The Tank Museum, Bovington c

On entering the main hall, the visitor is met with a series of tableaus giving an idea of the selection process for soldiers during WW1 and then transport to France and finally into the "trenches" on the Western Front. An officer is in his HQ shelter.

A walk along a trench system with the ladders to go "over the top" and ammunition boxes stacked up.

A close up of the officers HQ and his bunk....He has company!

Despite how it looks and has been made up, this tank is unique and priceless.

The sole surviving Mark 1 tank from 150 built. This is a male tank as it has sponsons each with a six pound gun. It has a Daimler 105hp petrol engine, weighs 28 tons, has a top speed of 3.7 mph and a crew of 8. The tank was first used during the Battle of the Somme on 15th September 1916. It is on display in a tableau of it about to cross a German trench.

The large wheels on the rear is the steering tail and were designed to aid the tank to steer and change direction, but in practise they did not help very much and were later removed.

This is a Mark IV male tank and this mark was the first to be mass produced with over 1200 built, it entered service in May 1917. Similar to the Mark I in weight and engine details, this tank was restored to working order in the 1970s but is no longer driven. Male tanks had sponsons each side with a 57mm six pound gun. Female tanks had sponsons designed to carry two Vickers water cooled heavy machine guns.

The Mark V tank was an improvement on earlier designs, it was fitted with a Ricardo 105hp petrol engine giving a top speed of 4.6 mph and weighs 29 tons. It entered service with the Tank Corps in 1918. This male tank saw action at the Battle of Amiens in August 1918. It is in working order but is not run.

The A7V was a heavy tank introduced by Germany in 1918 during World War I. One hundred chassis were ordered in early 1917, ten to be finished as fighting vehicles with armoured bodies, and the remainder as Überlandwagen cargo carriers. The number to be armoured was later increased to 20. They were used in action from March to October 1918, and were the only tanks produced by Germany in World War I to be used in combat. This working replica is constructed of plywood and angle iron, using the engine, transmission and tracks from two Fordson County Crawlers – tracked agricultural vehicles – and is painted to represent A7V number 504, Schnuck.

This is part of the Warhorse to Horsepower section telling the story of how the tank and mechanical transport took over from the horse. This is a wooden mock up with a terrified horse. It is an extremely well thought out and put together exhibition and one I found quite moving and emotional when thinking about the life of the poor animal.

The terrified horse rears up at the sight of the approaching tank.

Another thought provoking tableau with a poor horse caught up in barbed wire while trying to run away from the mechanical monster.

This is a light tank Mark IIA. It was built in the early 1930's and used for scouting and reconnaissance. It had a two man crew with a Rolls Royce engine giving a top speed of 30 mph. The design saw service in Britain, the Middle east and India and was replaced in 1940.

This strange looking example is a Vickers A1E1 Independent multi turreted tank. The design only reached a prototype and just this one was built but it did influence future designs. It was powered by an Armstrong Siddeley V12 petrol 370hp engine.

On the left is a German half track, Sd Kfz 251 and over 20 variants were produced from a build run of 15,252. This is a 251/8 AUSF C and is an unarmed ambulance variant which could carry two on stretchers or four seated. In the corner is a Tank, Cruiser, Mark I, A9, produced between 1936 and 1941 with 125 of the 12.6 tonne tanks built. It had a crew of six. This particular example was built by Harland and Wolff in Belfast in February 1941 and never saw active service. To the right is a Tank, Cruiser Mark IIA CS, A10. This is a heavier development of the previous Cruiser Mark I A9. It is two tonnes heavier and 9 mph slower. This version is a close support type with a 3.7 inch howitzer rather than a 2 pounder gun. This machine never saw active service and was sent new to the School of Tank Technology, coming to the museum in 1949.

The Daimler Dingo Mark III Scout Car is a four wheel drive armoured car. Over 6,600 were built with a 55hp Daimler engine giving a top speed of 55 mph both forward AND reverse! The tyres are solid rubber. The design saw service between 1940 and 1974. This armoured car is a Guy and was used in a reconnaissance role, it had a crew of three and could travel at 40 mph. This is the first of 101 built and is the very first British all welded armoured car. Six were sent to France and saw active service, all the remainder were used in the UK for training. Just this one survives.

