06 August 2006

S-35 SOMUA


The S-35 was the best French tank in 1940 with a good balance of firepower, armour and speed. The S-35, armed with a 47mm gun, was superior to most of the German Panzer during the Battle for France.

Tank Museum, Bovington: 2006 Posted by Picasa

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Nice tank. But in orange? Kinda weird. Weird nice tank.

Unknown said...

mors here. i'm hoping for the best (read:slackest) outcome in my final posting, which is as a medical centre medic rather than platoon medic.

but i'm curious to know, what did you do as a sergeant in your ns days? what army formation, etc

Chuang Shyue Chou said...

Yes Pinkys, there are a number of late war German tanks with a similar tone of orange in their camouflage scheme. It would be logical to assume that the colour is effective in masking the outline of the vehicle at hand.

Chuang Shyue Chou said...

Mors, I know exactly what you mean. I was hoping for a posting like mess boy (of the officers' mess), clerk, or something along that line. Something that will allow me to go home daily. A few friends had nice positions that allow that to go home daily and they attended night school. And they were able to get exemptions for a year or two of their university degrees later. Woe... I was sent to NCO school. At that point, I was hoping that I would not get a combat position. The trainers thought I would make a good ops NCO in their camp and were fighting for it. Well, surprisingly, I sent to SBMT in Nee Soon Camp as an instructor. So, it was two years of training recruits. Batch after batch. Route march after route march. Field camp after field camp. Marching, you know the works. I was soft-spoken as I dislike this bullying and brutalising business. To cut the long story short, I survived without torturing my recruits. I survived the tedium and boredom of training six to eight batches of Hokkien peng. Fortunately, Hokkien was never a problem for me.

Tim said...

God you have been busy! I like the UK, but the whole country is sort of like a giant museum, it's best days are history.

Chuang Shyue Chou said...

Tim, it's not my first time visiting the Bovington Tank Museum. I was there ten years ago.

Similarly, I visited the Imperial War Museum in London about thirteen years ago. I haven't been the one in Duxford until this time.

Chuang Shyue Chou said...

Mors, mind you, that was something from fourteen to sixteen years ago. That army thing that is. Being in the army is one thing. Happily reading about conflict, force structures and history in a comfortable armchair is another.

And my reservist unit was disbanded a few years ago. I'm practically done with all that reservist thingie. Phew! Yes, despite being an instructor, one would be sent to an infantry unit in the reserves after.

Too bad, the army haven't removed me from their list yet. Hence, the IPPT thingie. Ack.

Unknown said...

cool, nee soon camp. that's where i am now. i can see the organisational differences between now and 14-16 years ago, based on just the unit names you're familiar with (nco? sbmt? etc...)