The Tank Museum

Above: The Simms War Car. David Fletcher MBE, former Tank Museum Historian, presents another in his series of exclusive articles inspired by the extensive archive of unique historic documents and photographs held at The Tank Museum. I have been rummaging around in old files recently and amidst the bits and pieces that surfaced I found quite a few documents, articles and old cuttings, regarding the pioneer automobilist and armoured car designer F. R. Simms. Further stimulus came from my friend Stuart Gibbard who unearthed more information and some new photographs. Not that I propose to revisit all of that here, I have another object in mind. Freddie Simms is just the excuse. However we should acknowledge Simms’ place among the pioneers – he was not the only one by any means. His earliest essay dates from 1899 and involved fitting a Maxim gun to the handlebars of a Beeston Quadricycle, powered by a 1½hp De Dion engine which he demonstrated at Richmond in Surrey in that year (right). However much of what Simms did, his motivation if you like and many of the people he interacted with were more involved in the general history, the early history, of the automobile in Britain and the application of mechanisation to agriculture so what I really want to show is how a study, albeit a fairly superficial study of these factors will improve our understanding of his place in the history of armoured warfare. I imagine most people with a passing interest in armoured vehicles, and indeed many who are more focussed will at least be aware of the Simms War Car. It turns up in virtually every book on the subject of armoured fighting vehicles as if to prove that, from the very start the attitude of those bewhiskered old codgers at the War Office was dead set against anything mechanical or modern that might upset the even tenor of their way of life. Of course it wasn’t really like that, not quite anyway, but that well-known photograph, now almost iconic, of Simms’ massive vehicle, filled to the brim with top-hatted toffs outside the Crystal Palace in April 1902 seems to say it all (left). More than one writer has commented on the fact that there is not a uniform in sight, not even a policemen; indeed The Autocar commented on this at the time in the most disparaging terms. Incidentally the Crystal Palace seems to have been a popular venue with F, R, Simms. When he began importing Daimler cars in 1895 he demonstrated the first one at the Crystal Palace. However my interest at the moment and the object of this article is to take a look from another angle, in a way that Frederick Simms illustrates admirably. A friend of mine refers to it as ‘mixing your disciplines’ although in his case it usually means making a model with one hand with a glass of single malt in the other and nothing wrong with that, it has to be said. Simms was not a military man, indeed I can trace no military influence on Simms’ life at all unless he was a member of the Motor Volunteer Corps, as most of his associates were, so one is forced to ask where his military interest comes from. The answer seems to be that he had a wide range of interests extending from ordinary motor cars and lorries through these armoured designs and internal combustion tramcars to farm tractors and mechanical lawnmowers. Those photographs that Stuart Gibbard sent me, which I include here, are what inspired this piece because they illustrate my point precisely. Two are of the Simms War Car, parked on a road somewhere while the third shows his prototype farm tractor (right) and Stuart was interested to know whether I thought that this machine showed, in effect, the chassis of the former – in other words was it possible to say that Simms used the tractor as the basis for his War Car? My immediate reaction is to say no; Simms had a number of interests, each of which was unique in its own way and apart from the fact that both vehicles featured a four-cylinder engine and four wheels there was no direct link. I base this view on the fact that Simms had such a broad range of interests – mixing his disciplines if you like – that each project was a concept in its own right with only the most basic features in common. In any case the War Car pre-dates the tractor by a year; the latter was built and demonstrated at Ipswich in 1903. I think this becomes obvious when one compares the tractor chassis with the sectioned drawings of the War Car that appeared in The Autocar (right); the War Car is a lot bigger than the tractor and it has coil springs on the front axle whereas the tractor, as far as one may see, has leaf springs all round. The tractor also has a power take-off at the rear, for driving other farmyard implements – a typical agricultural application. We are told that the War Car was driven by a 16hp Daimler engine while that of the tractor is rated at 20hp; both are described as four-cylinder and might well be the same while the War Car, we are told, had a four speed Canstatt gearbox while one would expect no more than two speeds on a tractor; in addition to the power take-off of course.. The layout of the tractor is entirely conventional, even by today’s standards, but the War Car is not. The engine is located in the centre on the War Car and although it is described as a four cylinder unit it hardly looks big enough and there is no obvious location for a radiator. On the other hand the tractor chassis is laid bare, you can see the radiator at the front and the cylinder blocks, each of two cylinders, in line behind it. This leaves a lot of questions concerning the War Car unanswered; where is the exhaust for instance? According to the article in The Autocar, which reads a bit like an official handout or press release, the War Car’s engine was cooled by a Canstatt fan, driven off the engine, which sounds like an air-cooled arrangement; there is certainly no indication of a radiator or a water system, or indeed, any evidence of an exhaust pipe; while as the drawing shows the gearbox is apparently located behind the driving axle, which is a very odd arrangement. Perhaps someone with a better engineering brain than mine can make more sense of this. Now my idea of mixing disciplines involves more than single malt, although I have no objection to including that at all, but it extends to the point that my book shelves hold titles on early tractors and motor cars in addition to armoured vehicles, among many other things, but these will do just for now. The tractor itself, I think, can be dismissed fairly quickly. At this time Simms was acting as something of an entrepreneur, designing things, sometimes building prototypes but in the main offering his ideas to others to develop. From a couple of my books I learn that the tractor was developed, at least to the point of a working prototype, by the Ipswich firm Ransomes, Sims and Jefferies; although their Mr Sims was not our Mr Simms, nor even related as far as we known. They built and demonstrated a prototype tractor based upon Frederick Simms’ design in 1903 but failed to attract any customer interest at all and seem to have let the project drop. Simms himself of course was also interested in capitalising on the motor industry in whatever way he could think of although he, like many others, realised that this was a long term process – an idea that would only catch on if influential members of the public, followed as a matter of course by the public at large, took to automobilism in a big way. Thus, among his immediate circle he numbered the dedicated motoring enthusiast Sir David Salomans, the wealthy Evelyn Ellis and, inevitably, the Hon. Charles Rolls. A less exalted but in many ways more influential character was the diminutive businessman Harry J Lawson whose business methods, while not strictly speaking a model of probity, at least ensured that things got done. Simms, one suspects got tarred to some extant by Lawson’s brush which is why, some say, he never got the knighthood he might otherwise have deserved. Now, perhaps, you can see what I mean by mixing my disciplines. At one level, including Simms himself of course, we have some quite fascinating military connections. Ransomes, Sims and Jefferies not only built some of the early Thompson Steamers that Colonel Crompton acquired when he pioneered military haulage in India they were also involved in the production of special devices for 79th Armoured Division during preparations for the invasion of France in 1944 – so there are sound military reasons to study that company, but for similar reasons the firm that Charles Rolls and his partner Henry Royce founded in 1904 has had significant links with the military, almost up to the present day. But those things aside my point is this, that the whole subject, whether it be the history of tractors, or cars, or the persons involved is fascinating in its own right and the more one studies these things, the more one learns, the more interesting it all becomes. What horrifies me, and I come across it all the time, is the attitude that says ‘this is my interest, this and nothing else’. Believe me if you do not study the subject as broadly as possible; follow every avenue as far as it leads you will miss a lot and never even get a true grip on your core subject.

