TOP TIGER TANKS EXHIBITION OPENS

A rare and unique collection of German World War II Tiger tanks has gone on show for the first time at the Bovington Tank Museum in Dorset.

Never have these tanks been shown together with one making its way from the USA in order to make up the display.

And the launch day was even further blessed with having four members from British and German tank crews who were fighting on opposite sides back in World War II.

British veterans Ken Tout and Ernest Slarks were joined by Waldemar Pliska and Wilhelm Fischer who drove Tiger tanks on the Eastern front and

in the Ukraine.

One of the Tiger tanks on display.

Called ‘The Tiger Collection’ the fearsome machines are displayed along with details about the men who fought with them or in the case of the British, against them.

2 German and 2 British former tank crew members at the exhibition opening.

The guests of honour the former World War II soldiers who are now all in their 90’s said they felt quite strange meeting their former foes and one of the German guests was unsure about coming face to face with the tank once again after 70 years.

Part of the display in the Tiger tank exhibition.

Many memories were stirred up as the four soldiers posed for the press and TV teams that turned up to cover the event.

British veteran Mr Slarks served in the 23^rd Hussars and landed on the D-Day beach of Arromanches in 1944. He was a radio operator in the much less armoured Firefly tank.

Ken Tout was in a Sherman of the 1st Northamptonshire Yeomanry and was amazed to think he was shaking hands with two former German soldiers that would have tried to kill him back in 1944.

Exhibition Markus Schill part sponsor from World of Tanks games company.

He said; “ The whole day has been a great and a wonderful experience. Certainly Tiger tanks were greatly feared in the war they were much more powerful than anything else on the battlefield.

On show at the tank museum is a Tiger 1, two King Tigers, a Jagdtiger and an Elefant variant. The video games company World of Tanks part sponsored the unique exhibition.

 http://www.tankmuseum.org/