Facebook: Friends of the Tank Museum

[fsn]

Afternoon chaps.

There's a Facebook group called the "Friends of the Tank Museum". Has lots of good photos posted - best reason for being on Facebook.   


A Swiss 24mm Tankbusche 41 being towed by a soldier on a bicycle. The Tb41 was a semi-automatic weapon with a six round magazine, but given it was introduced in 1941, it would soon be outclassed by improvements in tank armour

They currently seem to be posting a lot of British NW Europe photos not available elsewhere that I can find.

Recommended.

[fsn]

While we're on Facebook, I can also heartyily recommend the WWII Tanks /Armoured Cars channel. It's a bit select so not everyone gets on it, but they have lots of unusual and interesting photos.

THE ITALIAN CAMPAIGN 1944.
A Grant ARV of the New Zealand Division lifts a Daimler scout car which had become bogged down in the mud near Faenza, 7 February 1945.
Lambert (Sergeant): No. 1 Army Film & Photographic Unit
© IWM (NA 22176)


THE ITALIAN CAMPAIGN 1944.
Men from 40th Royal Tank Regiment try out a captured German StuG III assault gun, 14 September 1943.
Lambert (Sergeant): No. 1 Army Film & Photographic Unit
© IWM (NA 6864)

COMMONWEALTH FORCES IN NORTH AFRICA 1941.
New Zealanders take prisoner the crew of a Matilda tank, captured by the Germans and used in an attempt to break through the Allied lines,
during which it was knocked out by an anti-tank gun, 3 December 1941.
Silk G (Australian Photo Unit).

Highly recommended

[fsn]

You might only see these if you're on Facebook

[paulr]

That middle picture doesn't match up with the caption above

[lowlylowlycook]

I'm not of facebook and I see pictures but no captions.  Huh.

[Techno]

I'm the same as 'Cookie'. (Pictures, but no captions)

Cheers - Phil

[fsn]

Captions are in previous post. HOWEVER, I got bored with the StuG so the middle caption is:

"The village hall and local school - used in July 1942 to quarter the Panzerspähkompanie (armoured recce company) of the Aufklärungsabteilung 'LSSAH' - is now partly boarded up, but otherwise little has changed in the Rue du Pavé du Roy in the small village of Maison-Rouge.

Between the 17th and the 26th of July the trains from the Ukraine arrived at the stations of Versailles-Melun and Fontainbleau, cities in the Île-de-France region which includes Paris. The Aufklärungsabteilung 'LSSAH' was on the first trains and had to wait in the area until the division was complete. In the photos several Sd.Kfz. 232's, 222's and a 221 modified with a Panzerbüchse."

[fsn]

BRITISH TANKS AND ARMOURED FIGHTING VEHICLES 1939-45.
The Axis retreat and the Tunisian campaign 1942 - 1943:
A British tank crosses a wide ditch outside Mersa Matruh just before the fall of the town.
Keating, Geoffrey (Major): No. 1 Army Film & Photographic Unit
© IWM (E 19315)

Facebook - WWII Tanks / Armoured Cars

[fsn]

THE BRITISH ARMY IN NORTH AFRICA 1943.
25-pdr field guns and 'Quad' artillery tractors parade past Winston Churchill during his visit to Tripoli to thank the 8th Army for its success in the North African campaign, 4 February 1943.
Silverside, John (Sgt).

Who's that at the back, left? Sailors plus some chap in a kilt?



We generally think of the Matilda II as an "early war" tank, and it is best known for its contribution to the 1940/41 desert campaign, where it was actually better armoured than the versions of the Panzer III and IV then in service. However, it was left behind as German tanks an AT guns improved. It soldiered on until the end of the war in Australian service in the far east, where the lighter Japanese guns and tanks meant it was still a viable design, and its low speed was not a problem. The standard Matilda II had a 2pdr AT gun, which lacked a decent HE round, but Australian units deployed a high proportion of the close support version, armed with a 3in howitzer. The vehicle pictured is on Bougainville in 1945; note that the infantry riding on it have the unique Australian Owen SMGs

[Duke Speedy of Leighton]

Chap front left might be a marinevsecinded from a Scottish unit@

[fsn]

Bundesarchiv Bild 101I-526-2323-26A, Balkan, italienischer Spähpanzer.
Balkan.- Soldier in the tower of an Italian armored car; PK Lw Kda Southeast
Date: 1943.
Photographer: Reich
Propagandakompanien der Wehrmacht - Heer und Luftwaffe (Bild 101 I)
Bild 101I-526-2323-26A
Source: German Federal Archives



Bundesarchiv Bild 101I-299-1804-07, Nordfrankreich, Panzer VI (Tiger I).
Northern France, Gournay - Morgny - four Panzer VI "Tiger I" (tower number 205) of the SS-Panzerkorps "Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler" on the street; PK 698
Date: 21 March 1944.
Photographer: Scheck
Propagandakompanien der Wehrmacht - Heer und Luftwaffe (Bild 101 I)
Bild 101I-299-1804-07
Source: German Federal Archives

[Womble67]

Some excellent pictures there

Take care

Andy

[fsn]

Bundesarchiv Bild 101I-163-0328-15, Greece, Panzer I B mit I.G. 33.
German sIG 33 gun on Pz.Kpfw. I chassis, DKW NZ350 motorbike in Greece 1941. Original caption reads: Greece - Heavy Infantry-Gun 33 on Panzer I chassis type B of the 5th Panzerdivision[1], PK 690
Date: April 1941


Bundesarchiv Bild 101I-175-1268-20A, Greece, Panzer IV.
Balkans, Greece.- Panzer IV Ausf G (number 733, with 7.5 cm L / 48), stuck in the mud, is pulled out by other Panzer IV (number 734); Crews watch; PK 690
Date: 1941

[Duke Speedy of Leighton]

Bit bogged down!

[paulr]

Looks like a training exercise. either that or half the company has turned up to laugh at the idiot who got stuck