Mark IV tank towered above you as if it were about to run you over. The display was impressive, although I have to confess that it was the World War Two tanks that we had come to see, so I apologise for the lack of pictures; space on the camera memory card was precious.

Below: The mighty King Tiger featuring the Henschel production turret and the distinctive Zimmerit non-magnetic coating.

The King Tiger (Henschel turret) The King Tiger is massive and it captures your attention completely. All the other armoured fighting vehicles around are simply dwarfed by it. It took us a while, but we were eventually able take our eyes off it and look at some of the other tanks surrounding it.

Below: A close-up of the texture of the Zimmerit non-magnetic coating	Below: The King Tiger dominates the hall.

In a different part of the museum there is another King Tiger; yes, they have two! This one featured the earlier Porsche turret and has no Zimmerit non-magnetic coating. I found the first one more impressive.

Below: Not one but two King Tigers! This one features the Porsche turret that was used earlier versions of the vehicle. Note the lack of Zimmerit on this example.

The Somua S-35 This tank is one of my favourite Early-war tanks, and they form a large part of my French army for Flames Of War. If you could call a tank cute, the Somua is definitely it. Left: The French cutie, the Somua S-35.

The Sd. Kfz. 251 All around the Somua S-35 are other armoured vehicles from Early war, including the Sd.Kfz. 251. With 15,252 built during the course of World War Two, it is an iconic part of the German Army. It was a real pleasure to get up close and personal with one.

Below: Me, next to a Sd.Kfz. 251.	Below: A close-up of the interior of the Sd.Kfz. 251.

There were also plenty of other Early-war tanks on display but we still had a lot of ground to cover if we wanted to see everything we had come to see. Right: The rear of a German Sd.Kfz. 265 Panzerbefehlswagen displaying the camouflage pattern.

Below: A French Renault UE.	Below: The ever-dependable Universal Carrier.

The main hall is subdivided into different war periods and there are so many photos to choose from that I decided to give you the highlights, focusing on World War Two of course.

Below: The German Jagdpanther.

Crews of the flame-thrower variant of the L3/35 has a strong dislike for the vehicle, since the main fuel line for the flame-thrower ran through the tiny crew compartment.

Below: Standing next to the flame-thrower variant of the L3/35.

Below: The workhorse of the Allies, the Sherman.	Below: The German counterpart, the Panzer IV.

Below: The Sherman Crab.	Below: The M3 half-track.

There was even a Ram Kangaroo. I have always wondered how four Flames Of War teams can fit in that and my conclusion is they can't. In fact, on the display it says it had two crew and eight passengers. And looking inside, that seems about right, but still tight.

Below: The Ram Kangaroo; Andri included on photo for scale.	Below: Another angle of the Ram Kangaroo.

Below: Some Italian love; the M14/41.	Below: And its Allied counterpart, the Stuart.

Below: The colossal Jagdtiger with Brjánn posing for scale.

Below: A Soivet KV-1.	Below: A Soviet SU-76.

Below: Also on display were examples of the inner workings of tanks, such as these examples of tank guns.

Below: There were even a few miniatures on display, including this D-Day diorama.

I found this of particular interest: a chopped-in-half Centurion tank showing the cramped conditions of the interior. The driver is in the front and the gunner and commander are in the turret. The loader is in the other half. This is spacious compared to many World War Two era tanks. Next time, we will have a look at the Tank Story Exhibition. For more info on the Tank Museum go here: http://www.tankmuseum.org ~ Jökull and Brjánn.