Friends of the Tank Museum

*ON THIS DAY* 🗓️ 9 December 1940: Operation Compass begins. Although outnumbered, the operation is a success for Allied forces. Key to this success are the Matilda IIs of 7th RTR.

🔎 Learn more: https://youtu.be/ll90l2kWCbM

🎄 World of Tanks presents TANKMAS 🎄

A historical stream, live from The Tank Museum this evening from 6pm. Find out about the weird and wonderful tanks in the Museum’s collection with David Willey and Chris Copson, watch interviews with special guests, competitions and so much more!

👀 Watch: https://tankmuseum.org/events/tankmas

Wednesday wheels, guess the vehicle from its wheels.

*ON THIS DAY* 🗓️ 6 December 1918: The 17th (Armoured Car) Battalion is the first British unit to cross the Rhine after the Armistice. They take the Rhine Flag, one of three brown, red, and green flags that have become Tank Corps relics.

🔎Learn about their vehicles https://youtu.be/Nuc4XARvw-Y

World of Tanks is presenting the festive TANKMAS livestream at the Museum on Friday 8 December. Viewers will be treated to tank titbits, prizes, live music and special guests, including contributions from the best military museums in the world🎄🎅🏼

🔎 Find out more: https://tankmuseum.org/events/tankmas

The Sd Kfz 251/16 was equipped with a pair of flamethrowers. These weapons were ideal for uprooting entrenched enemies, and naturally had a strong morale effect, giving Panzergrenadiers a tool well suited for close engagements.

🔎 Learn more about the Sd Kfz over on our YouTube Channel: https://youtu.be/KvKTWymxhqY

The restoration of the Valentine continues, a popular and reliable British tank, it was designed and built by Vickers-Armstrong Ltd and saw action for the first time in Egypt with the 1st Army Tank Brigade in 1941.

The workshop team have fully rebuilt and fitted the suspension units and with all road wheels reattached the Valentine is now sitting on its own suspension after many years.

*ON THIS DAY* 🗓️ 30 November 1939: The Winter War begins. What the Soviets assume will be an easy win devolves into disaster. The Finns use the terrain and their weapons fully, humiliating the Soviets, before conceding Karelia.

🔎 Learn more with our T-26 Tank Chat: https://youtu.be/EaBlg5pxe-4

Wednesday wheels, guess the vehicle from the road wheels.

For the amphibious operations that would be required to liberate Europe during the Second World War, the Western Allies built a series of ships specifically designed to carry tanks ashore.

📖 Read more in ‘The Tank Museum in 100 Objects’ book: https://tankmuseumshop.org/products/the-tank-museum-in-100-objects

Looking for a Christmas gift for a tank-fan, or fancy treating yourself to something special? 🎄🎅🏼

We are still offering a limited number of £50 supporter packages which include the opportunity to see your name on the turret of the FV4005!

🔎 Find out more: https://tankmuseum.org/support-us/fv4005-fundraiser

This framework of wood and wire-netting (chicken wire as the Americans call it) was devised to prevent enemy stick grenades from lodging on the roof of the tank.

📖 Read more over on our blog: https://tankmuseum.org/article/the-bombproof-roof

*SAVE UP TO 20%* 🤩
Recently re-vamped, our new slippers have been a great hit so far! Make tracks from the sofa to the fridge with these novelty tank-themed slippers. You can even reenact Fury with the Sherman and Tiger slippers! Use BLACKFRI-60 for 15% off orders over £60 and BLACKFRI-100 for 20% off orders over £100.
🗓️Ends 27 November.
🔗 https://tankmuseumshop.org/collections/slippers

Wednesday wheels, guess the vehicle from the wheels.

£20,000 in 24 hrs! We have been overwhelmed by your support for our project to return the FV4005 to running order for TANKFEST 2024.

We would like to thank all our supporters who have contributed. You can still support this project and The Tank Museum by purchasing our FV4005 merch – and we will continue to offer a limited number of £50 supporter packages which include the opportunity to see your name on the turret of the FV4005.

Read more - https://tankmuseum.org/article/20k-in-24hrs

*ON THIS DAY* 🗓️ 20 November 1917: The Battle of Cambrai begins. The largest tank attack of the war so far, a force of 476 Mark IV tanks, overwhelms the German frontline and advances 10,000 yards from their start point.

To learn more, watch David Willey's documentary, Cambrai: The Tank Corps Story, here: https://youtu.be/DX_BnN4cWbo

*ON THIS DAY* 🗓️ 19 November 1942: Operation Uranus begins, encircling the Axis forces in Stalingrad. The Soviets punch through the Romanians around the city, and on the 23rd, the Soviet pincers meet, encircling Stalingrad.

Learn about the tanks involved here: https://youtu.be/8dUAs40ymag

*ON THIS DAY* 🗓️ 18 November 1941: Operation Crusader begins with an attack by # # # Corps. After some initial struggles, the Commonwealth finds the advantage over the Axis, handing the Wehrmacht one of their first defeats of the war.

