PanzerCDR on the Eastern Front







Nothing screams "Eastern Front!" like a T-34/85 on display!



     I am NOT an Eastern Front aficionado, even if the greatest and most important battles of the Second World War occurred there.  While T-34 hordes are very neat, the whole Cold War mindset tended to turn me away from wargaming that period.  Still, when the opportunity arose to actually visit Mother Russia and see some of the WW2 memorials and museums, how could I as a bonofide WW2 geek refuse?  And of course I did not.  I was not able to spend too much time in any location, but I did get to spend a few hours at the Kubinka Tank museum just outside Moscow and the Great Patriotic War museum in Moscow itself.  Both are very worthwhile sites for any FOW gamer or interested observer of the Eastern Front or tanks.  I only wish I had more time to look at the tanks and displays.  Sigh . . .
     Anyway, here are a few pictures of the Kubinka Tank Museum that I thought were neat. 

Pz-II.  The lighting in the buildings was horrible so there is a lot of glare on the photos.  I guess this says more about my skills as a photographer than the sun coming in through the windows, but most of my pictures have this problem.  I am not sure why this tank is in desert camouflage either. 
 

PZ-IV G.  Not quite an "H" version like the ones in Normandy, but pretty close and very neat. 
 

I've seen the Maus!  My life is complete!  Well, almost. . . .  The frontal armour on this survivor was used as a test bed to see what would penetrate.  The gouges and holes in the metal makes it appear that nothing did. 

Tigers are BIG!  No wonder Herr Wittman was so effective. 

King Tigers are BIGGER!

 

After painting 20+ Cromwell variants my son gets to finally see a real one. 

A WASP version of a Bren Gun Carrier.  These are NOT big and have the armor of my pickup truck. 

An M4A2 Sherman, not dissimilar to what my favorite armoured regiment, 13/18 Hussars used in Normandy.  EVERYBODY got some version or another of Shermans. 

A Christi tank of some version.  Where it all began.  

 

There are lots of neat one-of-a-kind tanks to see at the Museum, so if you are ever in the Moscow region, I would certainly recommend going there.  Of course, it helps if you read Cyrillic, which I don't, though my son helped here.  I'll put more up as I have the time, but with my son finally home from college I can set up Villers Bocage and FINALLY have a go at the scenario!