WRITING COMING SOON
Deutsches Panzermuseum
Munster is a quant little town in the center of Germany, with nothing particularly significant about it. No major battles happened there, no treaties were signed there, and no important people were born or buried there. But there is one exciting place that is situated in Munster: The Deutsches Panzermuseum. The museum holds over 200 tanks of all different nationalities, but it focuses on German equipment.
It starts with the first world war, where despite much advancement in science and engineering in the 19th century, much of social and military thinking hadn’t changed, such as the fact that almost every country in Europe was ruled by a monarchy of some sort, and the notion that had persisted for hundreds of years that war was a heroic and exciting occasion where boys become men and fight for honor and glory. The first world war radically changed much of these concepts, and quickly made most of the countries involved change gears, and things like cavalry became next to useless next to machine guns and combat aircraft. The mud that covered many of the western front’s landscapes bogged down even the most powerful vehicles that either side had at their disposal. Something had to be done about this. The british were the first to design and build tanks, starting with “Little Willie” in 1915, and later the Mark 1 male and female. The difference between the two was that the male had both machine guns and cannons, while the females had only machine guns.
They first tested their new contraption during the Battle of the Somme, with mixed results. Of the 49 that had been sent to France, only 32 were ready for combat, and during the battle only a third made it to the German lines, but it was still an unprecedented success. The Germans, while rather unprepared for this development, quickly adapted. During the next two years of war, many developments were made on both sides. Germany wasn’t nearly as advanced as the British in terms of tank manufacturing, and only one combat ready tank design was made by the Germans, the A7V. It was not nearly as advanced as the british tanks, but had much heavier armor and armament, and could take on multiple Allied tanks before being overwhelmed. They focused much more on counter-tank contraptions, such as the K-bullet, which could be fired from a standard Mauser rifle and penetrate 10-12mm armor, and the Tankgewehr M1918, the first anti-tank rifle, which could penetrate up to 22mm of armor.
After the war, Germany was disarmed, and much tank development ceased, apart from the Traktor program in 1928. It was not until the Nazi party won the 1933 election and began their process of rearmament that Germany began producing tanks, starting with the Panzer 1. During the following years, the German Army began being equipped with tank divisions, and made great strides in designing and using tanks to the greatest effect, miles ahead of many great powers across the globe, most notably the United States.
In the early stages of the Second World War, Germany was unstoppable. The concept of “Blitzkrieg”, which was nothing more than commanders using good units effectively, crushed country after country at breakneck speed. Most of this success was due to tank breakthroughs combined with constant air attack. Tank design by this point was incredibly varied, with all of the major power’s priorities shown in their tank designs. Germany was focused on breakthrough tanks who could make use of a ny weak point in the line, destroy it, and then make pockets out of the units on either side. Britain was more focused on slow, heavily armored infantry tanks who could support the ground troops, such as the Matilda and Churchill designs. The Soviet Union preferred a multipurpose tank that could be useful for whatever role could be needed. Their design, the T-34, is arguably the best tank ever made, with all around decent statistics across the board. While not as heavily armed or armored as larger tanks, the T-34 was incredibly fast for its weight and had a reasonably powerful main cannon that could penetrate almost every German tank in service. America hadn’t taken tanks as seriously as other nations due to being an ocean away from all of its enemies, and so was rather late in developing tanks of its own. Its response, the M4 Sherman, while not the T-34, was a decent enough tank that despite its weaknesses, was easy to be built and could do most everything required of it.
In the end, Germany was indeed defeated with much loss of life, and the two germanies were created. While East Germany took after the Soviet Union for almost all of its resources, including military, West Germany was, after 1955, allowed its own military and was allowed to research and design new equipment. West and East Germany went in completely different directions, with East Germany building tanks that had massive amounts of armor, but little to no precautions to make life in the tank bearable. They had plenty of people, so why waste space on useless things to keep the crewmen alive? West Germany was much more interested in tanks with maneuverability rather than straight up armor, and designed the Leopard series of tanks, which were some of the best Cold War Era Main Battle Tanks.
Inside of the museum, there are visible track marks on the ground from when the tanks were moved inside, and the tanks and various other vehicles line the sides, with informative panels detailing all of the specifics about each, such as weight, armament and crew capacity. The presentation of all the tanks is impressive, considering that each vehicle weighs over 20 tons at least. Despite not being even remotely near any major cities or points of interest, the Deutsches Panzermuseum is a museum well worth visiting, if one is interested by the idea of armored warfare.
Essays
In September of 1944, the Allies of World War Two devised a plan to liberate the Netherlands quickly and cost-effectively. The plan, known as Operation Market Garden, involved airborne troops swiftly landing near important bridges to capture and hold them until a large armored column could reach them. This leapfrog tactic meant that thousands of cargo planes and gliders were needed to bring all the paratroopers in at once to keep the element of surprise. This ended up being the largest airborne landing in history, with over 41,000 airborne troops participating. The plan was to capture the bridges around Son, Veghel, Grave, Nijmegen, and Arnhem, and hold them until the armored column reached them.
While the other groups managed to reach their targets relatively quickly and were relieved by the armored formation arriving on time, the British 1st Airborne Division, tasked with taking the Rijksbrug in Arnhem, had many problems from the outset. Their radios didn’t work beyond a few meters, if at all, the ground which the gliders needed to land on was over seven miles away from the bridge, and only about half of the division could get in on the first drop. Only the 1st Parachute Brigade could be spared to go to the bridge, the rest had to stay and guard the landing zones until the second wave could arrive the next day. The rest of the 1st Airborne would stay around the dropzones, eventually staying in Oosterbeek until they could sneak across the river to the Allied armored column across the river on the 25th. The 1st Parachute Brigade was stuck in Arnhem, and was slowly crushed from all sides by German reinforcements, with the last British troops surrendering on the 21st of September.
I came to Arnhem, incidentally on the anniversary of the battle during one of my recent trips. The Netherlands was only a sideshow to the meat of the trip, which was based in Germany and Ukraine, so my mother and I hadn’t expected much from it apart from nice views. Arnhem just happened to be on the way from Amsterdam to Münster, and as a Second World War enthusiast, it was an interesting spot to go to. All I was expecting was a bridge and a plaque on one of the sides of the river, but when we reached the northern side of the bridge there was the expected plaque, but underneath it, there were multiple little crosses and paper poppies with notes on them. Most of the notes were in Dutch, but the few in English were very touching, with some kind of appreciation note written beneath. I personally was impressed by the genuine thanks and respect they gave to people they had never met, from another country, who didn’t even manage to succeed in their mission.
Near the bridge, there is a small park with an old artillery piece donated from one of the units who took part in the battle, and a small information panel explaining the history of a Dutchman, who joined the British airborne and died during the battle. When my mother and I approached the sign, a young couple walked away after having put down a bouquet of red roses. This in itself wasn’t much of a surprise, but the fact that neither of the couple seemed ethnically Dutch. Both were dark-skinned and seemed to be of Middle Eastern descent, and the woman had on a hijab. Unfortunately, I didn’t have the courage to ask them about it, but it was a very powerful thing to witness. I’d like to have known their story, what compelled them to place flowers for someone they never knew.
There wasn’t much time to go to many of the locations around town related to the battle, as the main museum building was in the center of town and we had to get on the road, but that last moment was the one thing that really stuck with me throughout the whole trip, and will always be my memory of Arnhem.
Arnhem, Netherlands
Kiev: A City of Resistance and Salo
Independence Square is filled with all the commotion of a major city. Older Soviet administration buildings mix with newer Western-style shops, with the Cyrillic translations of Starbucks Coffee and H&M hanging over the sidewalks. Older Ladas and newer Volvo cars crowd the streets, honking their horns at every red light. A fountain commemorating the founding of the city overlooks the entire plaza, seemingly watching over the city. In every direction, onion spires stick out, each one a different church from its history as a religious center. The entire city looks as if it was taken directly from a Wes Anderson movie. This benign view shows no evidence of the multiple revolutions which have marched through here, the piles of rubble or burnt out cars, or the waves of protesters and patriotic parades which so often have choked the entire square. This is Kyiv.
Even the cuisine in Kyiv connects to its history. In a mall underneath Independence Square, there is a secret elevator that leads to a restaurant named Ostannya Barykada(The Last Barricade), after which you must recite the phrase “боритеся і поборіте”, the words of Ukrainian writer Taras Shevchenko which means “Keep fighting and you will fight anything”. The restaurant is not something that I would normally recommend for the food alone, but as an experience which is incredibly rare in the West. The restaurant was designed as a club for the free thinkers of Ukraine to discuss their opinions as well as a memorial to freedom.
While a restaurant can never fully show Ukraine’s varied culture, the Besarabsky Market definitely does. The structure was built in 1912, but the place where it is built had been a large market for hundreds of years previously. The market has seen all of Ukraine’s bloody and revolutionary history, and is still one of the biggest markets in the city. Bundles of herbs and strings of garlic hang from signs, with prices written in shaky handwriting. Massive dinosaur-looking sturgeon and whole beef legs. Caviar that would sell for hundreds of dollars in the US is less than twenty dollars, and tins of it can be seen in every refrigerated case, as well as salo, a Ukrainian national dish that is simply cured pork belly that is eaten with lavash, a fluffy Georgian bread. Ukrainian honey is known worldwide, and for good reason. It could be due to the natural beauty of Ukraine, or the techniques used to make them, but it is miles above every other honey on the market anywhere. Ukrainian honey is a distinct opaque light yellow color, has a more complicated flavor, and does not flow easily. While any picture is sure to make these markets look like the epitome of agricultural wealth, it is the opposite. The entire market still holds less actual produce than a standard supermarket, and everything on display is everything they sell. While Ukraine was thought of as the breadbasket of the Soviet Union, the majority of the harvest was made for export, and through a combination of bad harvests and decisions made by the Soviet government, famines occured, most notably in 1931-32, when anywhere from 2 to 12 million died.
Kyiv is both the political and cultural capital of Ukraine. At any point around the city, you can see the top of the Motherland monument, a massive 102-metre tall statue of a maiden with a sword and shield emblazoned with the Soviet crest raised in victory, which stands directly on top of the National Museum of the Great Patriotic War (now the National Museum of Ukraine in the Second World War). Her shield is the only communist symbol allowed in the city, as all Communist and Nazi monuments and names were outlawed in 2008. The statue is kept as it is because it is not a communist symbol, but a celebration of Ukrainian Independence. The statue radiates power, and it dwarfs almost every other building in Kyiv. It makes the many people standing below look like ants compared to the strong, muscular motherland.
The National Museum of the Great Patriotic War is a full story of Ukraine during 1941-1943, and the many struggles that faced them, from the beginning of the war to German occupation, the partisans who fought against them and eventually liberation. The main room is currently filled with trophies from the ongoing civil war, as well as some eulogies for fallen soldiers who have died so far. Outside, there are exhibits of Soviet weaponry, and memorial for the soldiers who crossed the Dnieper in 1943 to liberate the city. The entire museum is 24.7 acres large, and is surrounded by parks. The lush foliage contrasts sharply to the cold reality inside the museum, with a long, curved hall filled with on one wall covered floor to ceiling with thousands of pictures of fallen soldiers, and on the other their mothers. A table runs through the center of the hall, with a canteen or improvised water carrying device for the soldiers, and a uniform glass for the mothers. The sacrifices made by both soldiers and civilians during that war was almost unthinkable for many people today, and it is an incredibly moving history lesson.
The statue of the motherland’s sword was actually shortened from its original design as not to surpass the Kiev Pechersk Lavra (Monastery of the Caves) as the tallest building in the city. While the eastern orthodox monastery has existed since the 11th century, most of it was destroyed by the Germans in 1941 when they captured the city from the Soviets. It is a fully operational church and monastery, with gold domes and roofs covered in a distinct green. Underneath the monastery are the holy caverns which originally were the residence of the founder of the monastery’s home, with little golden shrines with people kneeling in prayer and niches holding glass-topped sarcophagi containing Ukrainian saints, with green embroidered shrouds covering their now mummified corpses. Despite the centuries since their deaths their bodies have not degraded, which is thought to have been due to the immense faith of the Ukrainian people. One hand sticks out of the shroud, which is black and mottled, and only adds to the atmosphere of the caves. There are jars filled with oil and a saint’s skull, and the priests will sell the oil as a holy ointment, said to cure any illness. When entering these caves it is good to bring a candle, as no electric lights are allowed. The passageways are narrow and multiple groups of people often bump into each other in the dimly lit corridors. While many Western viewers would find such a place disturbing, the local I spoke to explained that to them the saints are not dead, but merely resting. I was understandably spooked.
Despite Kiev seeming serene, this is not the case. Just four short years ago there were snipers on the rooftops and armored trucks in the streets. Whole streets were on fire and smoke engulfed the city. Thousands of casualties were reported, as well as 266 confirmed deaths. Just ten years before that, there were almost half a million protesters marching against the corruption and electoral fraud in the 2004 election. And 13 years before that, there were protests to leave the Soviet Union. Today, entire walls outside of churches are covered in the photos of fallen soldiers killed while fighting in the current civil war in the Donbass. Ukraine has never been a safe country. There has always been civil unrest and violence. There has always been a bigger country which has used Ukraine as their puppet state. But Ukraine has never surrendered. An independent Ukraine has only existed for 125 years of their over 2000 year old history, but Ukrainian pride has persisted, and as it is said by Taras Shevchenko, “боритеся і поборіте”.