Dug in Tank near Arnhem

Sherman Tank dug into the ground near Arnhem still there in Sept 2009. Was put there post war by the Dutch military to defend the area. The hull is still under the ground but full of water. Any info on the markings.

wow - that is a great find! Anymore information????

I am amazed that it is still there!

If this is the one along the bottom road by the Rhine or Waal river

which the church is on going towards Arnhem from the Oosterbeek

direction and you go to the owner of the garden which it is in there

is a block house just behind it which you cannot see from the road

Commander

I have put a video + photos of it on Flcker. type. [ dug in tank at arnhem ]. you cant get into it. but some day you never know some one will dig it up and get it going. needs a new engine. wonder if it still is on the Dutch military books. we passed it on our trip to Arnhem this Sept 2009.

Yes, thats the one

some more photos. A few years ago they found a German 88 still in its pit near the church.

There are plenty more in the area, all in concrete. It was for a defense line called the "ijsellinie" to stop the Russians. The plan was to flood the Rhine using concrete cassions that were to be pushed into the river. The flooded area was to be dominated by the shermans and other defenses. The plan was of course long absolete even before they started building so it was not in use for a long time.

I'll post some more pics later.

The defensive line consists of Shermans and Rams. The Rams had a .30 cal mg fitted in the turret in place of the main gun and the majority of the Shermans were Fireflies retaining their 17 pdrs. This one is a standard 75mm Sherman so probably had a .30 fitted like the Rams.

In all cases, the hulls were completely gutted with doors cut into the back to allow access. All suspension units etc were removed. A couple have been restored in situ and I think they should remain as such. They are an interesting reminder of the post-war situation.

As promised some more pictures.

These pics are of a bridge which has "slats" that can be lowered into the water to stop the water flowing and raise the level.

Another bridge, this connects the "mainland" with the raised terrain that contained all defenses. Here too the slats could be lowered as you can clearly see on the second pic.

Now it gets really interesting, some pics of concreted shermans in the area. All on the south bank of the Rhine in an area called Meinerswijk. This area even has the remains of a Roman fort so it's pretty historic ground.

An AA position on the river bank.

And last but certainly not least the harbour where the concrete cassion was maintained that could be pushed into the river to stem the flow.

This harbour is now in use bythe local Scouting group of which I'm a member too.

I used to live next door to the line and now I can still go there and take a look at all the serial numbers if anybody is interested.

Just found a picture of what the harbour looked in the 1950s, the AA position can be found in the middle to the left of the stone factory.

WOW thanks for all the info and photos.

Fascinating subject. When were the defences started?

Somewhere in the late 1940s when the Russians became the great scare.

By the way, the tanks can be seen in Google maps!

http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=nl&msa=0&ll=51.972364,5.873032&spn=0.00119,0.002411&t=h&z=19

I never knew about these, interesting stuff. Reminds me of a photo in 'tracklink' many years ago, of a number of IS3s dug in in eastern USSR during the cold war once they had become obscelete. Bearing in mind these, the MKIVs in Bulgaria and the Golan and those Comets / Cromwells* in Finland to name but a few it seems that digging in old Armour was rather popular!

*Brain has gone, can't remember calibre (105 or 120mm) or the da*n name of those retrofited Cromwells, c'mon Adrian you've got one :-)

*Brain has gone, can't remember calibre (105 or 120mm) or the da*n name of those retrofited Cromwells, c'mon Adrian you've got one :-)

Charioteer with a 20 pdr.

hello,

I came across this one this morning in kornwderzand holland. I don't think the tank is underneath. there is a museum and a number of dutch bunkers in the area, but everything was written in dutch. I've found a website but thats all in dutch too, http://www.strijdbewijs.nl/kornwerderzand/museum.htm

Thanks for posting the link , I use a program thats part of the google tool bar that has a nice page translater program although not perfect it get 98% or so, so am able to understand almost all of the text there .

Has the turret been used as a gun emplacement, or is it an exhibit?

Has the turret been used as a gun emplacement, or is it an exhibit?

According the website about Kornwederzand this is an real fixed defence position

So not just an exhibit

Here is an Sherman Firefly turret

http://www.ww2museums.com/article/4503/Sherman-turret-Olst.htm

RAM turret with MG, near Olst

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/64/IJssellinie_encased_tank.jpg

Besides the Canadian RAM and US Sherman tanks also other armoured vehicles where used

At the Overloon museum is an T17 Staghound that has been used some where along the defence line

http://news.webshots.com/photo/2755724540100192038jbQGDA

Some more information

http://www.ijssellinie.nl/ENGELS/index.html

Michel

That 105mm turret is definately not sitting on a hull so is unlikely to be an original defensive position.