Militracks - Overloon
Since 2010 the Overloon Museum organizes the Militracks event. This event I dedicated to operational German vehicles; ranging from motorcycles all the way to tanks. Kettenkrads, Kubelwagens, Schwimmwagen, armoured and soft top halftracks, motorcycles, Krupp Protzes, Horch cars and many more trucks and cars can be seen riding around a track on the museum forrest grounds. Tanks through the years were always brought in from other museums and saw among them StuG III's, a Hetzer, Panther, Konigstiger and Nashorn. As exception FT17's and Lorraine 37L Schlepper also drove around. Both Panther and Konigstiger came over from the French Saumur museum.
During the event the museum itself is also accessible. A food area and a large collectibles market are also part of the event and tickets can be bought to drive along all riding vehicles - including the tanks. Militracks has grown since 2010 to a well-known international event. I attended this event since 2010 several times (2010, 2014, 2019, 2022).
2010 the very first edition of Militracks was a relatively small event. The quantity of vehicles was low but the quality very high: the only panzer was a Hetzer, with nice camouflage and branches all around it. A couple of armoured half tracks acompanied some soft top halftrakcs. Some nicely painted schwimmwagens and SdKfz2 Kettenkraftkrads completed the interesting vehicles. These were added on by trucks, kubelwagens and motorcycles with sidecars. Some of the armoured and soft top halftracks and the Hetzer would show up on some later organized Militrack events.
2014 some of the 2010 vehicles, like some halftracks and theHetzer, also attended the 2014 edition of Militracks. This year though some new halftracks appeared, including a pionier model and a model with a 20mm FlaK on the rear deck. The details of the vehicles was always superb; one halftrack wore the red knight symbol of the schwere Panzer Abteilung 505 as support vehicle of this Tiger/ Konigstiger unit. And another had the 'Windhund' symbol of the 116th Panzer Division.
2019 was a much different year. Having missed the Konigstiger ride of the Militracks 2018 edition I was definitely gonna be present at the 2019 edition. This year was marked by another Saumur museum panzer: the panzer V Panther tank! It was accompanied by two FT17's of the Weald Foundation - one being a rare command version. Besides some known models, like the Hetzer and different halftracks, some really rare and new types were added on the scene since a couple of years. Among these a Krupp Protze, SWS Halftrack, German Flugzeugschlepper and many others. The amount of Kettenkrads and Kubelwagens was staggering... Militracks definitely came a long was since 2010!
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One of the known panzers was the Sturmgeschutz III no. '311' which had appeared on previous editions/ events. The colours, especially added by the dry sand, were as authentic as possibly can be. Nothing could match the original wartime feeling.
A nice surprise were two FT17's - one being a rare FT17 TSF wireless command vehicle. Both were part of the British Weald Foundation. These small early world war 2 French tanks were a very nice add on.
Once again the Hetzer was present. This time in a more 'worn' camouflage scheme showing even rust spots on some area's.
Another nice participant was the Panzer IV 'Nashorn' tankhunter. It was still in the restoration phase in which it wasn't rideable yet - but attended also for some crowdfunding. In 2022, the first edition after the Covid-19 pandemic, it would attend Militracks 2022 completed and riding around!
Too many other types attended the Militracks 2019 edition. Once again many with authentic German unit markings and camouflage schemes and some in early stages of restoration. I let the photographs speak for themselves!