Above: Mark IV tanks on a train leaving the Armstrong-Whitworth works in Newcastle. The leading one is uncovered, the rest sheeted down. David Fletcher MBE, former Tank Museum Historian, presents the first in a series of exclusive articles inspired by the extensive archive of unique historic documents and photographs held at The Tank Museum. Cuthbert Hamilton-Ellis, writing his entertaining story of The Midland Railway in 1953 recalls how, in 1917, he witnessed what he described as a trainload of Mark V tanks being hauled by a Somerset and Dorset 7F Class 2-8-0 locomotive rolling southward across the Dorset meadows. Now it is not my place to argue with the great man, he was writing many years before me and actually remembering things from a lot earlier, but if it really was 1917 then I would be inclined to suggest they were Mark IV tanks, not Mark V, but as he described them they were heavily sheeted down so it would be difficult, but not impossible, to tell them apart. However if it was 1918 then they could have been Mark V tanks or even Mark V*, all of which were built in Birmingham. Either way the delivery details outlined below still apply. But if they were Mark IV tanks, where had they come from? We need to realise that whatever the date this was before the establishment of a central tank testing facility at Newbury in Berkshire. In other words, where ever these tanks had come from they would have been tested locally before delivery. It seems therefore that if they were Mark IV tanks they could have come from Birmingham or Scotland; not Lincoln perhaps, trains from there are unlikely to have travelled by way of the Somerset and Dorset. The Somerset and Dorset Railway had its northern end at Bath, a direct connection with what was then the Midland Railway which itself had many connections with the London and North Western Railway, and of course the Midland itself, as well as the London and North Western served Birmingham directly and had connections with the Glasgow area through Carlisle. (Right) A Mark V* being driven aboard a Rectank wagon at the Metropolitan Carriage, Wagon and Finance Company works at Saltley, Birmingham, using the side loading method. Now although in fact the routes a trainload of tanks could have used from Birmingham and the north, could be many, the fact that this particular train finished up on the Somerset and Dorset gives some focus to the route used. The train would most likely have originated on the west coast, or possibly the west midlands. (Left) A Mark V* bridges the gap between two Rectank wagons, both of which have their end jacks down. This method was more common when they were end loading. So with the limited information available we can’t really say where the tanks came from. The odds are in favour of the Birmingham/Oldbury area because, according to surviving returns, they were delivering approximately 200 tanks per month while the three factories in Glasgow, Mirlees, Watson Co. Ltd., William Beardmore Co. Ltd., and the Coventry Ordnance Works were only turning out about 50 a month between them. Not that we know what constituted a trainload but probably not much more than a dozen so we can’t say for sure where they came from even then. (Right) A tank securely sheeted down and passing under the loading gauge at Saltley So where were they going. The fact that they were on the Somerset and Dorset is not much of a clue, it rather depends on which line they took after leaving Broadstone, heading south. Both led to the London and South Western line, but that to the right would have taken them down to join the South Western near Hamworthy and then on in a westbound direction through Wareham to Wool, where they would be unloaded and driven up the road to Bovington Camp. If, on the other hand, they had taken the left hand line out of Broadstone they would have continued down to join the South Western just outside Poole, heading east through Poole and Bournemouth and across the New Forest to Southampton, from where they would be shipped across to France with their final destination probably being Tank Corps Central Workshops at Erin, in the Ternoise Valley. (Left) Tanks being loaded onto a Ferry over the special terminal at Southampton. This only came in to service towards the end of the war. Before that tanks had to be craned aboard ship. So you can see how, even the chance sighting of a trainload of tanks in 1917 can’t really help us to decide where they had come from, or where they are going. What it does do is tell us that the Somerset and Dorset Railway was one of the routes they used. However the real point of all this is to say, as I have done a few times before. That one really needs to read all around a subject in order to learn as much as possible. Alright in this case it was pure chance that, while reading this book I came across the reference to tanks on the Somerset and Dorset, and I wouldn’t be reading the book if I wasn’t also interested in railway history, But the point is that you never know where a reference to tanks might turn up so I say again, as I have said before, keep your options open and your interests wide in case you learn something more. To find out more about The Tank Museum's Archive & Reference Library, click here.

