Jagdpanzer's Happy Place: The Dutch National War and Resistance Museum Overloon. (WiP)

[Jagdpanzer]

Jagdpanzer's Happy Place

The Dutch National War and Resistance Museum Overloon



The main hall of the museum. German 10.5cm LeFH 18/40 howitzer, the back end of a 15cm Nebelwerfer 41 on the right side, a Churchill tank Mk V with a 95mm howitzer and a Cromwell IV on the left side.

After Market Garden: The Battle of Overloon.

After operation Market Garden the allies controlled a narrow corridor to the city of Nijmegen which was difficult to hold. It was in particular threatened by German forces in the Venlo bridgehead or Maas salient on the west bank of the river Maas (also known as Meuse in french) near the cities of Venlo and Roermond. The area was well protected by the Canal Wessem-Nederweert to the south and the Peel Marshes with a network of small canals to the west. The only easy way in was from the North, near the village of Overloon. It was decided that the US 7th Amored Division was to attack from the North. To this end the division was temporarily assigned to XIII British Corps. The strength of German forces in the bridgehead was grossly underestimated by the allies at only 2,000 - 3,000 soldiers. In reality there were 7 or 8 times more soldiers. The northern boundary of the salient was defended by the Kampfgruppe Walther (battlegroup Walther). At this time the Kampfgruppe consisted of Panzer Brigade 107, 3 fallschirmjäger battalions, a SS panzergrenadier battalion, a SS anti-tank battalion, several artillery units and possibly a Luftwaffe Festungs battalion. On the 30th of September, five days after the end of operation Market Garden, the 7th Armored Division launched its attack against the Kampfgruppe Walther.

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Panther tank '222' after the battle of Overloon.

The Aftermath: The Dutch National War and Resistance Museum Overloon.

In May 1945 public servant Harry van Daal who was the head of general affairs of the municipality of Vierlingsbeek to which Overloon belonged had a luminous idea while walking through the battle-scarred woods near Overloon. He wanted to start a War Museum in Overloon to preserve the traces of war left by the battle of Overloon. After consulting several people he managed togain land donated by the municipality and the church and the British army in Germany sent two tanks to aid with the recovery of battle-damaged tanks and other vehicles for the museum. On the 25th of May 1946 major-general Lashmer Gordon 'Bolo' Whistler, former commander of the UK 3th Infantry Division opened the museum. Over the years the museum has expanded its collection through gifts by individuals, armies, other organisations and by absorbing the collections of other Dutch war museums. In 2005-2006 the museum expanded its collection significantly by absorbing the Marshall collection of private collector Jaap de Groot which consisted of more than 200 vehicles and many other items of interest. In 2016 the museum will expand its collection again by adding the collection of the Achterhoeks Museum 1940-1945 which will shut down in December 2015. Today Overloon is the largest world war II museum in the Netherlands with more than 100,000 visitors each year. The museum is located in Liberty Park on the southeast side of Overloon.

M4 Sherman tank 'After Hitler' in Overloon in the early sixties. (Source: Wikipedia)

Militracks

Militracks is a yearly event which takes place every third weekend of May. The first edition was in 2010. During Militracks private collectors of German World War II vehicles gather in Liberty Park to show their vehicles to each other and visitors. For a fee visitors can ride along in a vehicle. Militracks is a very popular event. The most recent editions have drawn over 8,000 visitors and more than 50 vehicles.

Liberty Park during Militracks 2014.

My intentions.

I'm going to post pictures of vehicles, artillery and other items of interest with some background info. This is going to be a slow moving thread and I'll often post incomplete posts. If you're interested then you should subscribe to this thread and check it every now and then.

7.5cm PaK 97/38, Jagdpanzer 38 tank destroyer, a bunch of US Navy trucks, a Valentine Bridgelayer tank and a V-1 in the main hall of Overloon.

Used literature.

