Achtung Panzer - Oosterbeek's guardian

Preserved at the Airborne Museum Hartenstein in Oosterbeek is a single M4A4 Sherman tank. 

Market Garden

The Airborne Museum Hartenstein tells the history of the Battle of Arnhem, part of operation Market Garden in 1944. Market was the airborne operation with British and US paratroopers capturing certain bridges all the way up to Arnhem. Garden was the ground offensive by XXX Corps that was tasked with relieving the paratroopers and create a corridor to invade Germany's Ruhr area, bypassing the Siegfried line. Whilst the bridges at Grave and Nijmegen were captured and secured the bridge at Arnhem could not be captured. Stiff German opposition prevented both the taking of the bridge by the paratroopers - the Battle of Arnhem - and XXX Corps reaching Arnhem in time to relieve the paratroopers. So while Shermans were deployed by XXX Corps no Shermans fought in the Battle of Arnhem. That would change in 1945 when Canadian armoured units using Shermans fought to liberate the Veluwe area.

Sherman V

This Sherman tank was built by Chrysler as an M4A4 model fitted with a 75mm cannon. Through Lend-Lease Shermans were delivered to British, Canadian and other Commonwealth forces. In British and Commonwealth service the M4A4 was known as the Sherman Mark V, Sherman V for short.

The Mark V differed from other Shermans in that is was a tid bit longer. Chrysler fitted all their M4A4 Shermans with their A57 multibank petrol engine and this engine needed more space than was available in a standard Sherman chassis. 

This also meant that the tracks were longer than usual for a Sherman, 83 'shoes' instead of 79. Attached to those shoes were extended end connectors, commonly known as duck bills. 

Markings

Let's take a look at the markings on this Sherman. This particular Sherman V is displayed in Canadian markings. These markings show that this tank was part of the Fifth Canadian Armoured Division.

This triangle shows that this tank was attached to A Squadron. The colour and number indicate that it served with the 4th Troop of the Reconnaissance unit of A Squadron.

This tank is named Argyle. That this name starts with an A is no coincidence, all tanks of A Squadron had names beginning with an A.

The number 51 indicates the Unit Serial, the red square indicates that this is an armoured unit.

The number 5964 is the manufacturer serial number or construction number. This unique number identifies this single tank. Its corresponding US Army serial number is 3057774. 

When a tank was shipped to the Canadians it would have received a War Department number, starting with a T. This the tank no longer carries. However in pre-2011 photos the WD number T-288627 is visible. Somewhere between 2008 and 2011 this tank received a new coat of paint. During this repainting the WD number seems to be forgotten. 

I can't tell how original these markings are. I wouldn't be surprised if Sherman 5964 came from Royal Dutch Army stocks and was painted up in Canadian markings to commemorate the Canadian contribution to liberating the Netherlands. And that is perfectly fine with me.

Click on images to enlarge

At the fence: Leeuwarden Air Base [Weapons Instructor Course part II]

In phase two of the Weapons Instructor Course the Royal Norwegian Air Force provided five extra F-35A's for the exercise. The participating pilots also faced air to air opposition provided by Top Aces. Top Aces brought two A-4N Skyhawks and two Alpha Jet A's to make thing a bit more, well, interesting for our participants. 

EOS-1D Mark IV, EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM, ISO 200, 1/1250 sec, f/8

Today I brought my Canon EOS-1D Mark IV with me. Although the weather was a bit more challenging I am quite happy with these photos.

EOS-1D Mark IV, 100-400, ISO 200, 1/1250 sec, f/8

EOS-1D Mark IV, 100-400, ISO 200, 1/1250 sec, f/7.1

EOS-1D Mark IV, 100-400, ISO 200, 1/1250 sec, f/9

EOS-1D Mark IV, 100-400, ISO 200, 1/1250 sec, f/8

EOS-1D Mark IV, 100-400, ISO 200, 1/1250 sec, f/8

EOS-1D Mark IV, 100-400, ISO 200, 1/1250 sec, f/7.1

EOS-1D Mark IV, 100-400, ISO 200, 1/1250 sec, f/8

EOS-1D Mark IV, 100-400, ISO 200, 1/1250 sec, f/8

EOS-1D Mark IV, 100-400, ISO 200, 1/1250 sec, f/8

EOS-1D Mark IV, 100-400, ISO 200, 1/1250 sec, f/9

EOS-1D Mark IV, 100-400, ISO 200, 1/1250 sec, f/7.1

Click on images to enlarge.

At the fence: Leeuwarden Air Base [Weapons Instructor Course]

At the moment the Weapons Instructor Course is taking place at Leeuwarden Air Base. Pilots from Denmark, Norway and The Netherlands train to become weapons experts in their F-35 Lightning II jets. 

EOS 5DsR, EF 100-400mm f/3.5-5.6L II USM, ISO 200, 1/1250 sec, f/7.1

I was able to make it to the first phase of the exercise. Denmark deployed five F-35's to Leeuwarden. F-35's from Volkel and based F-35's from Leeuwarden also participated, as did a single MQ-9. On this day, the MQ-9 was the first to take off, followed by the Danish and Dutch F-35's.