A well-armed, highly mobile reconnaissance vehicle. Based on experience during WWII, British designers concluded that a 6-wheel drive armoured car would be ideal. It was powered by a Rolls Royce engine, linked to a fluid flywheel and pre-selector gearbox, similar chassis to the Saracen and 4 of the 6 wheels that steer…Click the image for more info...

Journalist, author and former Royal Tank Regiment Officer Mark Urban takes a look at the experiences of one particular tank battalion during World War Two. The presenter of BBC’s acclaimed “Tankies; Tank Heroes of World War Two” will follow the story of the soldiers of 5th Royal Tank Regiment from North Africa, through Europe and into Germany. TICKETS & INFORMATION: Buy your ticket on-line here. For more information call 01929 462359. Tickets cost £10 each. Refund policy: Once purchased, tickets cannot be transferred, exchanged, refunded or returned unless the event is cancelled, moved to another date or details of the event are significantly changed after an order has been placed. MORE LECTURES: To find out about other lectures at The Tank Museum, click here.

It was a remarkable design with a rear-mounted engine, driving to a gearbox and track sprockets at the front. There were 2 main variants; some supplied with 2 machine-gun turrets and others with a single, larger turret. It was turned down by the British Army but was a major export success…click the image for more information...

We’re looking for a Graphic Designer and there are two Apprenticeships on offer. Follow the link for more information – please share if you know someone looking for work!...click the image for more information...

“Warhorse To Horse Power” will be opening in 12 months’ time. This new exhibition will explain how the nature of the fighting in World War One signaled the beginning of the end for Cavalry – and the rise of the tank. Find out more click the image below...

