World of Tanks : Tank museum in Saumur (France)

in travel •  7 years ago 

Tank museum in Saumur (France) - Le Musée des Blindés de Saumur



It's been 100 years since armored vehicles made their apparition on battlefields, by replacing the horse in the cavalry, they profoundly changed battle tactics. During my visit to Saumur town, I had the opportunity to visit one of the largest tank collections in the world, which is located in Saumur in France.

The collection contains vehicles from 1917 to 2000's, with a significant number of tanks from WWII and the ColdWar.

On the parking someone parked his Leclerc tank wrongly :)

WW1 period (1914-1918) tanks


The WW1 was the tank first experimentation period
Renault FT, crew : 2

WW2 period (1939-1945) tanks


The museum interior, Jagdpanther & Brumbbar (Germany)

The famous Panzerkampfwagen VI - Tiger 1 (and the Panzer 4)
57 tons, 88mm cannon, manufactured in Kassel by Henschel in 1943

you can see the Zimmerite layer on the hull, it's a kind of cement against magnetic mines.

The Panzer 4, it was often mistaken for the Tiger by unexperienced soldiers on the battlefield

The Kingtiger (panzer 6, Tiger II, Königstiger), the beast of Ardennes battle in 1944

The beast Kingtiger 88mm muzzle

This is a very cool NSU bike ! (NSU Kettenkraftrad 36PS 1944)

The Quad 20mm Flak (Germany)

The beast of Normandy - Jagdpanther, 88mm cannon on based on the Panther tank
Manufactured by MAN (now buses & trucks) in Braunschweig (Brunswick)

Panzer 3 & 4 from behind (the most common German tanks)

Marder 1 - early WW2 tank destroyer

A suffered Panzerjager IV/70(A), for “Alkett”, was a cheaper production version of the long barrel Jagdpanzer IV, now at the Saumur Museum in France. Notice the penetration hole from the shell that knocked out the tank.


stuck 76mm shell

a towing hook

The very famous 88m Flak 36 - the AA gun that gave birth to the Tiger

from behind

Flak aiming devices from Siemens

The Hummel arty - a Pz4 based 150mm self propelled howitzer

interior

American M26 pershing was designed to fight the Tiger with its 90mm :)

American M3 Lee with a fake cannon :)

The famous T34/76, which terrorized the small Panzers, and inspired the creation of the Panther tank

The SU-100 (100mm) and the KV1 (76.2mm) in Stalingrad scene

Post WW2 period - "Cold war" vehicles

French halftrack with "Saigon" (former name of Ho Chi Minh ville in Vietnam) inscription on it

The very famous soviet original T-54

Many soviet machines

The french AMX-50B (and ARL-44) - 1950's
AMX means Ateliers de construction d'Issy-les-Moulineaux factory near Paris


120mm muzzle brake

French AMX13/90 - Suez crysis (1956), War of 6 days, Vietnam war, Lenanon wars

French AMX30 an AMX30B

French BC-25t and ELC-AMX
BC means Batignolles-Chatillon compagny in Nantes

The UK Conqueror

The german Leopard 1 (Cousin of the AMX-30)

The swedish Strv-103-0 (Stridvagn), with its immobile cannon

The soo british Chieftain

The soviet 122mm Gvozdika

some cannons

tanks waiting for restauration




And more more other tanks and various vehicles, this is the one of the best museums (with Kubinka) in armored vehicle's theme.
It takes a whole day to visit the museum (without reading each info board :) )

If you enjoyed playing World of Tanks online game, you'll enjoy this museum, especially for its rare tanks collection, such as the BC-25t, AMX-30B, AMX-50B, Strv, etc.

Museum website - http://www.museedesblindes.fr/
Address - 1043 route de Fontevraud, 49400, Saumur, France

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