Landships II

Amazing. The memsahib suddenly told me that she had mentored a young woman from Kiev who is studying in UK. She texted her, and asked her if she knew the locations. It turns out that she does. She identified the building in the top picture as the Museum of Ukrainian Art. That means the photo was taken from Mykhaila Hrushevskoho Street. Sadly, Google Maps shows no Mark V on that spot. The young lady says she doesn't recall ever seeing one there.

She knows the district where the second photo was taken, and is going to send me the map reference. More as we get it.

My guess, after a bit of fiddling with Google Maps is that the second tank (9436) was on the bank of the Dnipro River between the present Ukrainian Motherland Monument and the monastery Kiev Pechersk Lavra. The hill in the second image now has a huge statue on top. The monastery cupola and towers is a reasonable match for the cathedral on the skyline in the first image.

Charlie 

Many thanks to Charlie and Orso. I've been doing some digging and am quite pleased.

First of all, there were two Mark Vs in Kiev, but (Spoiler Alert) both are long gone. However, a lot of interesting stuff surrounds them, one in particular. It was much photographed, and is, indeed, the one with the chequered paintwork to which Orso refers. This excellent aerial photo shows its location - by the look of things, before the invasion.

The road to the left is Hrushevsky Street, and to the right, Museum Lane. The building in the background is the National Art Museum of Ukraine.

There are many photos of this vehicle, including several taken by German troops. A selection enclosed.

Graffiti can be seen on the side of the tank: "Es war einmal!" which is the German equivalent of "Once upon a time," the traditional way of starting a fairytale. Above it is what seems to be a poster showing a cartoon with the arms of a swastika representing the limbs of a human, maybe Hitler. Was this a German implying that the enemy tank is no longer a military threat? Or is there another explanation?

The Second Tank.

This one still has its number visible, 9436, which is good, but I've only managed to find 3 photos. Here's the third:

It is said to have been on display in a suburb of Kiev called Podil.

According to various sources, 9436 was dismantled before WWII, and the other tank was removed by the Germans before the end of the War, no later than autumn of 1942.

Still working on it. Feel free to add/improve/disagree.

Ah. I hadn't paid sufficient attention to these 2 vaguely similar photos:

Clearly, these are, indeed, different vehicles. Sorry about that

I've done a bit more rummaging, and come up with the following:

9436 was on display in a suburb called Podil, the oldest part of the city. During a redevelopment of the area, a "small city park" was built, near to Kontraktava Square, and that seems to be where the tank was placed. The next clue was that after the tank had gone, in 1977 a statue of the Ukrainian philosopher Grigory Skovoroda was erected in the small park. The statue is still there and is clearly marked on google maps, so we know that's roughly where 9436 was.

Then this cropped up on Wikipedia: a photo taken last year of the statue surrounded by screens to protect it from Russian shelling, and opposite a distinctive building which turns out to be the Kyiv Municipal Academic Opera and Ballet Theatre for Children and Youth.

Put 'em together and what have you got?

If you google Mezhyhirska Street, Podil, you'll be able to see the whole thing.

As regards the fate of 9436, Wikipedia says:

In 1938 in the park was placed a British tank Mark V that was taken as a trophy during the Russian Civil War from the Russian White Guards.^[2] The tank also remained at the park a few years after the World War II.^[2]

The references direct you to here https://7chudes.in.ua/nominaciyi/staryj-podil/ but I can't find that info on the web page. Maybe I'm doing something wrong.

Comments welcome