Instagram story viewer> @armormuseum> Posts

Museum of American Armor

@armormuseum

35.5K

followers

191

following

🪖 NY’s Largest Collection of Operational WWII Armor
📍 1303 Round Swamp Rd, Old Bethpage, Long Island, NY
🕚 Wed & Fri–Sun | 11AM–3PM

POSTS STORIES REELS TAGGED

Download All

One wonders what tank will join the lineup in the future at The Museum of American Armor ———————————————————————————————-
👉 Follow | @armormuseum ✅

#wwii #ww2 #worldwar2 #worldwarii #wwiihistory #ww2history #history #ww2armor #wwiiarmor #ww2photos #secondworldwar #america #usa #museum #museumofamericanarmor #armormuseum #tank #tanks #armor #militaryhistory #longisland #nassaucounty #suffolkcounty #veterans #1944 #wot #worldoftanks taken in Museum of American Armor by @armormuseum

3

1

a year ago

The M48 Patton was an American first generation main battle tank (MBT) introduced in February 1952, being designated as the 90mm Gun Tank: M48. Mrs. Beatrice Ayer Patton, wife of the late General George S Patton christened it as a Patton. It was designed as a replacement for the M26 Pershing, M4 Sherman variants and M46 Pattons used in the Korean War, and as the successor to the M47 Patton. Nearly 12,000 M48s were built, mainly by Chrysler and American Locomotive Company, from 1952 to 1961. The M48 underwent many design modifications and improvements during its production life. This led to a wide variety of suspension systems, cupola styles, power packs, fenders and other details among individual tanks. The early designs, up to the M48A2C, were powered by a gasoline engine. The M48A3 and A5 versions used a diesel engine, however gasoline engine versions were still in use in the US Army National Guard through 1968 and through 1975 by many West German Army units. Numerous examples of the M48 saw combat use in various Arab–Israeli conflicts and the Vietnam War. Beginning in 1959, most American M48A1s and A2s were upgraded to the M48A3 model.
————————————————————————
👉 Follow @armormuseum ✅

#wwii #ww2 #worldwar2 #worldwarii #wwiihistory #ww2history #history #ww2armor #wwiiarmor #ww2photos #secondworldwar #america #usa #museum #museumofamericanarmor #armormuseum #tank #tanks #armor #longisland #nassaucounty #suffolkcounty #veterans #1944 #wot #worldoftanks #patton #m48 #m48patton taken in Museum of American Armor by @armormuseum

3

3

4 years ago

Open this Veterans Day so that families can pause, reflect, and honor those who have served and continue to wear the uniform. ———————————————————————————————-
👉 Follow | @armormuseum ✅

#wwii #ww2 #worldwar2 #worldwarii #wwiihistory #ww2history #history #ww2armor #wwiiarmor #ww2photos #secondworldwar #america #usa #museum #museumofamericanarmor #armormuseum #tank #tanks #armor #militaryhistory #longisland #nassaucounty #suffolkcounty #veterans #1944 #wot #worldoftanks #veteransday taken in Museum of American Armor by @armormuseum

3

1

5 years ago

October 2, 1944 — American Armor Attacks the Siegfried Line

Ahead of the Shermans stood concrete bunkers, minefields, antitank guns—and Germany itself.

On October 2, 1944, the U.S. Army’s 30th Infantry Division, supported by the 743rd Tank Battalion, opened a major attack north of Aachen aimed at punching through the Siegfried Line and helping encircle the ancient German city. The 2nd Armored Division waited behind the assault force, prepared to exploit the breakthrough.

The German border defenses were unlike anything American tank crews had encountered during the rapid pursuit across France. Concrete pillboxes, antitank obstacles, mines and difficult terrain reduced the advantages of speed and maneuver.

Almost immediately, the ground itself became an enemy. After crossing the narrow Würm River, Shermans of the 743rd became bogged in deep mud and were unable to close with the infantry until nightfall. Engineers and tankers worked to get the armor forward while infantrymen continued attacking the fortifications.

The fighting would only grow worse. During October, the 743rd Tank Battalion lost 20 Shermans, one light tank and one assault gun while fighting around Aachen. Its crews and supporting infantry faced German Panthers, Tigers, antitank guns and fortified positions at close range.

Aachen ultimately became the first major German city captured by American forces, but the road into Germany was proving very different from the breakout across France.

