WWII Plastic Toy Soldiers: September 2013

Tuesday, September 24, 2013

The Auto and Technik Museum at Sinsheim

This is a museum that I have had the opportunity to visit on several occasions and every time I am there, I thoroughly enjoy it. This is a museum dedicated to machines in general, so even though they do have a vast collection of military materiel in excellent condition, they also have many other types of vehicles. They even have a Concorde airplane that you can climb into. For the purposes of this post I will focus on the military items, but if you ever have the opportunity to visit this museum in Germany, you might want to take the time to check out the entire collection, particularly if you bring along small children who seem to enjoy it quite a bit.

View of the entrance.

Already the way those planes are mounted is drawing you in as you get there.

One nice thing about this museum is that many of the vehicles are setup as part of a larger display placing them in the context in which they were used, such as the North African scene above.

An American communications post protected by what appears to be a 30 cal. MG position.

German MG 34

And the more dreaded German MG 42

A German artillery man using a telemeter. The short barreled gun in front of him looks like a 7.5 cm light infantry howitzer. A Jagdpanzer 38(t) Hetzer Sd Kfz 138/2 in the background.

A German Kettenkrad. Just like the one from Saving Private Ryan.

A German Sturmgeschütz III Sd Kfz 142, also known as StuG III.

Note the marks on the barrel. Sometimes they represented the number of 'kills' it made.

A German 88 deployed in AA mode.

Another 88, this time mounted on its carriage.

A German Afrika Korps Sd Kfz 7, also known as an 8 ton truck.

Another variation of the Sd Kfz 7 with the top on.

Another German 8 ton truck. This one is the Sd Kfz 7/1 variant, with platform for AA gun.

A German Panzer IV with short barrel.

A long barreled German Panzer IV.

Not sure what this vehicle is. Could be a Bren gun carrier seen from the back.

A British Daimler Scout Car

A recovered German Stuka dive bomber.

If I recall correctly, it is one of only a couple which have been located.

A view of the wreck from the other side. As you can see the whole back section is missing.

German JU 52 cargo/transport plane and JU 88 bomber in the foreground.

Soviet T-34

Soviet T-34, a better view of the turret and the commander

A German Kubelwagen

A German Nebelwerfer. I believe this is the 5-barrel 21 cm NbW 42.

Looks like a German Zundapp motorcycle with sidecar (as opposed to a BMW).

A German Schwimmwagen

A German Panzer II.

Amazing to consider the caliber of the tanks' guns at the outset of the war and what they ended up being.

A German Sturmgeschütz III Ausf B Sd Kfz 142. Notice how low is its profile.

Another Jagdpanzer 38(t) Hetzer Sd Kfz 138/2 on the left and a French tankette on the right.

A German Elefant Sd Kfz 184

Looks like a German leFH18/18M 105mm Field Howitzer

A German Panther Tank, aka Sd Kfz 171. When I was there they were loading up the tank onto the ramp on the right. It was a very interesting and entertaining procedure.

An Italian Paratroopers' motorcycle

A German PAK 40 in the foreground

and a German Jagdpanther Sd Kfz 173 in the background.

An American Sherman Tank

American troops in North Africa

A close up of a French Adrian Helmet

Scene depicting captured German officers being debriefed at a US HQ.

US Army uniforms

German Afrika Korps and regular infantry uniforms.

More German Infantry and Afrika Korps uniforms. Note the absence of boots on the man on the left, typical of mid to late war years when leather became more scarce.