Above: This vehicle was apparently photographed at Hornchurch in Essex with a very mixed crew, presumably engaged on home defence duties. David Fletcher MBE, former Tank Museum Historian, presents another in his series of exclusive articles inspired by the extensive archive of unique historic documents and photographs held at The Tank Museum. The idea of a bus becoming an armoured fighting vehicle seems faintly ridiculous although it has happened and if we go back to those days when there was relatively little to choose between a bus and a lorry chassis, there are two very good examples involving the legendary B-Type in the early months of the First World War. The body of one of the buses can just be seen in the background of this picture, taken on the premises of the Dunkirk shipyard. On 17 September 1914 the Dunkirk engineering firm Forges et Chantiers de France delivered an armoured vehicle, based upon a B-Type chassis to a detachment of the British Royal Naval Air Service, located nearby, a second vehicle followed four days later. We must assume that they were more or less identical although such photographs as we have seem to show only B752 but whether this was the first or the second to be delivered is unclear. The general appearance may be judged from the photograph but describing them as armoured might be pushing the truth a bit far. In reality each vehicle was covered, in parts, by panels of steel plate, the kind of thing you might find lying about in any small shipyard. It would probably stop a rifle bullet at a reasonable distance but it was not proper, heat-treated armour such as appeared later. Nor did the vehicles carry any form of fixed armament, such as machine-guns as far as one can see, but relied upon the firepower of their passengers, twelve Royal Marine riflemen who were supposed to squat down in the back and shoot through loopholes in the sloping sides. To that extent the vehicles could probably be better described as armoured personnel carriers, although that term was not current at that time. In addition to the riflemen, who were known as the Motor Bandits to the rest of the Royal Marines each bus would carry a driver and presumably a vehicle commander in the cab at the front, but whether there was a division between the cab, and what we might call the fighting compartment we do not know. B752 with a party of Royal Marines aboard. As you can see the only way to board was over the side. There was no door, or anything fancy like that. The officer in charge of these two, along with a selection of equally home made armoured cars plus some transport and a few crude aircraft was Commander Charles Rumney Samson R N.; a man apparently cast in the same mould as Sir Francis Drake. Fearless, innovative and eternally optimistic he virtually introduced the idea of armoured motor vehicles to the British forces and developed techniques for using them. Unfortunately he was also frantically impatient and he soon found that with the two ‘armoured’ buses trundling along his tactics of high-speed raids to intercept German cavalry patrols were just too slow so most of their time was spent guarding a cross-roads by the Chateau Motte au Bois near Morbecque which Samson had appropriated as his headquarters. Samson’s column entering Antwerp. Armoured cars are preceding the buses but no sign at all of either of the armoured buses which are supposed to have been there. However they did have one glorious moment. On October 3rd 1914 Samson was entrusted with the task of escorting 70 double deck buses from Dunkirk to Antwerp as part of the evacuation plan. The buses seem to have been Daimlers, drawn from the Gearless and M. E. T. fleets, still in their blue and white livery, still with their civilian crews and still bearing advertisements for such things as Dewars Whisky. Samson was also able to muster eleven armoured cars (new ones were slowly being delivered from Britain) and he also took along the two armoured B-Types. He claims that he halted and reorganised the convoy on the outskirts of Antwerp, first the eleven armoured cars, then the two armoured buses and then the long column of motor buses although it has to be said that photographs of the convoy arriving in Antwerp show armoured cars and Daimler buses but never the two armoured ones, which are never mentioned again. Antwerp was in a state of utter chaos and, having delivered the buses to the Marine Brigade, Samson seems to have had his work cut out just getting his own armoured cars and aircraft away but the buses seem to have been appropriated, and indeed misappropriated by just about everyone so that the departure from Antwerp was not such a well-organised affair and indeed some of the buses had to be left behind due to shortages of fuel. Those with a sense of history might see this as a practical application of the exercise held in England in December 1908 when some 500 men of the Territorial Army were lifted and transported to the Thames Estuary in a fleet of twenty four buses hired from the General, Union Jack and Vanguard companies. Events in Flanders in 1914 are worth a full-time study in themselves and it is amazing to find that much of it came under the responsibility of the British Admiralty through the offices of the Royal Naval Air Service. They employed aircraft of course, plus armoured cars and gun lorries, three armoured trains and the buses which, incidentally, were organised by Wilfred Dumble, a Canadian and a retired officer of the Royal Engineers who later became general manager of the LGOC