On October 2, the race across Europe became a battle against concrete, mud and determined resistance—and American armor began hammering its way through the German frontier.

#MuseumOfAmericanArmor #ThisDayInWWII #M4Sherman #TankDestroyer #743rdTankBattalion taken in Aachen, Germany by @armormuseum

3

0

2 days ago

October 1, 1944 — A Hellcat Crew Gets a Brief Respite

Sometimes one photograph can tell an entire armored-war story.

On October 1, 1944, U.S. Army Signal Corps photographer Miller captured a crew of Company B, 609th Tank Destroyer Battalion somewhere in France. Red Cross worker Betty Brittian of Pasadena, California, was handing Corporal William B. Brooks of Clayton, Georgia, a cup of coffee and doughnuts inside his M18 tank destroyer.

The photograph looks almost peaceful. The circumstances were anything but.

The 609th had landed at Utah Beach only on September 20 and moved east toward the front. Assigned to Patton’s Third Army and equipped with the new 76mm Gun Motor Carriage M18, the battalion was entering the grinding fighting around Metz and the Saar-Moselle region.

The M18 embodied American tank-destroyer doctrine: a powerful 76mm gun, extraordinary mobility and very little armor. Capable of speeds approaching 55 mph, the Hellcat was the fastest American armored fighting vehicle of World War II. Its five-man crew fought from an open-topped turret, trading protection for speed and mobility.

The 609th would eventually fight through the Siegfried Line, the Battle of the Bulge, Trier and deep into Germany. Elements of the battalion fought at Bastogne, where Hellcat crews confronted German armor during one of the most famous battles of the war.

But on October 1, that future was still ahead.

For a few minutes, the war was an open-topped Hellcat, a paper cup of coffee and a doughnut handed up to a tanker before the road east continued.

And you can see one of these remarkable machines for yourself.

Come check out our M18 Hellcat up close—an operational example of one of the fastest and most distinctive American armored fighting vehicles of World War II.

#MuseumOfAmericanArmor #ThisDayInWWII #M18Hellcat #Hellcat #TankDestroyer taken in Metz, France by @armormuseum

3

2

2 days ago

The Museum of American Armor resumes its normal hours this week - Wednesday - Friday thru Sunday from 11 am to 3 pm. Welcome to a military heritage time machine. ———————————————————————————————-
👉 Follow | @armormuseum ✅

#wwii #ww2 #worldwar2 #worldwarii #wwiihistory taken in Museum of American Armor by @armormuseum

3

0

4 days ago

September 23, 1944 — The “Tigers” Arrive in Europe

On September 23, 1944, another American armored division entered the war in Europe.

The U.S. Army’s 10th Armored Division — the “Tiger Division” — arrived at Cherbourg, France, after crossing the Atlantic from New York. An Army ARMOR history notes that the 10th was the first American armored division to disembark on French soil directly from the United States.

Its soldiers had trained for more than two years. Now they would receive their combat equipment, including M4 Sherman tanks, armored infantry half-tracks, artillery, engineers and mechanized reconnaissance vehicles, before joining Lt. Gen. George S. Patton’s Third Army. The division included the 3rd, 11th and 21st Tank Battalions, three armored infantry battalions and the 90th Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadron, Mechanized.

The Tigers entered combat in Lorraine in early November.

They fought around Metz, crossed the Moselle, and on November 19 drove through the Siegfried Line into Germany. But the division’s most famous test came unexpectedly the following month.

When the Germans launched the Ardennes offensive, Combat Command B of the 10th Armored Division was rushed north to Bastogne. Its lead Shermans, tank destroyers and half-tracks reached the threatened town on December 18, before the encirclement was complete. There they fought alongside the 101st Airborne Division and other American units in the defense of Bastogne.

From Cherbourg to Metz, Bastogne, Trier and eventually Bavaria, the 10th Armored Division would suffer 4,031 battle casualties before the war ended. It was also later recognized by the U.S. Army and U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum as a liberating division for its role in overrunning a Dachau subcamp in the Landsberg area in April 1945.

On September 23, 1944, however, all of that still lay ahead. The Tigers had simply stepped ashore in France — and their war was about to begin.

