Скачать или смотреть Musuem displays tanks made from salvaged pieces

(11 Nov 2020) LEAD IN:
A Russian military pensioner has set-up a World War II private tank museum at his country house in Podmaslovo, Russia.
Aleksandr Frolov, along with a team, has restored five tanks from parts found at WWII historical sites.

STORY-LINE:
Relics from the battlegrounds of World War Two.
A World War II private tank museum was set-up by military pensioner and tank expert, Aleksandr Frolov.
On display: a private collection of tanks made out of salvaged pieces found in the battlefields of WWII.
Only five years ago, these exhibits were a pile of scrap metal in backyard of Frolov's house.
Situated on the territory of his country house in Podmaslovo village of Oryol region, these exhibits can now be viewed by the public for free.
In total, Frolov has restored five tanks - each take approximately one year to make.
"Each tank is assembled from at least five (different) tanks. The team (inside) the armed vehicle T-34 is five people. (If you add) Five people in five tanks that makes twenty-five people (which would have) perished in this tank over there - because if the tank exploded everybody died," explains Frolov, Collector and Founder of Private Tanks Museum.
There are four armoured vehicles on display – the tank destroyer SU-100, light reconnaissance machine T-70 and the T-34 tank deployed during World War II.
The heavy Kliment Voroshilov or KV tank is one of the rarest exhibits – according to Frolov there are only eight such tanks in Russia.
Today, these military machines are harmless and unable to fire and red paint highlights the traces of battle.
"Have a look here, at these shell-holes. The shell-holes are on the frontal part, where there is a driver's hatch. I assume, a fascist shooter was firing at it from an anti-tank rifle (rifle designed to penetrate). But this rifle wouldn't break through the armour of this machine. But the tank was hit on the front," says Frolov.
Between 2012 and 2015, Frolov collected pieces found at a World War II site between Brest and Oryol region.
Brest in Belarus was one of the first cities to be attacked by Germans on the territory of the Soviet Union, that's symbolically where the war started for Russia.
And the Oryol region is one of the points through which the front line went to the east – this is how deep into the country the German troops proceeded.
Around three years ago, he opened his museum - there was no formal opening - and visitors were welcomed.
From the collected pieces, Frolov and a small team assembled tanks and three cannon guns.
Frolov know a lot about tanks - he graduated from a tank high school, and Moscow Armoured Vehicles Academy.
He also was a military adviser to tank forces in Algeria, worked in a tank artillery school and has taught in the military departments at universities.
"We are all professionals, I am a tankman and tank engineer. I know what, how and why - so everything was brought here. Here, I put together a tank repair team - four local residents - I taught them. And after five years we became professionals in assembling front-line weapons," he explains.
Frolov hopes the museum's artefacts will be preserved for future generations.
"Here, people touch the war for the first time, in the direct sense of the word - with their hands, touch the shell-holes on tanks, broken helmets, guns and towers. Only here one can feel what kind of war it was, how terrible and bloody it was," he explains.
The tank collector has also written several books, including a historical study called, "Occupation through the Eyes of Survivors."
So, he started recording people's stories when he met them.

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