A show of strength! Tankfest 2026

There is a quiet period before the main arena displays begin which gives visitors time to photograph the static displays in close detail. This year’s show was opened by Warrant Officer 1st Class Johnson Beharry VC, currently serving with the Household Division. He drove the exact Warrior MCV he was driving in Iraq when he won the Victoria Cross for his actions in 2004 whilst serving with the 1st Battalion Princess of Wales’ Royal Regiment. After a thrilling high-speed display, he halted and greeted the crowds. The question was “How do you follow that?” The answer came when the Challenger MK III came into the arena to show what the British army’s next generation of main battle tank will look like. Still highly secret, it gave a tantalizing foretaste of things to come before returning to the storage hangar.

Then it was down to business as usual with a series of presentations marking the development of the tank as it passed through its evolutionary process. Two replica Mk IV tanks from the World War I era came into the arena, one of which was the Mk IV replica which appeared in Steven Spielberg’s 2011 movie “War Horse”. They were joined by another superb replica of a Whippet medium tank, a late-comer to the war, but one that made an impression on the battlefield and influenced future designs. Hardly had they vacated the arena when they were replaced by a lineup of inter-war designs, including a British Vickers Light Mk IV, along with machines used in the early years of the war. 

The next mobile display was termed “The Generals: Grant and Sherman” and featured an example of the M4A2 version starring as the eponymous vehicle used in the 2014 movie “‘Fury”. Also included in the display were an example of the M3 Grant and another Sherman, this time the M4A3E2, known as the “Jumbo”. It was brought over specially from Belgium for the show andis  one of only nine known to exist from the original 254 of this type produced. The last action of the morning saw a German StuG III Ausf. G enter the arena together with the vehicle which everyone wanted to see, the Nashorn. One of only three known to exist and the only operational example left from a wartime production run of only 494, it did not disappoint.

The displays recommenced in the afternoon with a live action battle involving re-enactment groups together with many of the vehicles already showcased earlier in the day. These were joined by a series of lighter vehicles and soft-skinned trucks, including a GMC 2.5-ton CCKW, a replica SdKfz 222 armored car and a very convincing Stower Kfz 1 field car created by the movie prop company History in the Making. The scenario was a tame demonstration of how the “Falaise Pocket” unfolded complete with pyrotechnic effects.

The afternoon displays were dedicated to the post-war designs developed through the Cold War. These machines were plenty interesting their own right, but it was still those from WWII that were the stars. Modern vehicles in current service with the British army will at some point in the future become items owned by vehicle enthusiasts, just the same as examples of the Scorpion CVR(T), Chieftain and FV432 APC are now in private ownership and make regular appearances at shows. An event such as Tankfest is more than just another showcase for enthusiasts to attend. In some cases visitors may go on to purchase a military vehicle of their own and join the ranks of members who are part of associations and continue to move the historic military vehicle hobby forward. 

The design for the Nashorn Panzerjager (Tank Hunter/killer) came about when the Germans were searching for a way to develop a self-propelled version of the deadly PaK43/1 anti-tank gun. Having encountered the Soviet Russian T-34 tanks with their superior armor the Germans looked to mounting the PaK43 8.8cm gun on a combination vehicle built on the Panzer IV with the road wheel layout of the Panzer III. To keep the weight down armor was traded off to a thickness of only 10mm. The first Nashorns, SdKfz 164, entered service with the 655th schwere Panzerjagerabteilung on the Eastern Front in mid-1943.

Most of the 494 produced were destroyed during the war and today only two are known to exist in museums, one each in the US Armor and Cavalry Collection and the new military museum in Moscow. Then, in 2015, Dutch military vehicle enthusiast Robby ven Sambeek, hit on the idea of rebuilding an operational example using as many original parts as possible. A group of like-minded volunteers came together and the Nashor Restoration Project was formed. Over the years members of the project scoured the area around Kaliningrad, the scene of heavy fighting late in the war, and were rewarded by collecting many Nashorn parts, which included a hull with the serial number of 310163.

By 2019 the project was progressing well when disaster befell and the workshop was destroyed in a fire. Despite the setback work recommenced and supported by an international network of volunteers from Canada and Poland. The result is the closest thing to an almost complete and original operational Nashorn, the only one in the world, and is unique from that point of view. Certainly the crowds at Tankfest 2026 were impressed as it stole the show as far as enthusiasts are concerned. Clips of film of it in action are bound to have been ‘posted’ on various on-line sites and no doubt can be found with a bit of searching. 

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