#MuseumOfAmericanArmor #ThisDayInWWII #10thArmoredDivision #TigerDivision taken in Cherbourg, France by @armormuseum

3

1

10 days ago

We will be closed this coming weekend - Sept 26 and 27 to make room for the LI Fair inside Old Bethpage Village Restoration. @lifair1842 taken in Museum of American Armor by @armormuseum

3

0

13 days ago

September 18, 1941 — The Trap Closes Around Kyiv

By September 18, 1941, one of the largest encirclements in military history was reaching its brutal conclusion around Kyiv.

Two days earlier, armored spearheads from Panzer Groups 1 and 2 had linked up east of the city, sealing a vast pocket containing much of the Soviet Southwestern Front. German tanks and mechanized forces had driven hundreds of miles across Ukraine to complete the maneuver.

Inside the pocket, Soviet troops desperately attempted to break out. Tanks were committed in repeated attacks against the tightening German ring, while German anti-tank guns, artillery and aircraft hammered the retreating columns. By September 18, German forces had also taken most of Kyiv itself, although isolated Soviet positions continued to resist.

The scale of the disaster was staggering. Hundreds of thousands of Soviet troops would ultimately be captured, along with enormous quantities of tanks, artillery and equipment.

Yet Kyiv also exposed a strategic problem that would haunt Germany. The enormous armored maneuver had delivered a spectacular battlefield victory—but it had consumed precious time, fuel and mechanical life as autumn approached.

The Panzers had won their great encirclement. The Soviet Union, however, had not been knocked out of the war.

#MuseumOfAmericanArmor #ThisDayInWWII #BattleOfKyiv #OperationBarbarossa taken in Kyiv, Ukraine by @armormuseum

3

3

15 days ago

Before the snow and ice came to define Stalingrad, the battle was already a nightmare in the fall of 1942.

By September and October, German forces had pushed deep into the city, reducing much of Stalingrad to rubble. What followed was some of the most brutal close-quarters fighting of the Second World War. Soldiers battled block by block, floor by floor, and sometimes room by room in shattered factories, apartment buildings, and along the banks of the Volga River.

The wreckage of the city gave defenders cover, making every ruined structure a fortress. The fight for places like the Red October Factory, the Barrikady Gun Factory, and the Tractor Factory became legendary for their ferocity. Civilians, Soviet troops, and German soldiers were all caught in a struggle where survival could depend on holding a single wall or staircase.

Long before winter set in, Stalingrad had already become a symbol of endurance, destruction, and total war.

#Stalingrad #WWII #EasternFront #SecondWorldWar #MilitaryHistory taken in Stalingrad by @armormuseum

3

0

15 days ago

The autumn armor experiences at The Museum of American Armor are already filling up with visitors who seek to be immersed in history. Find out more at the link in our bio. ———————————————————————————————-
👉 Follow | @armormuseum ✅

#wwii #ww2 #worldwar2 #worldwarii #wwiihistory taken in Museum of American Armor by @armormuseum

3

0

17 days ago

September 16, 1942 — The Birth of the 3rd Marine Tank Battalion

Before its Shermans fought through the jungles of Guam and the volcanic ash of Iwo Jima, the 3rd Tank Battalion had to be built from the ground up.

On September 16, 1942, the U.S. Marine Corps activated the 3rd Marine Division and its new armored component, the 3rd Tank Battalion. Existing tank companies assigned to the division’s regimental combat teams were consolidated into the new organization, along with headquarters and reconnaissance elements.

The battalion initially trained with light tanks, but as the Pacific war evolved, so did Marine armor. By 1944, 3rd Tanks was fighting with M4A2 Shermans, supporting Marines against fortified Japanese positions on Guam. Some Shermans were equipped with auxiliary flamethrowers for attacking bunkers and caves.

Its toughest assignment came at Iwo Jima in 1945. Shermans of the battalion battled mines, anti-tank guns, difficult terrain and deeply buried Japanese defenses. Flame tanks became especially valuable for destroying positions that conventional gunfire could not reach. The battalion received a Presidential Unit Citation for its part in the battle.

What began on September 16, 1942 as a newly organized Marine tank battalion became one of the armored formations that helped define how tanks would support infantry across the Pacific.

Shock. Mobility. Firepower.

#MuseumOfAmericanArmor #ThisDayInWWII #3rdTankBattalion #USMC by @armormuseum

3

0

18 days ago