Once built for the front, but now a moving piece of history. The German armored hunter from the Second World War of Pascal Uyen and his group of friends is unique. Of the original 500, only three are left and this is the only one who is still driving. However, there is one big one but: after a fire in their workplace, the group is urgently looking for a new accommodation.
The tank was started on the Eastern Front during the war, presumably in Ukraine or Belarus. After the war, almost all tanks were merged for the reconstruction. Only vehicles that had exploded in remote places or disappeared deep into the ground remained untouched. This armor hunter is one of them.
The colossus was found in the Russian enclave Kaliningrad and brought to the Netherlands in loose armored plates, where the group of friends has built him a record for plate. The war damage is still visible. “You see the rust wells everywhere because it has been in the ground for so long,” says Pascal Uyen from Sambeek. “You also see the impacts of the shelling. That makes him really unique.”
“After 5000 hours I stopped counting.”
What started thirty years ago with refurbishing a DAF freight cart with the scouting, grew into a huge passion: refurbishing this old German tank. Ten years ago the friends started the project. More than 5000 hours have already been put in the restoration. “After 5000 hours I stopped counting.” I feel and smell history. We think that you can go on the road again with a vehicle that came from the ground. All those evenings that we have tinkering in the cold make that good, “says Uyen in the War Museum in Overloon where the tank is temporary. This Saturday, the armored vehicle is one of the showpieces during militracks, the annual event in Overloon, where everything is all about vehicles of the German Wehrmacht.
Uncomfortable
Uyen and his group of friends try to bring the tank back into the state in which the vehicle was driving around eighty years ago. “Our goal is to show what the means they had to operate at that time. It gives a sense of pride that you really feel back in time.” The German origin of the vehicle sometimes leads to uncomfortable moments. “We don’t say quickly: this is a Hitler tank,” says Uyen. “We live in a time in Europe that the extreme right is coming up again. Then I find the association with Hitler difficult.” He is also not about the ideas or one statement to do. “We are really about history and technology.” The group of friends thinks it is important that the other side is also highlighted. “With that you may be able to recognize in the future when things are going in the wrong direction.”
In 2019, the shed where they had been ‘hobby’ for so long was struck by a fire. Then they were able to go to a garage, but that is no longer possible. For a moment the tank in the War Museum can be in Overloon, but that is a temporary solution. They can’t tinker with the tank there. The tank is in the middle of a vulnerable collection. And then there is the risk of a fire alarm. Welding, sharpening and painting, when they have time is not easy. “So you can’t do much here,” says Uyen.
The group of friends is therefore looking for a new place, not too far away, where you can really work on the tank again. A space with a roof, preferably three meters or higher is sufficient. “He has to be able to enter and something for power is useful to operate the machines,” Uyen explains. Heating is not necessary. “We are already very happy if we have something.”
During the fire in 2019 in Sambeek, much damage was done to old army vehicles:
