About tracks, thick steel and more
75 years ago, in the early hours of Sunday 17 September, operation Market Garden commenced. It was a daring plan by Montgomery to outpace the Germans by bypassing the heavily fortified Westwall (Siegfried line) protecting the Ruhr area. This was part of an overarching plan by the Supreme Headquarters of the Allied Expeditionary Forces (SHEAF) to strike Germany on a
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During an hour long show in the tank arena some ten vehicles were showcased. The show was split in two parts of which the first was a theatrical act “The battle of Soesterberg” in which one group of AFVs belonged to the villain, ex-general Roodhart (team red) which had to take it up against the good guys of general Blauwenaar
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Last weekend, 24 & 25 August, the Nationaal Militair Museum (NMM) in Soesterberg held its annual summer event dubbed ‘Zomeroffensief’. Last year’s summer event focused heavily on aircraft. This year, too, many aircraft could be admired along the runway in a static-show format. Among the jet fighters were a McDonnell Douglas F-4E Phantom II as well as Lockheed TF-104 Starfighter,
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This little guy keeps coming back almost every museum I visit; the Goliath. Various version with differing means of propulsion have been produced throughout the Second World War. The main goal of this vehicle was to blow up the enemy. It essentially is a wire-guided bomb. An operator would steer it close to a nearby enemy vehicle via a remote
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For tank fans it is a familiar sight, regularly there are Panther wrecks around which one or two white boxes can be found. Usually these boxes seem to have been thrown down carelessly and are not in the best of shape. Questions that occurred to me are: what kind of boxes are these? What were they made of and why
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As promised, here is a video of the Panther at Militracks. It shows the Panther starting its engine and driving around a bit on the museum premises. The Panther from Saumur runs noticeably smoother than the Königstiger from the same museum which was present at Militracks last year. In contrast to the Tiger II last year the Panther does not
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