A blog about my interest in all things military, wargaming and last but not least my military vehicle adventures.
Tuesday 29 April 2014
The tank graveyard: German depot that has dismantled more than 15,000 armoured vehicles built for the Cold War but now sit waiting to be stripped and melted down
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With conflict in European soil in east Ukraine, Russia allegedly massing her forces at the border, it may seem odd that many of the continent's nations are actually dismantling their armed forces.
These pictures show dozens of Marder light tanks that once belonged to the West German army's mechanised infantry, waiting in the yard of Battle Tank Dismantling GmbH in Edeleben, Germany.
Since the early 1990s the company has dismantled over 15,000 tanks and other armoured vehicles, from German, Austrian, French and other European arsenals. They are complying with Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe, an agreement from the final years of the Cold War which placed limits on key types of military equipment.
Read more on the Daily Mail web site: Link
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3 comments:
Honestly... this really pains me. I think they could better be mothballed. While they will certainly not be up to date in a decade to two, they would sure serve us better than all those "quick to deploy police mission tanks" NATO is building these days, while Russia is building its forces to conquer other countries!
Agreed. Dismantling armoured vehicles is senseless. Military vehicles are built to last and while older vehicles are effectively deathtraps on the modern battlefield if never hurts to have replacement vehicles in reserve.
Especially considering how long it actually takes to build a modern armored vehicle.
Additionally, in the case of Russia (since you brought it up) Russia still uses it's obsolete vehicles in second and third line formations designed to follow up behind the main advance. So Russia clearly understand this concept of attrition very well: it doesn't need to have the whole armed forces equipped with the best of modern technology. It just needs to make sure it has enough modern technology to take out all the other guys modern tech.
I agree with both of you, in these uncertain times we need to re-consider scrapping this kit off...
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