Photos Tank Day 2023 in Lesany Military Museum

[Adamicz]

After 4 years, I have visited the "Tank Day" in Lesany Military Museum in the Czech Republic. Here are some of my photos from this great event:

LT vz. 38 // In camo of the Czechoslovakian Army in which these late 1930's light tanks were about to be adopted. Unfortunately, German occupation came before any of these tanks entered service. Germans decided to continue the production of the tank for their own army, where it was designated as PzKpfw 38(t) and has been used as a platform for number of other types (Marder III, Hetzer, Grille, ...). //

Leopard 2A4 // One of the 14 Leopards 2A4's the Czech Army is currently receiving from Germany as an exchange for the Czech T-72's we gave to Ukraine. The Czech Army also expressed interest in purchasing up to 77 Leopard 2A8's. //

In connection with the 55th anniversary of the Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia we commemorated last month, types of vehicles related to this event/period were also presented:

OT-62 TOPAZ // Czechoslovakian modification of Soviet BTR-50 //

OT-64 SKOT // Joint Czechoslovakian and Polish APC project //

BRDM-1 // Soviet armored scout car. Note the white stripe markings, which was IFF for invasion forces //

ZIL-157 // Soviet truck //

T-55 // Soviet tank that was produced in Czechoslovakia as well //

 

[Adamicz]

ST-1 (Jagdpanzer 38 Hetzer) // ST-1 was a Czechoslovakian post-war production of German Hetzer tank destroyer. The differences were minimal, part of the ST-1 production was even assembled from parts manufactured before the end of the war (Hetzer factories were in Pilsen and Prague). As previously mentioned, the Czechoslovakian tank design LT vz. 38 has been used by Germans as a chassis for Hetzer. On this picture, the ST-1 is followed by the post-war Czechoslovakian OT-810 half-track, modificated to look like German SdKfz 251, based on which the OT-810 has been developed //

TL.37 // Italian artillery tractor of WWII //

SU-76M // Soviet self-propelled gun used during and after the WWII. It's basically a combination of a lengthened version of the T-70 light tank chassis and 76mm ZiS-3 field gun //

IS-122 (IS-2 model 1943) // Early variant of Soviet IS-2 heavy tank. Note the "stepped" front hull casting which was typical for IS-122 as the later IS-2 1944 models got on this part a simpler straightened casting //

M4A4 Sherman // To my knowledge, the only running Sherman in Czechia. Also, this particular one is not part of the Lesany museum collection but belongs to the Czech "16th Armored Division" reenactors club, from which are the other US WWII vehicles on the following photos. The Lesany do have Shermans in their collection though (M4A1, M4A3), just not in a running order (yet) //

M16 // The US anti-aircraft half-track with four .50 caliber M2 Browning machine guns //

M8 Greyhound // The US light armored car. Despite being produced during WWII, amazingly, these vehicles were still in service (although probably heavily modified) in some African and South American countries at least until mid 2000's. And maybe they still are, as for example Uruguay retired the WWII M24 Chafee light-tank in 2019 //

M2 // US half-track. Similarly to M8 Greyhounds, they may have be still in service in some Latin countries to these days //

M3A1 Scout Car // In WWII era produced US armored car for reconnaissance role. In British Commonwealth use also known as White Scout Car //

 

[Adamicz]

A few shots from the WWII reenactment battle

 

[TheKiwi]

Thanks for the excellent photos.

 

[Adamicz]

T-72M1 // Still in service in the Czech Army as operational reserve. Part of them has been given to Ukraine //

Leopard 1V // ex-Greek Leopards, formerly a Dutch 1980's modification of the 1A1 variant to 1A4 standard (I hope I'm not wrong here) //

M60A1 // Another ex-Greek vehicle, this time of the former US tank. While being developed from the M48 Patton tank, it was never officially christened as a "Patton", unlike his predecessor //

M151A2 // Produced from the late 1950's till the end of the 1980's. In recent years, the M151's are also known by the collectors as a MUTT ("Military Utility Tactical Truck"), although it never served in the US under such designation, nor was nicknamed like that by the soldiers //

 

[Adamicz]

Demonstration of military working dog training

 

[Adamicz]

And the last batch. from static displays