Erik van Den Dungen, De Slag bij Overloon en de Bevrijding van Venray.
Barbara Maiwald & Jan van Berlo, Militracks: Evolution 1
Alexander Lüdeke, Panzer der Wehrmacht 1933-1945
Walter J Spielberger Hilary Doyle & Thomas Jentz, Leichte Jagdpanzer



Used Websites.

www.shermantankoverloon.nl

M4A1 Sherman Tank 'Able Abe'


Able Abe is unique because he's the only tank in Overloon outside Liberty Park so he gets his own spot here. In July 2008 a monument was revealed in Overloon for the US 7th Armoured Division. Originally the monument committee also wanted to add a tank to the monument but they were unable to acquire one until one of its members spotted a M4A1E9 range wreck in a news item on the TV. The Sherman was recovered from artillery range Oldenbroek with the aid of the US Embassy and the Dutch Ministry of Defence and transported to Overloon in 2010. Much work still had to be done. The tank had to be visually restored and its suspension extender blocks had to be removed to restore this tank to M4A1 configuration. The main difference between the M4A1 and M4A1E9 is that the latter was fitted with duckbill tracks to improve off-road mobility. Able Abe was moved to its current spot on the first of September 2011 and officially inaugurated on the 8th of October 2011.
Able Abe was built by the Pacific Car and Foundry Company in July 1943. The name Able Abe came from a Sherman tank of the 7th AD which was knocked out during the battle of Overloon on the first of October 1944. The original Able Abe was hit by a German anti-tank shell which hit the frontal armor and killed the bow gunner.



Monument to the 7th Armoured Division in front of Liberty Park.







M4A1 Sherman 'Able Abe' in front of Liberty Park.

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[Darkhorse]

I still need to go to this place. Maybe the new job will take me there, we do a bit of work with the Liberation Route group.

[Jagdpanzer]

I still need to go to this place. Maybe the new job will take me there, we do a bit of work with the Liberation Route group.

Hopefully they will send you there for Militracks or perhaps Santa Fe some day. I usually go twice a year. They have some unique British vehicles: The Conger Minesweeper Carrier, the Cruiser Mk VIII Challenger tank and the Crusader Gun Tractor.

[Darkhorse]

I would love to go, I'd also like to do something for Britain at War on the Battle of Overloon, but it's a case of buying it in from someone willing to do it and who is willing to fit into what we need.

[Stavroforos]

Jagdpanzers are usually quite happy in Holland

But it looks like a fun museum, can't wait to see some more picture of the armor tbh. The weirdly angled stars on the Sherman are interesting...I know Canadian units usually changed the orientation of their stars so as to not be confused for Americans (typical Canadians!), but that's clearly an American Sherman.

[Jagdpanzer]

I would love to go, I'd also like to do something for Britain at War on the Battle of Overloon, but it's a case of buying it in from someone willing to do it and who is willing to fit into what we need.

Britain at War is a military history magazine?

Jagdpanzers are usually quite happy in Holland

But it looks like a fun museum, can't wait to see some more picture of the armor tbh. The weirdly angled stars on the Sherman are interesting...I know Canadian units usually changed the orientation of their stars so as to not be confused for Americans (typical Canadians!), but that's clearly an American Sherman.

That picture was taken in the sixties, I don't believe that those stars are original. They were probably painted post-war by volunteers. It belonged to the US 7th Armored Division which was attached to a British corps during the battle of Overloon. After Hitler as this tank was called was knocked out by two 75mm hits to the lower right side of the hull and a 88mm hit to the turret ring which dislodged the turret. All crew members were killed.

[Darkhorse]

Britain at War is a military history magazine?

Yep

[Jagdpanzer]

Germany: tanks and tank destroyers


Panzerkampfwagen 17R 730(f)


The Renault FT-17 is a French WW-I light tank and is often considered to be the first modern tank because of its layout. Driver in the front, a fully rotatable turret in the center and the engine in the back. The development was started in 1916 and more than 3,000 were produced until the end of the war. It was armed with a 8mm Hotchkiss machine gun or a 37mm cannon. It was used by many nations, some of whom produced their own copies of it. In the early thirties the tanks armed with a machine gun were rearmed with a 7.5mm Reibel machine gun. Even though it was obsolete the French army still had 2,700 FT-17's in its inventory of whom 534 served with frontline units. Others were kept in reserve or used for training. 1,700 were captured by the German army during the invasion of whom 500-600 were refurbished for use by the German army.
25 of these tanks were used by the Luftwaffe to secure airfields in the Netherlands. Two of these tanks have survived, the other one is in the Dutch National Military Museum in Soest. At the end of the war it was left behind by the Luftwaffe at Volkel Air Base. After the war it was briefly used by the Dutch army to train tank crews. In 1974/75 it was restored by a group of Dutch Army volunteers.

