Historical information
The following
text comes from the museum:
THE
HOME OF THE TANK
Few people realise that Southern England is home to the largest and
most significant Museum of its kind to be found anywhere in the world.
At The Tank Museum in Bovington, you can see the biggest and best collection
of tanks in the world; from the first tank ever built to the modern Challenger
II. Many of the vehicles in our collection cannot be seen anywhere else.
Our definitive collection comprises over 250 vehicles dating back to
1909.
Here you will come face to
face with tanks that have seen action in all the major wars of the
20th Century. Around the Museum, visitors are
taken on a spectacular journey – exploring the life of the tank
crew and the history of these magnificent machines.
From the Somme to Tiananmen
Square or D-Day to Desert Storm, the tank plots the history of the
20th Century – and our unique collection
plays a central role in the understanding of modern warfare.
OUR HISTORY
Bovington is the home of the tank; an invention that has changed the
world.
It was on the very fields on which the Museum now stands that this new
secret weapon was tested during World War I, and where a vast surplus
of tanks were dumped on their return from France at the end of the war.
The redundant army of slowly
rusting steel hulks began to attract the curiosity of visitors. Increasing
interest, notably from renowned author
Rudyard Kipling, persuaded the army to fence off a number of tanks for
the public to browse whilst the rest were broken up for scrap. These
`rescued` machines form the basis of the Museum’s collection today.
The Tank Museum has grown
steadily over the years to become the world’s
leading historical resource on the subject of armoured warfare.
ACTION & EVENTS
Courtesy from Armchair
General
The Armchair General team arrived at the War and Peace show in Kent,
England.
Imagine the awesome power
of tank warfare brought to life, in front of your very eyes. It’s
a reality at The Tank Museum.
Watch in awe as tanks from
as early as World War 2 face off in a mock battle; thundering engines,
life-like explosions and smoke billowing
across the battlefield… This is Tanks In Action!
The Tank Museum hosts
a number of Tanks In Action events throughout the year – see our
website and the events listings for more information
or call us on call 01929 462359.
Click here to get all
the latest news from The Tank Museum or contact directly the museum there.
Location
The Tank Museum is located here:
Bovington – Wool – Dorset – BH20 6JG
Phone: 01929 405 096
Take National A352
between Wareham and Dorchester.
Personal note
Visiting the tank
museum will be appreciated by children too especially if it rains.
Presentation of tanks in action during summer events bring
an unquestionable added-value to this museum. There is also an ample
free parking.
The museum displays a desert camouflaged
Tiger tank captured in
Tunisia
by
British troops. More info on the Tiger project are gathered here.
The 50 first Tigers were equipped with the Krupp turret designed for
Porsche (photo 25), Krupp also designed the turret for Henschel (photo
99 and photo here above), Henschel tank and turret were finally chosen
for use
in combat operations (Porsche turret could less avoid shells due to its
curved shape).
The Canadian Ram Mk I -produced in 50 units- (photo 79 for Ram II) which
never saw combat influenced the US Sherman M4 (photo 105). It also gave
birth to the troop
carrier
Kangaroo
(photo 113) from summer 1944.
The Australian Sentinel -produced in 66 units- (photo 74) never saw combat,
she was used as training tank.
The first Sherman Crab (photo 68) appeared in May 1943 in Tunisia,
it was also called the Scorpion IV or Mine exploder T 2.
The Boarhound T18 (photo 119) was designed -with eight wheels- to planned
be operational in 1942 for desert combat but was ready for operations
only in
1944
and it was not suitable for operations in the continent, other recon vehicles
were chosen like M8 Greyhound (photo 50). The Boarhound never saw combat.
Two Tortoise (photo 120) were tested in Germany in 1948. They were difficult
to transport and could damage roads and bridges but in firing trials
the gun proved to be extremely accurate. It was, however, hard work for
the loader despite the fact that shell and shell case were loaded separately,
and there was considerable criticism of the ammunition stowage arrangement.
Tortoise was never accepted for active service.
SU-100 displayed in the museum (photo 121) served in Egyptian army, it
was captured at Port Said during Operation Musketeer, the Anglo-French
landings
in
Egypt in 1956. The gun was the same as the one used by the Russian T-54
tank.
In the official nomenclature of the US Army the medium tank (the Grant)
had originally no name but the M3 reference like other
equipment such as halftrack
and light tank (the future Stuart). In order to avoid confusions and
source of mistakes with equipement management, the Brits named "Lee"
the M3 medium tank (photo 84) and "Stuart" the M3 light tank (photo
75), Lee and Stuart being Confederate Generals!!! In December 1941 Americans
named their M3 medium tank "Grant" (a Unionist General) and
kept the name "Suart" given by the Brits for the M3 light tank. The Brits
also
used
on the Lee a specific turret designed by their own technical department,
the Lee with this turret are displayed in the museum (photos 83 and
84). Americans named the M4 Sherman (photo 105), the name of the
Unionist general who defeated Lee. The Stuart (photos 75 and 115)
was nicknamed "Honey" by the Brits because of her firing precision and
her easy maintenance (two hours
maintenance
each
two days versus two hours maintenance for eight hours of usage for any
contemporary British
tank).
The Firefly (photos 34 and 35) is a US Sherman tank with a 17 pounder
gun (77 mm) as canon (instead of the US 75 mm). The Brits created the
Firefly due to the nasty surprise of Tigers in Tunisia and Panthers in
Italy.
The
radio
equipment
is moved behind the turret, this leaves more place to store shells on
board. Fireflys will first appear in June 1944 during D Day.
