First of its kind Army museum and a state-of-art war memorial are being set up in Mumbai to commemorate the glorious achievements of the Indian Army and to showcase the experiences of its bravery, prowess and restraint.
The Maharashtra Government plans to throw open a section of the museum by the 75th anniversary of India’s Independence on August 15, 2022.
Presiding over a meeting of top Army personnel and senior bureaucrats held at his official residence “Varsha” in south Mumbai, Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray directed to find a location for the project immediately and take steps to complete the development of the museum by the next Independence day. “ We want a part of the Museum to be opened to the public by August 15, 2022,” he said.
At the meeting, Indian Army’s Lt. Gen. S. K. Parasher and Brig. Achalesh Shanker, BMC Commissioner I. S. Chahal, Urban Development Principal Secretary Bhushan Gagrani, CMO’s Ashish Kumar Singh, Vikas Kharge and others were present.
The Chief Minister asked the state administration to set up an advisory and design committee with the participation of army officers to prepare a blueprint on the various aspects of the proposed army museum.
He said that the proposed museum should provide visitors a glimpse of the difficult terrains the soldiers work in the border areas of the country, provide them a feel of how army bunkers look like, how soldiers survive in extreme weathers like minus zero degree in Siachen Glacier or the walking through scorching deserts with heavy weapons, and the dense jungles.
Among other things, the museum will highlight success stories of the heroism of the defence forces, the soldiers and officers from the state who participated and fought in various wars, display the weapons and ammunition, tanks, planes, boats, medals, uniforms and rank structure of the soldiers.
In addition, on display at the museum will be replicas of aircraft, boats, helicopters, tanks with historical information about Indian Independence, the photographs of top medal winners and their heroic exploits. There will also be an amphitheatre attached to the museum.
The chief minister said that there would be an activity area for the youth to get information and guidance on physical fitness, motivate them to join the armed forces, along with some basic practical courses.
“A system should be in place to provide a rich and wholesome experience to the visitors and tourists through comprehensive information on the overall strength of the Indian Army and the defence forces,” the chief minister said.
Currently, Maharashtra has a full-fledged dedicated Cavalry TankMuseum in Ahmednagar in western Maharashtra.
One of its kind museums in Asia, this museum was established by the Armored Corps Centre and School in February 1994. It houses about 50 exhibits of vintage armoured fighting vehicles.
The oldest exhibit is the silver Ghost Rolls –Royace Armoured car (Indian Pattern). The older exhibits date to First World War vintage and served on the battlefields of Cambrian Somme and Flanders. A large number of vehicles are from the Second World War period.
Among the exhibits, there is a British Valentine while there are two Churchill Mk. VII infantry tanks, along with a Matilda II of similar type, an Imperial Japanese Type 95 Ha-Go light tank and a Type 97 Chi-Ha medium tank, a US Sherman Crab mine-flail tank, a British Centurion Mk. II main battle tank (MBT), a Nazi German Schwerer Panzerspähwagen light armoured car and Indian Vijayanta MBT.
Also on display is a British Archer tank destroyer (based on the Valentine tank), a Canadian Sexton self-propelled artillery tracked-vehicle, US M3 Stuart and M22 Locust light tanks, together with an American M3 Medium Tank and various armoured cars from different eras and periods of conflicts.
A Nazi German 88mm anti-aircraft/armour field-gun captured from German troops (possibly belonging to the 15th Panzer Division of the Afrika Korps), based on the divisional markings on the artillery-piece, is also on display at the museum.