Panzerkampfwagen 38(t) Ausf. E (Sd.Kfz. 140)

This tank belongs to a German private collector. It was present at Militracks 2012.





Panzerkampfwagen II Ausf. C (Sd.Kfz. 121)


This Panzer II tank belongs to the French tank museum in Saumur. It was present at Militracks 2016.






Sturmgeschutz III Ausf. G (Sd.Kfz. 142/1)

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The vehicle in these pictures belongs to the Wehrtechnische Studiensammlung (Defense technology study collection) in Koblenz, Germany. It was one of 59 StuGs that were delivered in 1943-1944 to the Finnish army. Finland continued to use the StuG III until the sixties. Though some effort has been taken to restore this vehicle to its original configuration you can still tell that it's a Finnish StuG because of the large hole in the machinegun shield for a Soviet DT machinegun. This vehicle has a waffle pattern zimmerit coating. This was applied to the protect the vehicle against magnetic anti-tank mines. Waffle pattern is typical for vehicles built by Alkett. It was built by them in May 1944. It was present at Militracks 2015.



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Jagdpanzer 38 (Sd.Kfz. 138/2) 'Hetzer'



In May 1943 Guderian ordered the development of a new cheap light tank destroyer which was to replace all improvised tank destroyers in use with the infantry divisions. The chassis of the proven and reliable Panzerkampfwagen 38(t) was used as a basis for this design. It was widened and lengthened, fitted with larger wheels and a more powerful engine. Main armament was a 75mm L/48 gun and it had a machinegun mounted on the roof. Though well liked by its crews, the design of the Jagdpanzer 38 had a few drawbacks. It had slow reload speed because the gun was mounted on the right side of the vehicle. The machinegun on the roof had a clip with only 50 rounds which meant that the loader had to frequently expose himself to reload it and the vehicle had thin rear and side-armor. The advantages were a small profile which made it difficult to spot or hit, sloped armor and reliability.
2,827 Jagdpanzer 38's were produced by BMM and Skoda from May 1944 until the end of the war. Hetzers were usually issued to any kind of infantry division: Infanterie, Volksgrenadier, Marine, RAD or cavalry (cavalry divisions were mounted infantry who fought on foot) but not to Panzergrenadier divisions with the exception 16. SS Panzergrenadier division. The anti-tank battalion of an infantry division had one company equipped with 14 hetzers. Hetzers were also given to some independent tank destroyer battalions who received batches of 45 vehicles. In the final stages of the war these numbers were reduced to 10 and 30. Hungary also received a number of Jagdpanzer 38's.
After the end of the war Czechoslovakia and Switzerland continued to use the Hetzer designated as ST-I or G-13. Israel also considered the purchase of 65 Hetzers but opted for cheaper Sherman tanks instead. Most surviving Hetzers are Swiss G-13's. They can be easily discerned from the original because their main gun has a muzzle brake and a commander's periscope instead of a roof mounted machinegun.


The Museum has a visually restored Swiss G-13 which has been modified to resemble a wartime Hetzer. Its muzzle brake has been removed and the commander's periscope has been replaced with a machinegun.

Each year during Militracks Bruce Crompton from Axis Track Vehicles visits the Museum with his genuine Jagdpanzer 38. This vehicle was dug up near Vilseck, Germany in 1987 and restored to running condition.




Panzerspahwagen II Luchs (Sd.Kfz. 123)

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Panzerkampfwagen Panther Ausf. G (Sd.Kfz. 171)

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