Day 22: The Bovington Tank Museum

An M60 tank drives around the display area during an equipment demonstration.

All in all, I like the Bovington Tank museum.  It’s different than the Patton Museum or Kubinka too and they each have their pros and cons.  Kubinka, for instance, has an amazing equipment display, particularly covering Soviet armored vehicles as well as German World War II vehicles. Unfortunately, Kubinka doesn’t tell you much about each vehicle and unless you already know some background going into it, or ask your guide a lot of questions, you won’t get as much out of it. 

The Patton and Bovington are similar, but each give the tank story from their respective points of view (after all, the Patton museum doesn’t have any Chieftans or Challengers on display) but the British museum seems to be a lot more layman-friendly than the Patton.  For instance, during the vehicle demonstration show they brought out a recon vehicle, an armored personnel carrier, and two tanks – but as each one came out the announcer actually talked about what they were each useful for and their role on the battlefield and how they all work together – that whole combined arms thing that militaries have ignored to their peril over the history of warfare.  Likewise, he dispels the popular notion that just because it looks like a tank it must be a tank (e.g. the FV 432 armored personnel carrier, while technically “armored” against small arms, it won’t stop a tank round or an RPG for that matter).

The ubiquitous Soviet T-34 tank, their mainstay tank throughout the war and one of the best all-around tanks of World War II.  Over 84,000 were produced, compared to 49,000 Shermans and a combined total of about 8,000 Panther and Tiger tanks.  A nearby quote from a German general in February 1944: “[The Führer] says that the Russians are bound to stop attacking sometime.  They… can’t go on forever.”

So, Bovington doesn’t necessarily go into the same sort of detail you might want as a history buff (their gift shop was a bit disappointing and seemed very tourist-oriented) but I think it’d be great for the average person.  They also do a good job tying in public affairs for the Royal Tank Corps (including a section of the museum titled “What if you want to be a member of the Royal Tank Corps?”) which is something the British do better than the US military (with the exception of the Marines, which do an excellent job of it).  After all, the British car show “Top Gear” has featured among other things a Ford Fiesta taking part in a beach assault with the Royal Marines (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7e7R3y-qwZ0), a Range Rover attempting to outmaneuver a Challenger 2 tank (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-wKfpPrRVIo), and a Bugatti Veyron drag racing a Eurofighter Typhoon jet (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7NZ9X9A2efA).  

For me, the most fascinating part of the museum was a section devoted to the activities of the British liaison officers operating in East Germany during the Cold War.  These military liaison missions (BRIXMIS for the British, with the US, French, and Soviets having their own) were formed immediately following World War II when the Allies and the Soviets were on good term, allowing the other side to monitor military forces in their sector of Germany.  These official spies were largely untouchable though they were supposed to stay out of specifically marked areas and there were some instances in which they were injured or killed in the conduct of their duties.

Exhibit on the BRIXMIS liaison missions, including a souvenir sign from a restricted area.  These soldiers did numerous things, ranging from engaging Soviet soldiers on road guard duty in idle conversation to taking back the engines and radar system of a crashed YaK-28 aircraft.

All in all, the trip to Bovington was well worth the day trip and an interesting balance to the military museums I’ve seen in the United States and in Russia.