Wehrmacht on the Interstate

[beamjockey]

Coming home from Musecon Sunday night on Interstate 88, I was startled to find a large tractor-trailer in front of me, burdened with two sinister brown shapes.



It dawned on me that not only did I recognize those shapes-- a World War II German Army halftrack and a tank destroyer-- but that I had met them before.



Here I am, in 2008, standing in front of the Jagdpanzer 38(t) Hetzer. It belongs to the Illinois re-enactment group known as the 2nd Panzer Division, which operates a number of German military vehicles.

Behind the Hetzer is the SdKfz (Sonderkraftfahrzeug but nobody spells it out) 251/1 halftrack. Actually this started life as a postwar model-- the Czech army continued to produce and operate this design as the OT 810-- but it has been modified to resemble its German ancestor.

I was surprised that both heavy vehicles (17 tons for the Hezer, 8 tons for the 251) are carried on a single transporter. I suppose their owner was bringing them home from some re-enactment outing.

Comments

[dragonet2.livejournal.com]

It never occurred to me that seeing Military vehicles on trucks would be odd, but then The Big Red One is west on I-70 not too far from here. The only thing i've ever seen that made me nervous was during Iraq 1, a flatbed trailer with a tarp over cargo, a loose, flapping part showed what looked like shells stacked onto the pallets.

I see so many that i would likely not have looked at the insignia, unless something really jumped out at me.

[jebra.livejournal.com]

Ah! I'm pretty sure I saw these heading west on I-94 when I was heading home.

[shsilver.livejournal.com]

My one encounter with tanks in the wild was driving along the A303 in Wiltshire. The roads there aren't particularly wide and are not designed for tanks going in one direction and cars going in the other. We were forced to back up quite a ways before we could get out of the way of the convoy of tanks coming at us.

[stickmaker.livejournal.com]

This reminds me of a somewhat similar experience I had several years ago. As I came around a bend on my way to Lexington, KY - approaching Bluegrass Field - I saw something projecting above the surrounding terrain. It was the rounded top of the tail of an old aircraft. In fact, I said aloud "That looks like the tail of a WWII bomber."

As the road rose near the airport, I saw that it was a B-29. Beyond it was a B-25. The Confederate Air Force was in town.

Were you at the RiverCon where some of the GT folk went to the Patton Museum?

Not sure how this got in the wrong place the first time. I was distracted by problems with my Bluetooth mouse.