bovington tank museum Archives - Page 19 of 20

Mark IV Tank with Fascine

At the Bovington Tank Museum you can get close up and personal with the first tanks that were built and used in combat, such as the Mark IV Tank.

First World War tanks, namely the British Mark IV, started the practice of carrying fascines on the roof, to be deployed to fill trenches that would otherwise be an obstacle to the tank.

The Mark IV was a British tank of the First World War. Introduced in 1917, it benefited from significant developments of the Mark I tank (the intervening designs being small batches used for training). The main improvements were in armour, the re-siting of the fuel tank and ease of transport. A total of 1,220 Mk IV were built: 420 “Males”, 595 “Females” and 205 Tank Tenders (unarmed vehicles used to carry supplies), which made it the most numerous British tank of the war.

The “Male” tanks were armed with three machine guns and two 6-pdrs. Whilst the “Female” tanks had Five .303 Lewis machine guns.

The Mark IV was first used in mid 1917 at the Battle of Messines Ridge. It remained in British service until the end of the war, and a small number served briefly with other combatants afterwards.

I have been working on a metal 15mm Mark IV Tank for use with the Home Guard.

Though I do really like the Flames of War Great War models, which have a lot more detail.

I also have a gallery of Mark IV tanks from a wonderful 28mm demonstration game at GamesDay 2007.

Trench attack

As part of their World War One exhibition at the Tank Museum they have a Mark I tank attacking a trench.

It’s complete with mud and all. I can’t begin to imagine the shock of being at the receiving end of such an attack.

You get to really understand how massive and threatening these machines of war were.

World War One German Heavy Machine Gun Nest

This was one of the many displays at the Tank Museum in Bovington, which I saw when I visited the wargaming show there in 2016.

With the gas masks and all, it was rather creepy and threatening.

20mm Western Desert

This 20mm Western Desert was one of the display games at the 2016 wargaming show at the Tank Museum.

You can see a range of tanks and trucks in these photos. As well as artillery pieces.

Middle Eastern Game

This Middle Eastern game was one of the display games at 2016 wargaming show at the Tank Museum.

Schützenpanzer Lang HS.30

The Schützenpanzer Lang HS.30 (also Schützenpanzer 12-3) was a West German infantry fighting vehicle developed from 1956 to 1958.[1] It was a Swiss Hispano-Suiza design, with a Rolls-Royce engine.

This was parked in the car park at the Bovington Tank Museum in 2016.

It was armed with a 20-mm cannon, which was an unusually powerful weapon for an armoured personnel carrier of the period. Its design proved to have many flaws and drawbacks.

The SPz 12-3 first entered service with the Panzergrenadier battalions in 1960 and was replaced by the Marder infantry fighting vehicle from 1971.

Hiding…

At the entrance to the Bovington Tank Museum is a Challenger 1, when I was there in 2016 it was hiding…

Alvis Saracen

Outside the Bovington Tank Museum is an Alvis Saracen.

The FV603 Saracen is a six-wheeled armoured personnel carrier built by Alvis and used by the British Army. It became a recognisable vehicle as a result of its part in the policing of Northern Ireland as well as for its role in enforcing apartheid in South Africa.

Great War APC

The Mark IX tank was a British armoured fighting vehicle from the First World War. It was the world’s first specialised armoured personnel carrier (APC).

During the first actions with tanks, it became clear that infantry often could not keep up with the tanks, It wasn’t that the soldiers were too slow, the early tanks themselves could only move at a walking pace, but because soldiers on foot remained vulnerable to enemy machine gun fire. In many actions, positions gained at great cost were immediately lost for lack of infantry to consolidate.

At the end of the Great War only three had been finished, out of a total ultimate production run of thirty-four, following an order for two hundred.

These metal monsters designed in an era when they didn’t really know what they were doing and there was a lot of trial and error. The Mark IX reminds us that the APC is as old as the tank.

A22 Churchill Mk I

The Tank Museum is a collection of armoured fighting vehicles at Bovington Camp in Dorset, South West England.

Outside the entrance to the car park at the museum is an A22 Churchill Mark I.

A22 Churchill Tank

The Tank, Infantry, Mk IV (A22) Churchill was a British heavy infantry tank used in the Second World War, best known for its heavy armour, large longitudinal chassis with all-around tracks with multiple bogies, its ability to climb steep slopes, and its use as the basis of many specialist vehicles. It was one of the heaviest Allied tanks of the war.

The origins of the design lay in the expectation that war in Europe might be fought under similar conditions to those of the First World War, and emphasised the ability to cross difficult ground. The Churchill was rushed into production to build up British defences against a possible German invasion. The first vehicles had flaws that had to be overcome before the Churchill was accepted for wide use. After several Marks had been built, a better armoured version, the Mark VII, entered service.

The Churchill was used by British and Commonwealth forces in North Africa, Italy and North-West Europe. In addition, a few hundred were supplied to the USSR and used on the Eastern Front.

This A22 Churchill at the Tank Museum appears to have been completed as a Mark II but has since been altered to resemble a Mark I.

A22 Churchill Tank