One of two Matilda 1 Infantry mark 1 A11 tank. This vehicle stayed in the UK in 1940 and was recovered decades later from Otterburn Ranges in Northumberland and fitted with a modern engine and gearbox to make it a runner. The Panzer 1 Command Tank is a German design and was the German Army's first purpose-designed armoured command vehicle. The kleiner Panzerbefehlswagen is known also by its ordnance inventory designation Sd.Kfz. 265. It is commonly referred to as a command tank, but it does not have a turret or any offensive weapons, just one machine gun for defence. It is built on the chassis of the Panzer I light tank but it does not retain the capabilities or role of a tank. Instead, it is more of an armoured personnel carrier in that it carries the unit commander and his radio operator under armour about the battlefield. This example is the sole survivor of 184, it weighs in at 5.8 tonnes with a top speed of 25 mph.

Furthest is a Humber Scout Car mk I. Humber was asked to design and produce an armoured car as Daimler were unable to produce enough Dingos. The Humber was a bigger and faster vehicle that did the same job, stealthy reconnaissance with excellent cross-country mobility and a top speed of 60mph. This vehicle landed in Normandy on 3rd July 1944, it covered 11,500 trouble free miles and was driven back to the UK after the war and donated to the Museum in 1949. In the centre is a Universal Carrier, a single design that replaced four different vehicles. It was hugely versatile and was used by infantry, artillery and reconnaissance units. It could carry heavy weapons like mortars or machine guns, it could tow anti-tank guns, carry long range radios to call in artillery fire, it could carry casualties and one was converted to a flame thrower. In excess of 100,000 were built. Nearest - Morris Motors Limited built 2,231 of these Light Reconnaissance Cars which were used by the Army and Royal Air Force Regiment. This is a mkI LRC which operated with a crew of three and had a top speed of 50mph. 1,000 mkIIs were built and they had four wheel drive.

L-R French design, Somua S35, cavalry tank Renault UE Chenillette Matilda I The kleiner Panzerbefehlswagen Sd.Kfz. 265.

This tank is a French design, Somua S35, a cavalry tank built between 1936 and 1940 totalling 440. It weighs 19.5 tonnes and its Somua 190hp engine gave it a top speed of 25mph. This S35 is one of 297 which were taken over by German forces after the Fall of France. The Renault UE Chenillette is a light tracked armoured carrier and prime mover produced by France between 1932 and 1940.

This Tiger II is fitted with a production turret. This vehicle was from s.SS Pz.Abt. 501, with hull number 280093, turret number 104, and has a comprehensive coating of Zimmerit. It was claimed by Sergeant Roberts of A Squadron, 23rd Hussars, 11th Armoured Division in a Sherman tank near Beauvais, although it had already been disabled and abandoned by its crew following damage to its tracks and final drive.

Nearest is the Humber Scout Car mk I.

Centremost is a German Jagdpanther Sd Kfz 173. The turreted Panther tank mounted a 75mm gun but, by eliminating the turret and adding a fixed superstructure it proved possible to mount a larger gun, the Tiger’s formidable 88mm. Introduced in mid 1944 this example was found partially built in its factory when captured by the British. It was completed by the workforce under British supervision. It had a crew of five, weighs 46 tonnes and has a top speed of 28.5 mph. I'll ask Ross what it is!

Ask Ross.

The Valentine soon became obsolete as a tank and many of the hull found other uses. 239 were rebuilt as bridge-layers and this is a 1942 convert of a 1941 mkI Valentine. The Number 1 Scissors Bridge could span a 30 foot gap and support 30 tons and proved very useful. This example was used for training at the Experimental Bridging Establishment and never saw active service.

Closest is a Canadian Ram Kangaroo armoured personnel carrier. Introduced in October 1944 they were actually converted Ram tanks with the turret removed. There was no overhead protection and the occupants had to enter and exit by climbing over the top. About 500 were built, a crew of two operated it and it weighed 24.5 tonnes with a top speed of 25mph.