and ultimately a Lieutenant-Colonel of Royal Marines to organise the military buses. Indeed, although it has no bearing on the present story Wilfred Dumble was one of the founder members of Winston Churchill’s Admiralty Landships Committee so to that extent he also played a part in the evolution of the tank, which was also sponsored by the Royal Navy, at least to begin with. Now, however, we must move on to the British Army and to a parallel scheme which is the main motivation behind this article since it is shrouded in a certain amount of mystery which, one hopes, readers may be inspired to help solve. The project seems to have begun with a scheme, possibly attributable to Lord Kitchener – then Secretary of State for War – which involved earmarking a fleet of 700 London buses to be held in readiness if it proved necessary to evacuate the Capital or deal with any similar emergency. Seven hundred does not seem to very many given the size of the Metropolis, with a total carrying capacity of less than 3,000 people but perhaps it was part of a larger scheme, or maybe these 2,450 people were deemed worthy of evacuation and the rest were not. Anyway this is unimportant since it never happened but it would be useful to have a date for this project since it has a bearing on the first controversy. The point is that, in order to provide protected escort for these buses the War Office instituted a scheme to build some armoured vehicles on the same chassis. The design of armour for these vehicles, if armour it was, seems to have been entrusted to the Royal Arsenal at Woolwich where a prototype was apparently built. Again we hardly need to describe it since a photograph shows it all but it should be recorded that, in addition to riflemen this vehicle carried mountings for machine-guns at the front of the cab, at the back and along both sides. DX1284, which we believe to be the prototype of the War Office armoured B Types. One story, widely accepted, is that in April 1915 or thereabouts the Royal Naval Air Service was approached by the War Office to provide an officer, with experience of armoured cars, to advise them on their own design. The officer chosen, the only one available at the time, was Flight Commander Thomas Hetherington, who had served with Samson in 1914 and knew what he was talking about. He reported to Kitchener at the War Office on 12 April 1915 where he was questioned closely by Lord Kitchener and Generals von Donop and Guthrie-Smith. Hetherington was then sent to Woolwich to cast his expert eye over the finished vehicle. He was not impressed and said so; the War Office had not taken advantage of Admiralty experience on the development of thin armour and the material applied to the Woolwich vehicle was entirely unsuitable. There is, however, an alternative claimant to this story, a certain Captain Bede Bentley. Bentley, whose regiment is not recorded, claimed that he was invited to visit Kitchener, at his private address, in October 1914 where he handed over his design for a tank, although this claim was subsequently rejected. In fact Bentley did not bring his case before the High Court until 1925 by which time the true origins of the tank had already been settled. Indeed it seems improbable that anyone could have seen the need for a tank as early as October 1914, let alone designed one although it is on record that Bentley did visit Kitchener around this time, using family connections to gain the invitation. Bentley’s story in respect of the armoured B-Type is not dissimilar to Hetherington’s, except that it is set some six months earlier, on 19 October 1914. Bentley claims that he visited the War Office, at the invitation of Lord Kitchener, and was sent down to examine an armoured vehicle in a quadrangle within the War Office complex which he, likewise, condemned as unsuitable, although on what grounds is not explained. Bede Bentley’s claim to have invented the tank tends to colour everything else that he says and one tends to regard Hetherington as the more reliable witness, but a lot hangs on the dates, which is why this aspect is so important. One way or the other, however, it appears that a prototype vehicle was built to this design but it is what happened after that which provides the essence of our second problem, the one that could involve bus enthusiasts in various parts of the country, but in particular the east coast. So far we have identified up to four different vehicles although only one of these is a London registered B-Type; one is totally anonymous while the other two have registrations ranging from Ipswich (DX1284 - seen above) to Norwich (AT2508) which raises other interesting issues. If this was a pure War Office project, based upon armour produced at Woolwich and fitted to LGOC B-Types then you might expect new chassis, fresh out of Walthamstow, but they do not. Rather the vehicles appear to belong to provincial bus companies along the east coast, fitted with armour and used locally. Maybe the armour was supplied in kit form from Woolwich and fitted locally, we simply don’t know. This photograph is reported to have been taken at Ramsgate in Kent but we do not know the identity of this particular vehicle. Which is about all we know so far. Since the scheme to evacuate London never happened the buses seem to have been employed on home defence duties, which is presumably why they were concentrated on the East Coast, but it would be fascinating to know more. To find out more about The Tank Museum's Archive & Reference Library, click here.