EOS 5DsR, 100-400, ISO 200, 1/1000 sec, f/8

EOS 5DsR, 100-400, ISO 200, 1/1250 sec, f/7.1

EOS 5DsR, 100-400, ISO 200, 1/1250 sec, f/6.3

EOS 5DsR, 100-400, ISO 200, 1/1250 sec, f/5.6

EOS 5DsR, 100-400, ISO 200, 1/1250 sec, f/6.3

EOS 5DsR, 100-400, ISO 200, 1/1250 sec, f/6.3

I brought my GFX 100S II and EOS 5DsR to Leeuwarden. It was a sunny day and the flying was good, what more do you want?

EOS 5DsR, 100-400, ISO 200, 1/1250 sec, f/6.3

EOS 5DsR, 100-400, ISO 200, 1/1250 sec, f/6.3

EOS 5DsR, 100-400, ISO 200, 1/1250 sec, f/7.1

EOS 5DsR, 100-400, ISO 200, 1/1250 sec, f/6.3

EOS 5DsR, 100-400, ISO 200, 1/1250 sec, f/6.3

GFX 100S II, 500mm, ISO 200, 1/640 sec, f/6.4

GFX 100S II, 500mm, ISO 200, 1/640 sec, f/9

GFX 100S II, 500mm, ISO 200, 1/640 sec, f/9

GFX 100S II, 500mm, ISO 200, 1/1000 sec, f/8

GFX 100S II, 500mm, ISO 200, 1/640 sec, f/5.6

GFX 100S II, 500mm, ISO 200, 1/640 sec, f/6.4

Click on images to enlarge. 

At the fence: Lelystad Airport

Now, Lelystad Airport is not mentioned here often. But ten days ago they were host to a rather special guest: The Lithuanian Air Force.

Canon EOS 5DsR, Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM

A special guest

The Lithuanian Air Force (Lietuvos karinės oro pajėgos) brought one of their L-410 Turbolets to Lelystad. It was on its way to the air show at Lann-Bihoué and Lelystad was the place they decided to stop for the night.

The Lithuanian Air Force operates the L-410UVP model which is an updated version that incorporated lessons learned by the Soviet State airline Aeroflot. Built in Czechoslovakia by Let Kunovice in fact most of the Turbolets ended up in Soviet Union. They were used as multi-engine trainer aircraft for the military and passenger aircraft for Aeroflot where the type replaced the An-2. 

As Lithuania is a former Soviet Republic you would expect this L-410 to be one of those aircraft supplied to the Soviet Union. However, this is not the case. This L-410 with construction number 820739 was delivered to the East German Air Force on the 21st of January, 1982. They allocated serial number 324 to the aircraft. After the reunification of Germany  in 1990 it became property of the Luftwaffe who re-serialled it to 53+03. They flew it for three years before donating the aircraft to Lithuania. It was transferred on the 23rd of March, 1993 and received serial number 02 blue in Lithuanian service.

An old 'new' camera

This rather unique visit provided me with the perfect opportunity to test my Canon EOS-1D Mark IV. I've acquired this camera recently and, other than to check if still works, I hadn't taken any photos with it. I also brought a 70-200 f/2.8L USM telephoto lens. I must say that I really liked working with the Mark IV. I replaced my last Canon EOS-1D series camera (the 1Ds Mark II) with the Canon EOS 5DsR ten years ago so it had been a while. However, it was like there was no ten-year hiatus when shooting with the Mark IV. As I've explained in my Canon EOS-1 review the EOS-1 buttons work slightly different than the buttons on other EOS cameras but that didn't bother me at all. It all felt very natural. So here are some shots of 02 blue taken with the Canon EOS-1D mark IV.

Click on any photo to enlarge

Achtung Panzer - Remembrance

Today is the 4th of May. Remembrance Day in the Netherlands. So it is perhaps fitting that on this day we talk about a tank that represents the war in Ukraine, a conflict that has been raging for over four years now. No longer headline news but still being fought. Lest we forget.

The T-72 in Groenlo. Fuji GFX 100S II, 45-100mm f/4, Acros film simulation. 

The T-72

The topic of today's Achtung Panzer is the Soviet/Russian T-72 Main Battle Tank (MTB). Introduced in 1973, it was a further development of the T-64 MTB. Around 25,000 units were produced. Our version is a T-72B which entered production in 1985. I understand that this tank was knocked out during the battle for Kyiv in March, 2022. It ran on a French-supplied mine and was disabled.

The tank, together with an Ukrainian ambulance, is a travelling exhibit now in the care of the Vrijheidsmuseum (freedom museum) in Groesbeek. Its first appearance outside of Ukraine was in Berlin, parked in front of the Russian Embassy as a protest against the war. It has since been seen in Amsterdam, Groesbeek and now Groenlo where I caught sight of it.

Fuji GFX 100S II, 45-100mm f/4

Russian markings

The turret is marked MRVSP KN-TN-7455

According to Oryx, the Russians lost 365 T-72B's during the war until May 2026. Confirmed losses, that is.

The turret and fuselage are marked MRVSP KN-TN-7455 in Cyrillic. Anyone for its meaning? Let me know in the comments.