General Patton Museum, California - Tanks! Guns! And Leonardo Da Vinci?

in #history7 years ago

TankY4.jpg

If you drive interstate 10 from California to Arizona you might notice that the entire area is a desert wasteland. It doesn't mean that there isn't history to be found there. At the small town of Chiriaco Summit, California you can visit the General Patton Museum. I recently had the opportunity, here is what you can see.

When the US entered WWII the country was ill-prepared. In early 1942, just two months after Pearl Harbor, the Army decided that soldiers needed to be trained in desert warfare operations to become acclimated to the conditions of North Africa.

The man they sent to start up operations was none other than General George S. Patton Jr.

He created the Desert Training Center out of 18,000 square miles of this barren and rugged place. Soldiers, medics, tanks, and aircraft all came together to learn just what mother nature had in store for them.

During the winter troops could see a high of 100F in the day and below freezing at night. While in the summer, temperatures were often around 130F in the shade. The poor guys in the tanks had to endure oven-like conditions of around 160F. I've been in temps like this, it is no picnic believe me.


They have an outside Tank Yard, but it was closed the day I visited.


TankY2.jpg

TankY1.jpg

TankY3.jpg

Inside, the first display you see is of this World War I trench art.


Patton Mannequin.jpg

800px-WWI-trenchart.jpg

Trench Art1.jpg

Trench Art2.jpg

Trench Art3.jpg

Trench Art4.jpg

Trench Art5.jpg

Trench Art6.jpg

You can just imagine the bored WWI soldiers unable to leave the trenches for weeks and months. With nothing to do besides think of the death all around them, I am sure unleashing their creativity gave them some of their humanity back.

I then spotted this cool newspaper with pictures of different WWI vehicles - some I have never seen before. They look like someone just made them in their garage, but I guess that is mainly how it was done in the early 1900's before Henry Ford perfected the assembly line.

Tank1.jpg

Tank2.jpg

Tank3.jpg

Tank4.jpg

Tank5.jpg

Here is what the inside of the museum looks like.


Display1.jpg

Display2.jpg

Display3.jpg

Display4.jpg

Anti Tank Gun.jpg
Woah! What is a 47mm Japanese Type 1 Anti-Tank gun doing here? Sweet!

Jeep1.jpg
A Willys! What a classic vehicle, it really made a good impression on the soldiers that it found commercial success after the war. The design hasn't changed much at all in the 75 years since.

Guns1.jpg

Bazooka.jpg
Hell yeah - a Bazooka! I want it!

Airborne.jpg

Bayonets.jpg
Knives, Swords, and Bayonets - Oh my!

Bayonets2.jpg

Food Field Kitchen.jpg
This is a small fold-out field kitchen. Come git yer slop!

Food1.jpg

Food2.jpg

Food3.jpg
I know I made fun of the field kitchen, but a warm meal was miles above whatever they put inside these things in the 40's. Blech!

Model Shelf1.jpg

Model Shelf2.jpg
I was really interested in these tank and plane models. However, my daughter liked something else entirely...

Daughter Desert.jpg
Piggy, bunny, fox, and "puppy"!

PattonStatue.jpg

While a small museum, I enjoyed the visit. Not a bad place to spend some time if you want to stretch your legs on the long, desolate drive.

Leonardo.jpg

Plus, they have these Leonardo Da Vinci weapons of war reproductions - check out my article on that HERE.

Sort:  

I like tanks, but this is another legend :) T-34 Voronezh / Russia

https://steemit.com/russia/@gundogdu/diorama-museum-1-voronezh-russia-2015

20150912_144305.jpg

We have a similar museum in the Czech Republic. I have to say it's very giant and there's a lot of tanks and other armored vehicles parked outside. Of course, there are also various historical pavilions and one slightly more interactive pavilion where one can go directly through the battlefield - in trenches (mud in the form of foam mattress, tank passes overhead, ...).

I was there a couple of years ago, and I would like to revisit it because I love tanks.

IMG_7681.JPG

I would write an article about it, but I don't have a lot of photos, and the season begins in the second half of May :D

Woah, which Tank Destroyer is that? A Stug?

So cool - maybe you can head back this summer and take a bunch of pics for a Steemit post? :D

Honestly, I don't know. It is about 3-4 years back, and the information sign on the photo is not legible. I'm not an expert. I like all tanks :D

Certainly! It also occurred to me. I just have to uphold it at home... And I hope I won't forget it until then :D

A little tasting from the official site (there are some pictures, unfortunately the text is only in Czech).

I found out it is a Russian SU-100.

Yeah, it definitely looks similar.

During the winter troops could see a high of 100F in the day and below freezing at night. While in the summer, temperatures were often around 130F in the shade. The poor guys in the tanks had to endure oven-like conditions of around 160F.

All the effort and the heat ended up being worth it, the torch operation was vital to expel the Germans from the north of Africa and begin the push towards Europe, also served as a prelude to Normandy.

Many of these places may seem like a ghost spot if you look at them from a map, but they contain valuable historical information.

Its a great historical post. Dessert have horsh climate. Hot summer and also hot wind storms and winter nights are so cold. So the training of soldiers is very difficult at this situation. Its a good museum. Thanks for sharing the post.

I was like Where's the DaVinci? And then right at the end lol Such interesting history. Crazy what WW1 soldiers endured.

ooo I like it M60 😘😘

Cool tanks... never seen one in real life..

The General Patton Museum is also located in the Czech Republic, in Pilsen. Gene. Patton freed our city.
http://www.patton-memorial.cz/

There are also May Festivities of Freedom held every year with veterans of war and grandson Gen. Patton.

Cool! I did not know that.

Yes, it is small, but nice, worth a visit.

thanks for sharing post