This was selected as an “Educational Order” for companies going into tank production other than Vickers-Armstrongs. It was intended to give them experience of tank construction to meet an increased demand. It was a satisfactory reconnaissance vehicle but a useless fighting tank…Click the image for more information...

The Tank Museum has teamed up with Haynes publishing to produce another title in its range of Workshop Manuals based on historic tanks. This time it is the British World War One tank, the MK IV in particular, which receives the familiar well-illustrated and impeccably researched Haynes treatment. Written by former Tank Museum Historian David Fletcher MBE whose expertise on early British armour is unparalleled, the manual examines the anatomy, construction and operation of the Mark IV - the most numerous tank to see action in the Great War. With rare contemporary eyewitness accounts and insights into the maintenance and restoration of these iconic tanks, the title will make a suitable companion to The Tank Museum's Haynes Tiger Tank Workshop Manual. Publishers say the Tiger Manual has enjoyed phenomenal success world-wide since its release in 2010, having sold in over 20 countries and with French, German, Chinese and Japanese language editions now available. The Great War Tank Owner’s Workshop Manual is set for release in early May.

This was a cross between a Scorpion and a Fox – similar to a Scimitar. It was created by fitting the turret of the Fox to the chassis of the Scorpion. In many respects the Sabre is the same as the Scimitar; both mount a powerful 30mm RARDEN cannon but where the Scimitar has a conventional machine gun as its secondary weapon, the Sabre has the Hughes chain gun…Click the image for more info...

Here is one of a series of videos from the World of Tanks team featuring The Tank Museum's vehicles - This one staring Tiger 131... feature=mh_lolz

It first appeared in 1952 and in some ways was a revolutionary design; in an attempt to fit such a long gun the turret was situated behind the engine, in order to keep a low profile it was designed for crew members no taller than 5”8 and it was intended to be air-portable, although no aircraft capable of this was designed for another 20 years…Click the Image below for more information...

Limited-edition prints of an oil painting depicting Tiger 131’s final moments in military service are to be sold to raise money for the upkeep of The Tank Museums most famous exhibit. Artist Nicolas Trudgian was been commissioned to create an oil painting to commemorate the 70th anniversary of Tiger 131’s capture by British forces in April 1943. 'PANZER MARSCH'' depicts the final advance on 20th April 1943 of Tiger 131 attached to the 3rd Platoon, 1st Company of the Schwer Panzer Abteilung 504, the day before it’s capture by the British 48th Royal Tank Regiment in Djebel Djaffa, Tunisia. Roaring overhead are BF109G’s of JG77 that were based at Creteville, near Tunis. Alongside the £90 3’ x 2’ prints, artist signed copies of which will be available to buy from Tiger Day (30th March 2013), the original oil painting itself will be auctioned at TANKFEST and is expected to raise at least £10,000. Proceeds from both the original and the prints will be donated to support The Tank Museum’s efforts to ensure that Tiger 131 remains a running exhibit for generations to come. Trudgian says that this painting is to be the first in a series of five depictions of some of The Tank Museum’s most treasured Panzer tanks. Copies will be available to visitors from The Tank Museum or online from www.axistrackservices.com.

Planning continues for 2013 with the major weekend event just over four months away... Battle Plans This year’s mock battle is to be the most ambitious attempted to date, with Museum planning a spectacle of co-ordinated vehicle movement, infantry action and pyrotechnics. The `cold war` theme will provide the backdrop to the biggest re-enactment ever undertaken in the Museum arena. But it will take numerous hours to make sure that it all comes together; and here you can see one of the many planning meetings involving key staff. As you can see, model tanks are an essential part of the process! Desert Storm Commander Set to Entertain Major General (retired) Patrick Cordingley DSO DSc has been unveiled as the guest speaker in the TANKFEST Directors enclosure. General Cordingley is best known for commanding the 7th Armoured Brigade - the Desert Rats - during the first Gulf War. Since retiring from the army in he has become an authoritative media commentator on defense and international affairs. Guests in the Directors enclosure will also be treated to a performance by 1940’s vocalist Madeline Brown as they enjoy a sumptuous three course lunch in the comfort of an arena side enclosure. Click here for more information on our Directors Enclosure package. Staring Rolls The Tank Museum’s prized Rolls Royce Armoured Car will be joined in the arena by one of a handful of survivors. “Sliabh na mBan” was one of a number of Rolls Royce Armoured Cars given to the Irish Free State Army. The vehicle was part of the convoy carrying Michael Collins, Commander in Chief of the Free State Army, when it was ambushed and Collins was killed in 1922. It is appearing courtesy of the Irish Defence Force. More Firepower The finishing touches are being put on The Tank Museums latest volunteer led restoration project. Les Wilkins has spent the past six years working to restore this German 8.8 cm PAK L43 – 41, which came to the museum in 1996 having spent decades as a gate guardian at the School of Infantry in Warminster. The freshly restored gun will be on display at TANKFEST. To find out more or to buy on-line click here.

