Exhibition

The Cold War was the major political conflict that defined the period between the end of World War II in 1945 and the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. It was a conflict between the two superpowers – the United States of America and the Soviet Union – along with their allies. It acquired the name ‘Cold War’ because the superpowers never actually engaged in war with each other. The Cold War never became a ‘hot’, never evolving into the devastating nuclear war that many people feared.

The Guns of the Cold War

The focus of this exhibit is on the guns of the Cold War. They range from the small, mobile 105-mm gun and a self-propelled howitzer M109 to a 203-mm howitzer, the heaviest gun used by Denmark’s artillery. The exhibit also features the large US MGR I Honest John rocket that was part of Denmark’s artillery from 1960. The Honest John rocket could carry a nuclear charge and is a reminder of the seriousness of the Cold War.

In this exhibit, you can crawl into a self-propelled howitzer armoured personnel carrier, designed as a shooting station, and get a sense of the space – or rather lack of space – a soldier has. You can also put on a bullet-proof vest and a Kevlar helmet. At the Varde Tank and Artillery Museum you are free to touch things, try things out and release your inner geek.

Denmark’s Artillery and World History

A poster exhibit presents the role of Denmark’s artillery in relation to the political history of the 20th century: from the Potsdam Conference in 1945, the Fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and the war in the former Yugoslavia in the 90s to the terrorist attack in New York City on 11 September 2001 and the Mohammed crisis in 2006.