PzKpfw III Ausf. E

FAQ

And who are you?

My name is Martijn, aka King Nine - Ritter von Löwensenf zu Chilichutney, Radiant Knight of the Golden Fleece, Lord of the Summerland. Lighter of Magnificent Fires and Father of the Demons. Man of Nature, バイク先生 as well as Captain of the Motorboat Club. Grand Général d'Armée du Divan (jamais vaincu!), Button pusher extraordinaire and Sublime Communotron.

What's this all about?

This website is about history, about war and about people. And it’s definitely about tanks. I like tanks. I wouldn’t want to fight in one – or at all. I’m a friendly person. But tanks are massive, impressive lumps of technology, a bit like steam trains. And the soldiers in my stories are, well, just people. I don't dig cancel culture; I believe we should remember the bad times, as well as the good. Like my granddad, who was a smuggler for the Dutch resistance. His buddy was a former Waffen-SS officer and if they can be friends, who am I to judge? Only if we fully accept all our human facets, both positive and negative, we can become better than we are.

Allright then, the war. Yes, the Nazis were a bunch of genocidal maniacs. We all know that. It’s been written about quite a lot. However, a lot of Germans at the time were just going along with the flow. As always, there were nuances. There were ‘good’ Germans. There were ‘bad’ Germans. There were uninterested, weird, homesick, brilliant and/or stupid Germans.

What I’m after is the stories about normal people, like you or me. Only, they were fighting for their country, which had -in all fairness- been rather mistreated post-WW1. I want to know about the ones that were scared to death, hiding in a ditch. The ones that took the initiative and won the day. The on that knew they were capable soldiers fighting for a terrible cause, but had no other options. And I might well completely ignore Michael Wittmann's hour of fame. He’s had enough attention already.

Why did you start this compendium of armoured pixels?

I was bored. This is one of the universal motivators of humankind, after all.

Are you a nazi?

No ofcourse not, it's just that German tanks of that period look extremely varied, which is more fun to draw.

Do you like Germany?

I do - I used to live there for a while. Solid holidays, interesting parties, good food and friendly people, generally. But then, I could say the exact same thing of the UK.

Can you share some interesting links?

What's your favourite food?

...favourite computer games?

KSP, GTA-VC, Portal 2, AC Odyssey, Tomb Raider 1 & 2, OpenTTD, Doom (the old ones!), MGS, Fallout, Final Fantasy VII & VIII, Gran Turismo, Ace Combat, SP:WAW, Wolfenstein 3D, Harpoon

So, I hear you're a biker... what bikes did you own?

My dad's CB750 ('76), Supermagna ('88), two Trident 900 ('98)'s, a very scary GSX-1100RW ('93), two GSX-1100F ('95)'es, a GSX-750ES ('86) that I should not have sold, an XT550 ('83), K75RT ('95) and my current Bandit 1250 ('17)

Who are your heroes?

Richard Feynman, Roald Dahl, Otto Carius, Michael Palin, Douglas Bader, Ray Mears, Robert A Heinlein, Mad Jack Churchill, Sergei Korolev, John Cleese

Where did you live?

Kortenberg, Deurne zuid, London, Sint Lenaarts, Beerse, Antwerpen, Deurne noord, Köln, Frechen, Den Haag, Brighton, Rotterdam, Oudenbosch

I feel like buying you a gift! What can I get you?

- If you have something interesting to say, try sending me an email