Formally known as Harborough at War, 2023’s newly christened Operation Market Harborough proved to be a blast of a weekend for Classic Military Vehicle contributor
With the comment “If the British weather ever puts you off from going, then you will never go anywhere at all” ringing in my ears, we set off on the nearly two-hour drive to Leicestershire for Operation Market Harborough in our 1918 Dennis subsidy lorry. The Dennis has a top speed of about 18mph, and although the cab has a roof, there is no windscreen – so we are quite open to the elements.
Unfortunately, the weather forecast for the day was not good. August’s Storm Antoni was pummelling the country and the showground would bear the brunt of this on the Saturday. On Friday, the setting up day, the weather had been perfect and Sunday was predicted to be good too, but unfortunately, we would not get the benefit of this. On arriving at the showground and checking in, we proceeded to the display area to find that although the ground surface was firm, it was covered in liquid mud which quickly reduced the traction of the Dennis to zero. Without tyre chains we had to rely on a tow from a nearby Diamond T recovery truck and eventually parked up next to The Military Vehicle Trust caravan where it would remain throughout the day. Operation Market Harborough replaced the well-known Harborough at War Show, and for 2023, took place at the same showground over the weekend – August 5 and 6. The driving force behind the show is Mick Crook who works as an instructor at the Armourgeddon Tank Driving Centre & Museum at nearby Husbands Bosworth.
