Military artifacts dealer, Bruce Crompton will take on his biggest challenges yet when he returns for a new series of Combat Dealers.
Bruce will travel the world with his salvage ‘soldiers’ to find, restore and sell military memorabilia of all shapes and sizes and discover pieces which are rarer and more valuable than ever before. From turning a rare, defunct WWII Panther tank into a working piece of machinery, which could sell for millions of pounds; to finding a watercolor painted by Hitler hanging above a toilet and Stalin’s sword in a super-rich Russian’s private collection.
For an explosive start to the New Year, Bruce will create an authentic WWII battle scene using his own extensive military collection, including a rare Sherman tank; working alongside armorers and historical experts, he will blow up military vehicles, fire bazookas, flamethrowers and cannons to test weapons and their effects to discover the history behind the items.
Bruce will fulfill his lifelong ambition of a D-Day parachute jump out of one of the world’s last remaining Dakota aircraft – famous for leading the D-Day Invasion – and he will fly over the white cliffs of Dover in a Spitfire.
The series will also unearth the fascinating history behind military objects with veterans sharing their wartime experiences; from life in a tank on the battlefields of France to living under the jackboot in the Nazi-occupied Channel Islands, all of which increase the authenticity of Bruce’s restorations.
Lastly, Bruce will turn detective to solve the mystery of a WW1 medal for extreme bravery from the bloodiest battle in history – the first day of the Battle of The Somme – by tracing the medal back to its brave owner, who was one of the very first soldiers out of the trenches on that fateful day.
Combat Dealers will premiere Tuesdays at 9 pm from 10th January 2017.