Curatorial Officer Laura Sweetenham examines a fascinating set of objects recently donated to The Tank Museum… We have recently received an interesting collection of items relating to Sergeant Walter Ratcliffe who served with the 9th Battalion Tank Corps in World War 1. Accompanying a medal group is a Service Dress jacket and supporting documents – the whole giving a fascinating insight into the life of this Tank Corps soldier (Pictured above right). It is particularly interesting that Walter served with the 9th Battalion and as a result his jacket has the unusual addition of a thin brass badge featuring a bursting grenade, positioned on the upper left sleeve. It is the badge of the 3rd French Infantry Division and the honour of wearing it was conferred on the 9th Battalion Tank Corps for their support at the Battle of Moreuil in July 1918. This can be seen on the tunic (right) and in close up in the image below it. The Battle of Moreuil At this time Paris was very seriously threatened by German troops just south of Amiens. It became clear that the enemy needed to be driven from their position on the bank of the River Avre from where they could launch fresh attacks. This task was assigned to three French Divisions: 152nd Infantry Division, 3rd Infantry Division and 15 Infantry Division. During the planning of this action and impressed by the success of the tanks at the Battle of Hamel earlier that month, the French asked the British for the loan of the tanks - their own being engaged on the Marne. The 9th Battalion Tank Corps were entrusted to support the 3rd Infantry Division, ‘La Grenadiere’, at the centre of the attack. The first wave of tanks set out at 5.30am on the morning of the 23rd July and by that evening, all objectives had been achieved. Far fewer casualties were incurred by the tank supported 3rd French Infantry Division compared to the unsupported infantry. This collaboration by the French and British units was lauded as a phenomenal success and in Special Order No. 248, General Bourgon, Commander of the 3rd French Infantry Division, praised: “The 9th Battalion of British Tanks…gave the Division the finest example of bravery, energy, of comradeship in action and of War Training carried to the highest degree of perfection. Their assistance enabled the Infantry to gain a brilliant victory, in which they themselves largely shared. La Grenadiere hereby addresses to its British comrades the touching expression of its gratitude and admiration.” The 9th Battalion was rewarded with the Croix de Guerre avec Palmes as a regimental decoration, worn by all ranks as a red and green lanyard and additionally, General Bourgon, bestowed the honour of wearing the badge of his Division. La Grenadiere badge bears the motto, ‘Qui s'y frotte, s'y brule" (touch me, and you burn), proudly worn by all serving in the 9th Battalion and again by 9th Royal Tank Regiment when reformed during World War 2. Unfortunately we do not know the company or precise tank in which Walter served but he would have been amongst this first unit of Tank Corps men to cooperate with the French Army in the field. ‘Distinctive Whistle Cord’ Interestingly, although all 9th Battalion men would wear the Croix de Guerre lanyard in honour of this battle, this tunic has a lanyard in the Tank Corps colours of red, green and brown. This is actually a Tank Corps ‘distinctive whistle cord’ issued to men who have received an Honour Card in recognition for distinguished and gallant conduct (without a Mention in Despatches). Military Medal Along with two campaign medals (seen left), Walter was awarded the Military Medal for his act of bravery during an action at Bellenglise on the 29th September 1918. It was here that Walter, and his fellow 9th Battalion comrades, were involved in an operation to break strong enemy defences in a southern section of the Hindenburg Line on the St Quentin Canal. The attack was launched by American, British and French forces on a section of the canal that ran through a tunnel at Bellicourt and under a bridge at Bellenglise. The first stage attack to clear the stronghold at Bellicourt by American and Australian troops did not succeed. The British IX Corps, which included the 9th Battalion Tank Corps, however did achieve their objective in crossing the bridge at Bellenglise before it could be destroyed by German forces. Reinforcements soon followed to secure this position which would threaten the whole of the Hindenburg defences, north and south. There was great resistance from the enemy at this critical point in the Hindenburg Line and the impact from the German barrage would have been felt considerably by the 9th Battalion. The citation for Walter’s Military Medal illustrates this quite pointedly: “This NCO, being in charge of a tank during the action at Bellenglise on September 29, 1918, noticed that a tank had been put out of action by a gun concealed in a copse. He manoeuvred his tank in order to outflank the gun, but it was hit almost immediately afterwards, one of his crew being killed and others wounded. He removed four wounded men from the tank under heavy machine-gun and shell fire, and remained with the fourth, who was very badly hit, all night, getting him away to the dressing station the following morning. He behaved very coolly with the upmost bravery in very difficult circumstance.” These items are a noteworthy addition to the Tank Museum collection and have added to our knowledge and resources relating to the 9th Battalion Tank Corps. Thanks to this generous donation, the service and brave actions of Sgt W. Ratcliffe, MM may now be remembered and researched alongside those of his comrades.