The SU-76 (Samokhodnaya Ustanovka 76) was a Soviet light self-propelled gun used during and after World War II. The SU-76 was based on a lengthened version of the T-70 light tank chassis and armed with the 76 mm divisional gun M1942 (ZiS-3). Its quite simple construction and multipurpose combat role made it the second most produced Soviet armoured fighting vehicle of World War II, after the T-34 medium tank. Behind is a .......ask Ross.

This American built half track is a M9A1, built in Chicago by the International Harvester Company. Their roles were varied including troop transport, artillery tractor, ambulance, recovery, anti-aircraft gun, mortar carrier. REME staff used them to support and repair tanks of the armoured regiments. Over 40,000 were built. The American M24 Chaffee is a light tank designed to replace the M5 Stuart. It had the same engine and transmission as the M5 but better suspension and a more powerful 75mm gun. This example is one of a small number of Chaffees which were received by the British Army in April 1945. After the War the designed was heavily exported with some remaining in service until the 1990's.

This is a Sherman Crab mk I, the tank itself is a Sherman M4A4 and was built in the Detroit Tank Arsenal in April 1943, it was converted to a Crab flail tank in the UK. The drum spins at three revs per second and the chains thrash the ground setting off buried mines, the crew protected by the hull's armour. The tank retains its 75mm M3 gun and is operated by a crew of five, it weighs 35.5 tonnes and some 550 or so were built.

Ross is trying to land a glider.

This dual exhibit is a little different. The wooden frame is the remains of a Hamilcar cargo carrying glider, airframe TK718. These remains were recovered from a farm in Wiltshire in 1990 where it was used as a shed. The Hamilcar could carry up to 8 tonnes, the glider dimensions are nearly 68 feet long, 110 foot wingspan with a tail fin over 20 feet high. This is the front section of the fuselage. It could carry two Universal Carriers or a Tetrarch tank. 34 of these were used on D-Day flying from Tarrant Rushton airfield near Blandford. (Click https://www.jules-merlin27.com/Other/Derelict-Wartime-Airfields/i-pmpfwGN/A then click right) Inside the glider is a Tetrarch I Close Support A17 tank giving an accurate and appropriate load for the glider.

A side view of the Hamilcar glider frame and the A17 tank inside.

The DUKW (colloquially known as Duck) is a six-wheel-drive amphibious modification of the 2+1⁄2-ton CCKW trucks used by the U.S. military during World War II

The Cruiser tank Mk V or A13 Mk III Covenanter was a British cruiser tank of the Second World War. The Covenanter was the first cruiser tank design to be given a name. The tank equipped various British armoured divisions in the home defence and training roles. It never left the British Isles as poor engine cooling caused versions MkI-MkIII to be declared unfit for use overseas service especially in hot climates. This was rectified in the MkIV after many corrective actions were undertaken but by February 1944, it was declared obsolete. More than 1,700 of the type were built. This example is displayed in the markings it had during the War when it served with the 13th/18th Royal Hussars, part of the 9th Armoured Division. For reasons unknown, it was buried by the Canadian Army just prior to D-Day on a farm near Dorking. In 1977 it was discovered, recovered, restored and put on display in 1985. A second Canadian Covenanter tank was dug up on Monday 23rd May 2017. (From Wiki)

No it's NOT Brad Pitt but a wax facsimile of him and his tank FURY, which is not a wax facsimile but the real thing. This is the actual tank used in the film FURY starring Brad Pitt (the real guy and not a wax facsimile!) as the tank commander. When I asked my son Ross if he was going to the cinema to see the film he said, "Naa, it's the wrong tank. It's too modern for a WWII film, it has the wrong gun, the wrong suspension and was built in the 1950's." The vehicle does belong to the Museum and several members of staff were used as extras as they accompanied the Museum's German Tiger I tank.

This is what a WWII era Sherman looks like, note the gun, the suspension and the shape and design of the hull and compare them to the other Sherman.