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.

A German cammo smock and an officer's outfit.

More German cammo uniforms.

A couple of German paras.

German tank crewmen on the left.

More German infantry outfits.

And some more...

BTW, I like having these pictures because they help me pick the right shades of colors when it comes to painting figures.

A Soviet padded jacket and some sub MG ammo drums

Soviet officer and tank crew man.

Soviet long coat and infantry man.

Click here to see a post about the West Wall museum at Bad Bergzabern

Click here to see a post about the West Wall museum at Pirmasens

Click here to see a post about the British Airborne museum at Arnhem

Click here to see a post about the rocket museum at Peenemunde

Click here to see a post about the US Airborne museum at Fayetville
Click here to see a post about the Normandy Landing Beaches

Action Report: National Capital Model Soldier Society 2013 Toy Soldier Show

After having missed several local Toy Soldier Shows, I had the opportunity and pleasure of attending the NCMSS 2013 Toy Soldier Show this past weekend. Besides being able to chat with the vendors and pick up missing or new items for the collection, what makes this show special is that it also contains an exhibit of dioramas built by the members of the society. Many of these dioramas are quite nice and even if they are on topics beyond WWII, they still manage to grab my attention and inspire me. In terms of vendor interaction, I was able to spend some time with Gary Green from Warstore Collectibles who, BTW, is one of the few vendors still carrying FOV vehicles and gave me a very nice deal on several of them. Now that FOV has increased its prices so much, their vehicles are becoming harder to find at the shows as dealers are hesitant to invest in them, aware of the lower demand given the higher prices. Quite unfortunate as I think that this will ultimately hurt FOV. Moving along, I also had a chance to stop by and chat with John Stengel, 'the Marx man'. His knowledge of the hobby and friendly character made it quite a pleasant experience, while I picked up from a couple of bins some figures which I had been hunting down for a long time. Hobby Bunker was also there, and George Guerreiro from Minute Men Toy Soldiers as well. All in all, quite a successful and enjoyable trip. Anyhow, here are some pictures from some of the sights, and in particular, some of the dioramas which caught my attention.

Getting to the show...

The parking lot was packed, so I was getting a bit nervous about things starting to sell out, in particular the Pegasus German Paras which was my main goal of the day... By the time I got in there, only Hobby Bunker had them left, but I got them!

A shot of the floor, showing about two thirds of the vendors.

A very nice diorama of the battle of the Alamo.

Here is another angle, depicting the battle outside the chapel.

Great figures, great building, great layout and composition.

I initially mistook this for a Napoleonic battle, but an alert reader -see comments below- identified it as the 'last stand of the 44th foot at Gandamak'. A battle that took place in Afghanistan in 1842. The amount of drama in this diorama is quite palpable! 

The perspective from the attacker's point of view. 

This ship was magnificent. Built from scratch, the level of detail was amazing, and on top of that, the engine and the propeller actually worked! You could see the pistons firing and moving up and down in the engine room and even though the propeller had its own separate electric motor, the illusion was quite impressive. I hope this guy won the prize... 

A WWII scene showing a couple of knocked out T-34s, allegedly taken out by some SS troopers. Nice job with the water and the grass.

Click here to see a post about a prior NCMSS show.

Click here to see a post about the Heart of the South show

West Wall Museum at Bad Bergzabern

This was my second attempt at visiting one of the West Wall's bunkers. My first attempt at Pirmasens turned out to be a very nice museum, but was not really a bunker. This one at Bad Bergzabern was a real bunker, although, as far as I am aware of, it did not see any combat and it did not have any dragon's teeth around it as I had envisioned them. Nonetheless it was a good and enlightening visit. The bunker has also been turned into a museum and the staff are helpful and knowledgeable. Let's take a look at what it has to offer.

This is the entrance to the bunker. It is located on its back side.

This is the main firing bay. Today it hosts a WWI howitzer. I don't know if that was also the equipment that it hosted during WWII. I would not be surprised as following the fall of France in 1940, this sector would not have deemed in need of the latest equipment which was better used at the actual battle fronts. The firing port is closed off today, where the photograph can be seen infront of the gun. Another interesting detail is the damage that can be seen around the firing port. As it turns out, that happened after the war as the US military used the bunker to conduct some tests with explosives from within the bunker.

A bit more detail of the supporting implements to operate and maintain the howitzer.

This shell was next to the howitzer, but I believe this is an 88mm shell.

Looks like the gun carriage/limber for the gun. Back then, despite Germany's blitzkrieg reputation, a lot of the artillery was still horse drawn.

This one is more likely the shell for the howitzer.

This is a rocket of the kind that were launched from the Sd Kfz 251, the German Halftrack which was also known as the 'Stuka zu Fuss' and carried 6 of them, 3 on each side mounted on the metal grid shown above.

An unlucky mortar in which the shell exploded prematurely.

A trunk filled with all sorts of tools and repairing equipment.

The sleeping quarters for the bunker crew.

Their eating area. Notice how the shelves are used to store the helmets and mess kits which were probably superfluous during everyday life within a bunker.

Now, here is an item that was an absolute necessity: the toilet. Since they could not flush it, notice how there is a mechanism to close the lid tightly.

Some artwork made by a Lansdser.

Sign warning soldiers not to be shocked by explosions within a bunker which can be very loud, because 'the west wall is built out of some of the best material in the world'.

A sign showing the rations that the bunker occupants were entitled to receive.

Signs warning that theft was punishable by death.

Some early machine gun model.

Looks like the tip of a 75mm gun. After the war it was sawed off the main gun and embedded in a concrete bucket.

Looking down the barrel... good thing it's not loaded!

The museum also had a few interesting pictures. This one for instance shows a bunker cammouflaged as a barn... quite a deadly trap for an enemy column moving up the road.

Another unique picture. Makes you wonder how many children met an early death or serious injury playing with such 'toys' just as the war was ending.

An observation turret of the kind that were installed outside the bunker.

This is an actual turret located behind the entrance to the bunker.

A close up of the schematic depicting the inside of the turret. Note that it was also a defensive position.

A scaled down layout of the bunker.

It has more rooms and compartments than one initially suspects.

Click here to see a post about the West Wall museum at Pirmasens

Click here to see a post about the British Airborne museum at Arnhem

Click here to see a post about the rocket museum at Peenemunde

Click here to see a post about the US Airborne museum at Fayetville
Click here to see a post about the Auto and Technik museum at Sinsheim
Click here to see a post about the Normandy Landing Beaches