Established | 1983 |
---|---|
Location | Munster, Germany |
Coordinates | 52°59′13″N10°06′38″E / 52.98694°N 10.11056°E |
Type | Military Museum |
Visitors | 113,796 (2015) |
Director | Ralf Raths |
Website | www |
The German Tank Museum (German : Deutsches Panzermuseum Munster (DPM)) [1] is an armoured fighting vehicle museum in Munster, Germany, [Note 1] the location of the Munster Training Area camp. Its main aim is the documentation of the history of German armoured troops since 1917.
It originated in 1983 from the instructional collection of the Panzertruppenschule, the Bundeswehr (German Army) school for training officers and NCOs of German armoured units. It is now a museum open to the public, jointly run by the municipality of Munster and the Lehrsammlung der Panzertruppen und Heeresaufklärungstruppe am Ausbildungszentrum Munster (teaching collections of the armoured combat troops).
The museum site covers an area of over 9,000 square metres (97,000 sq ft). including 7,500 square metres (81,000 sq ft) of exhibition halls. In 2003 the museum opened a new building for special displays, a museum shop and a cafeteria.
The museum displays tanks, military vehicles, weapons, small arms, uniforms, medals, decorations and military equipment from World War I to the present day. The heart of the exhibition is a collection of about 40 Bundeswehr and former East German ( Nationale Volksarmee ) tanks as well as 40 German tanks and other Wehrmacht vehicles from the Second World War. In addition there are tanks from the Soviet Red Army, the British Army and the United States Army from the Second World War, as well as other modern tanks such as the Israeli Merkava. There is also one Swedish tank, the Stridsvagn m/21-29, a modified German LK II. Most of the vehicles are in working order, with restoration work ongoing to render all examples functional. The restoration staff of the museum do extensive research on every vehicle in order to return it to its original configuration and paint scheme. The large collection of armoured vehicles includes some rare or unique types. For example, the museum has a replica of an A7V German First World War tank, the only example of its type in (continental) Europe, with the only other being at The Tank Museum. Also, there is an armoured police vehicle from the Weimar Republic era, the Daimler DZVR 21. In addition it has one of only two existing Sturmpanzer VI as well as a prototype version of the Jagdpanzer IV. From the post-war era there is a range of Bundeswehr prototypes, including a Leopard 1, Kanonenjagdpanzer tank destroyer and MBT-70, the abortive US-German design. The interior of a Leopard 1 tank, situated outside, can be entered via a flight of steps and a ladder in the turret.
By its own account the museum does not just want to show tanks as an exhibit of history of technology. With the ongoing reforms it wants to put them in a scientific-historical context. Tanks as technical objects are seen as starting points for broader historical contexts, which the museum wants to the tell of his exhibits in many historical perspectives: as Social, Economic, Political and Cultural History. As an actor in modern military history the museum still includes the old perspectives of the museum: operational history and political history still have their place in the Tank Museum. [2]
The Elemente des Krieges ("Elements of War"), thematically groups smaller exhibits into four areas or "paths":
Further special exhibits are the death mask of Erwin Rommel and his tunic, which was thought to be an original for a long time. The fake uniform is now exhibited with an explanation of how the forgery was discovered and why a museum has to examine its exhibits time and again.
The Panzer I was a light tank produced by Nazi Germany in the 1930s. Its name is short for Panzerkampfwagen I, abbreviated as Pz.Kpfw. I. The tank's official German ordnance inventory designation was Sd.Kfz. 101.
The Panzerkampfwagen III , commonly known as the Panzer III, was a medium tank developed in the 1930s by Germany, and was used extensively in World War II. The official German ordnance designation was Sd.Kfz. 141. It was intended to fight other armoured fighting vehicles and serve alongside and support the similar Panzer IV, which was originally designed for infantry support.
The Panzerkampfwagen IV, commonly known as the Panzer IV, is a German medium tank developed in the late 1930s and used extensively during the Second World War. Its ordnance inventory designation was Sd.Kfz. 161.
The Panther tank, officially Panzerkampfwagen V Panther with ordnance inventory designation: Sd.Kfz. 171, is a German medium tank of World War II. It was used in most European theatres of World War II from mid-1943 to the end of the war in May 1945.
The Sturmpanzerwagen 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, as well as being the first operational German Tank. It was developed as a response to British tanks. Although the A7V is generally considered to be better designed compared to its counterparts, it struggled to procure high production numbers due to its relative complexity and high cost.