Now on display in our Battlegroup Afghanistan exhibition is one of 13,500 ‘home comfort’ boxes sent to British soldiers serving in Afghanistan by the charity `Afghan Heroes`. The boxes were made possible by donations from the public. They contain morale-boosting treats and home-comforts for the troops; such as sweets, shower gel and puzzle books to fight the boredom. The charity says the boxes are a way for people at home to say ‘thank you’ to soldiers on active duty – showing that whilst far away, they are not forgotten. `Afghan Heroes` was founded by Denise Harris in 2009, after her son Corporal Lee Scott of 2nd Royal Tank Regiment was killed in Afghanistan.

It was Part of “Project Prodigal” a British investigation into future fighting vehicles. It was originally intended to carry a 20 pounder gun and operated by a 2 man crew. The prototype was based on a modified Comet chassis and used to test some of the principles but the project got no further and no armour plan was ever designed. Click on the picture below for more information...

Built in Brazil by the Engesa Company in 1974 and powered by a six-cylinder Detroit Diesel engine and an Allison automatic transmission. The Urutu can carry up to a dozen infantrymen and is fitted with a heavy machine gun, smoke grenade dischargers and a 20mm Oerlikon cannon… Click the image to find out more...

The Americans adopted the British practice of naming their tanks after famous generals; the T26 was christened after the WWI commander in France; General Pershing. This evolved from a 1942 design programme, the first of which crossed the Atlantic in February 1945 to be used by the 3rd and 9th Armoured Division of the US Army… For more information click the picture below...

It was originally designed as a commercial venture by Vickers Armstrongs but ended up being adopted by the British Army as a light tank and by default became the first British airborne tank…To find out more, click the picture below...

Also known as the M24 but named after General Adna R Chaffee, chief of the US Armoured Force in 1940. With its low profile, torsion bar suspension and excellent 75mm gun and a modified aircraft weapon, it was an exceptional design by the Cadillac Division of General Motors in Detroit…To find out more click the image below.

With less than 150 days to go until TANKFEST 2013, The Tank Museum has announced an outline programme for the weekend’s arena displays. Among the improvements made by organisers for this year’s show will be the removal of large concrete blocks from the edge of the track to improve the spectators sightlines. Discussions are also underway to secure some impressive guest armour MORNING DISPLAYS With gates opening at 9.00am, the M548 rides vehicle will be taking passengers on laps of the arena until the first display starts at 10.30 – when three Leopard 1’s will show their paces in an explosive show opener. As the dust settles, there will be a repeat of last year’s `Ride of the 432’s` as our vehicle crews undertake precise and graceful manoeuvres to an appropriate musical backdrop. As our vehicular ballerinas exit, the arena will be handed to the British Army as we mark Armed Forces weekend. Theatre Entry Standard vehicles crewed by soldiers from Bovington garrison will star in this display of modern armour. Expect to see the Challenger 2, Scimitar and a range of armoured vehicles used in Afghanistan at speed in the arena. For the final arena display of the morning, The Tank Museum’s World War One tank replicas will be in action together for the first time. What they lack in speed will certainly be made up with spectacle! AFTERNOON DISPLAYS At around 2.00pm, tanks from World War Two will be compared and contrasted as we consider the strengths and short-comings of each. Alongside the ever-popular Tiger 131, spectators will see Valentine, Matilda and other Museum favourites. The story of the tank will continue with the evolution of the British Main Battle Tank; from the Centurion to the Challenger 1. The show will close with a unique and explosive demonstration of what might have happened if the Cold War had turned hot. How would NATO react to a Warsaw Pact invasion of Germany? You’ll find out how soldiers trained for this terrifying scenario, what tactics would be used and what the outcome is likely to have been. Tickets are available now - with three options to choose from: Regular, Premium or Directors Enclosure - with both day and weekend passes available. To find out more or to buy on-line click here.

Sorry for the delay on our response folks. Last week, during the night of the 29/30 Jan, our website was the victim of a highly sophisticated attack - and a number of internal links were re-routed to another (obviously dodgy) website. This was spotted by Google within a couple of hours of the attack, at which point we were knocked off-line. But even though the problem was fixed at our end relatively quickly (that morning in fact), it took Google a while to re-instate us and re-grade our site as `safe`. There was a bit of a bureaucratic process to go through – and for that reason, certain browsers were throwing up malware warnings as late as Thursday.

In the main, The Tank Museum foots the bill – hence our concern about cost. Sometimes owners will make their own arrangements and treat the cost as a charitable donation to the Museum. On other occasions, we might be particularly keen to have a certain vehicle at the show, in which case we would make a contribution to the cost of haulage. So, it can vary depending on what we’re doing and what we’ve been offered.