Learn more about the tanks involved on our YT channel: https://youtu.be/nXJKME4qSwc

All I want for Christmas is… A Christmas jumper featuring tanks from each era of military history, skiing down a hill with The Tank Museum in the background, looking majestic. Yes, that is what I want for Christmas. ⁠

https://tankmuseumshop.org/products/knitted-tank-top

*NEW UPLOAD* It’s not easy to hide a tank. But over the years, military commanders have developed ways to disguise, cover and conceal the presence of their tanks from the enemy. This video is about the “art of deception” – and how, since World War One, through World War Two and into the present day, the science of tank camouflage has evolved to meet the conditions and threats of the contemporary battlefield. Watch: https://tankmuseum.org/article/latest-from-the-museums-youtube-channel-november-23

❓️TANK TRIVIA❓️

Can you guess which tank is hidden in this image from the clues below? 🤔

1. The vehicle itself originated in the 1940s
2. It’s British
3. It has been through multiple design stages
4. It’s popular in World of Tanks
5. It’s one of a kind

🖐🏼Think you know which tank we are talking about? Pop your answer in the comments!

This salvage tank is a Mark IV that had a lifting apparatus that was used in the Bovington Workshops during the First World War.

The jib was normally attached to the front of salvage tanks, but the winch mounted at the back is an oddity. It is worked by two men, winding handles, with a line leading to the jib at the front. Normally tanks with the jib fitted rely on a chain hoist, worked from the ground, but this is something altogether more substantial.

📖 Read more: https://tankmuseum.org/article/experimental-tanks-part-two

The FV4005 project was an early 1950s attempt to develop a powerful gun to deal with heavily armoured Soviet tanks. The massive 183mm L4 was the result. This vehicle was Stage I of the project, essentially just the gun on a Centurion hull.

The Museum vehicle is Stage II, with a modified gun encased in a thinly armoured turret. It dates from 1955. The project ended in early 1957, as it was clear by then that missiles were the way forward.

🔎Find out more about the FV4005 in our Tank Chat: https://youtu.be/zzfUPvRCRAk

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.

King George V established Armistice Day, also known as Remembrance Day, in 1919 to commemorate the anniversary of the conclusion of the First World War and to honour military personnel who lost their lives doing their duty.

The Tank Museum’s Archive holds a copy of the actual telegram sent by the 5th Tank Brigade to the 8th Tank Battalion notifying its troops of the end of hostilities on the 11 November 1918.

Read more: https://tankmuseum.org/article/we-remember

*NEW UPLOAD* Enjoy this compilation of classic Tank Chats presented by David Fletcher. We’ve put together David’s chats on TOG 2, FV4005, Conqueror, Conway and the 40 Ton Cent – representing some of the heaviest tanks in our collection. Watch: https://tankmuseum.org/article/latest-from-the-museums-youtube-channel-november-23

Members of the 3820th Quartermaster Gas Supply Company refill a sea of Jerry cans in Normandy in July 1944. These cans should later have been returned to them for refilling and reuse, but they were often just dumped, leading to massive shortages.

👀 For more, watch reel on Jerry cans over on our Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/reel/Co7epk_qVxe/

Wednesday wheels.
Guess the vehicle from the road wheels.

*ON THIS DAY* 🗓️ 8 November 1942: Operation Torch, the Allied landing in Northwest Africa begins. After they capture Oran and Casablanca, the way is clear for the Tunisian campaign to begin.

🔎 Learn more about Shermans like these pictured in Oran here: https://youtu.be/AetDM3fJVIE

*ON THIS DAY* 🗓️ 5 November 1956: Operation Musketeer, the Anglo-French attempt to seize the Suez Canal, begins. As a military operation, the invasion, which includes Centurion tanks, will be successful, but the political reaction will force a ceasefire and the withdrawal of the European powers.

🔎Learn more about Centurions on our YT channel: https://youtu.be/zuMz7-K-N4M

Now over the years we've covered a lot of Land Rovers, it's fair to say we're fans of the Landy.
But we've found one we haven't covered before 😁
The RNLI trialed a fully tracked Defender conversion using the MATTRACKS system for launch and recovery of their D class boat stationed at Rhyl back in 2014.

WAS £40 NOW £20.

This year, The Tank Museum celebrated its centenary. 💯

To commemorate this milestone, The Tank Museum in 100 Objects was released. This 216 page hardback book offers a detailed account of what makes our collection world class. Pick yours up as the offer of the week at a great discount.

🔗https://tankmuseumshop.org/products/the-tank-museum-in-100-objects

*NEW UPLOAD* Bagging 5 Panther tanks with just 5 shots, Sgt Wilf Harris showed that the Sherman Firefly could take on the best the Germans had to offer – and that British tank crews were just as good as their German equivalents.

Set in Normandy in 1944, World War Two historian John Delaney presents a fascinating story from history that deserves to be better known.

📽️ Watch: https://tankmuseum.org/article/latest-from-the-museums-youtube-channel-november-23