Sturmtiger was a World War II German assault gun built on the Tiger I chassis and armed with a 380mm rocket-propelled mortar. The official German designation was Sturmmörserwagen 606/4 mit 38 cm RW 61. Its primary task was to provide heavy fire support for infantry units fighting in urban areas. The few vehicles produced fought in the Warsaw Uprising, the Battle of the Bulge and the Battle of the Reichswald. The fighting vehicle was known by various informal names, among which the Sturmtiger became the most popular.
The Sturmgeschütz III was an assault gun produced by Germany during World War II. It was the most-produced fully tracked armoured fighting vehicle, and second-most produced German armored combat vehicle of any type after the Sd.Kfz. 251 half-track. It was built on a slightly modified Panzer III chassis, replacing the turret with an armored, fixed superstructure mounting a more powerful gun. Initially intended as a mobile assault gun for direct-fire support for infantry, the StuG III was continually modified, and much like the later Jagdpanzer vehicles, was employed as a tank destroyer.
The Jagdpanther, Sd.Kfz. 173, was a tank destroyer built by Germany during World War II. The Jagdpanther combined the 8.8 cm Pak 43 anti-tank gun, similar to the main gun of the Tiger II, with the armor and suspension of the Panther chassis.
The Sturmpanzer is a German armoured infantry support gun based on the Panzer IV chassis used in the Second World War. It was used at the Battles of Kursk, Anzio, Normandy, and was deployed in the Warsaw Uprising. It was known by the nickname Brummbär by Allied intelligence, a name which was not used by the Germans. German soldiers nicknamed it the "Stupa", a contraction of the term Sturmpanzer. Just over 300 vehicles were built and they were assigned to four independent battalions.
The Sd.Kfz. 124 Wespe, also known as Leichte Feldhaubitze 18/2 auf Fahrgestell Panzerkampfwagen II (Sf.), is a German self-propelled gun developed and used during the Second World War. It was based on a modified Panzer II chassis.
The 15 cm sIG 33 (Sf) auf Panzerkampfwagen 38(t), also known as Grille was a series of self-propelled artillery vehicles used by Nazi Germany during World War II. The Grille series was based on the Czech Panzer 38(t) tank chassis and used a 15 cm sIG 33 infantry gun.
Parola Tank Museum, officially Armoured Vehicle Museum is a military museum located 110 kilometres north of Helsinki in Parola, near Hämeenlinna, Finland, a few kilometres from the Finnish Army Armoured Brigade training unit. It displays various tanks, armoured vehicles and anti-tank guns used by the Finnish Defence Forces throughout their history, including their latest Leopard 2A4 tank. A rare exhibit is an armoured train used in World War II. The museum was opened on June 18, 1961, when there were 19 tanks and 12 anti-tank guns on display.
The Panzerkampfwagen I was a light tank produced in Germany in the 1930s. The Panzer I was built in several variants and was the basis for a number of variants listed below.
The 9th Panzerlehr Brigade is a formation of about 5,000 men strong within the German Armed Forces or Bundeswehr, which is subordinated to the 1st Panzer Division in Hanover. The bulk of the brigade is stationed in Munster. Two battalions are based in Neustadt am Rübenberge. The brigade has become the "showcase of the German Army" as a result of its German Army Combat Vehicle and Aircraft Demonstration Exercises which it has conducted for decades. These exercises demonstrate the capability of the Army's fighting vehicles and aircraft and how they operate jointly in various scenarios. The formation is classified as an armoured brigade within the Bundeswehr's intervention forces.
This article deals with the tanks serving in the German Army throughout history, such as the World War I tanks of the Imperial German Army, the interwar and World War II tanks of the Nazi German Wehrmacht, the Cold War tanks of the West German and East German Armies, all the way to the present day tanks of the Bundeswehr.
The Mittlerer Panzer 1958 or Panzer 58 was a medium tank of Swiss design. Twelve tanks were produced and later converted to Panzer 61s.
The Australian Armour and Artillery Museum is a privately owned museum in Smithfield, Cairns, Queensland, Australia. It is dedicated to tanks, armoured vehicles and artillery from the Second World War and post war periods. It was officially opened in 2014.
The Bundeswehr Museum of German Defense Technology also known as Wehrtechnisches Museum Koblenz and Wehrtechnische Studiensammlung Koblenz (WTS-Koblenz) is the official Bundeswehr's Defense Technology Study Collection in Koblenz. It is one of Germany's important technical military exhibitions, with about 30,000 objects on an exhibition area of around 7,000 square metres (75,000 sq ft). It is known as one of the most extensive collections of its kind internationally. The main focus of the museum is on defense technology and the military science library. It is a subsidiary of the Federal Office of Bundeswehr Equipment, Information Technology and In-Service Support.