Panzerwrecks 6: German Armour 1944-45

100 Pages·2008·56.13 MB·English

by  Lee Archer

FEATURES:
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Panzcrjaeer and Flakpanzers of Meppen 8
Panzer Remnants on a Czech Road 40
Flammpanzer 38 In and out 60
Quick Fix: Rocket Firing SPWs 82
During WW2, both sides employed radical makeshift solutions to gain short-term
battlefield advantages, and here we present two of the more extreme examples. We'll
take you inside a Flammpanzer 38 and give you a nuts and bolts tour of some mSPWs
fitted with rocket launchers by the Americans. You'll also tour the main vehicle dump at
Meppen, walk along a road littered with Pakwagons, and view the remains of vehicles
stranded on flat cars at war's end. Many of the images in this book were taken by servicemen using basic equipment; they
While we try to bring you the unusual and go in-depth with our features; every photo are included for their interest and historical value, not necessarily their photographic
in Panzerwrecks is important to us. Lee literally devotes weeks and weeks to improving quality.
them, and he'll spend weeks more working with the printer to insure their high fidelity
reproduction. That is why the photos in this book taken by amateurs look as good as For the use of their photos we would like to thank: Howard Simon, Howard Liddic, William
those taken by professionals. Beckett, Chris Leeman, 0yvind Leonsen, Don Campbell, David Parker, Claude Gillono, Greg
But good photos need good captions. It is no secret we rely on Jentz & Doyle's Panzer Westbrook, Mark Bowers, Petr Dolezal, Remy Spezzano. US National Archives (NARA), Polish
Tracts for proper vehicle 10 and nomenclature. We also rely - heavily - on the input Institute and Sikorski Museum (PISM), ECPA, Vojensky Historicky Ustav (VHU), Library and
from Martin and Timm and Marek and Barry. (No report written by the Allies would Archives of Canada (LAC), Archive of Modern Conflict, The Tank Museum (TTM) .
ever contain the information found on page 91 or offer the analyses found on pages 34,
42,52, 59 or 79.) We also thank Phil Dyer, a renowned American armor expert, for the We would also like to thank the following: Hans Weber, Martin Block, Timm Haasler, Tom
reference to the Calliope report. It is the high expectations of these individuals that we Jentz, Marek Solar, Barry Crook, Kamen Nevenkin, Stefan De Meyer, Phil Dyer, Susan Strange
measure PW against, and we had to first impress them with the material in this book and Matthias Radu.
before we could call it Panzerwrecks 6. W.Auerbach, Monroe. June 2008
©2008 lee Archer and William Auerbach. Created by lee Archer and printed by 1010 Printing (UK) Ltd in Top of page: Panzerwrecks cuts short its company picnic to meet deadline.
China. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any W.Auerbach
means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording or any information storage and retrieval
system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Don't steal, it's naughty. Iii! 1"1
II , A l l I,
Published by: William Auerbach . Panzerwrecks. P.O. Box 2332 Monroe, New York 10949-2332 USA . bill@panzerwrecks .com
.111" 11 11 I
Lee Archer. P.O. Box 164 Heathfield, Sussex TN21 8WA UK. [email protected]
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On pages 76-79 of Panzerwrecks 2 we showed a number of Panther Ausf.Ds from Pz.Ers. shows no signs of prolonged combat, although the right stowage bin has taken a battering.
u. Ausb.Abt.35 knocked out in Bamberg, Germany during April 1945. We think that this is In front of the fence is a tattered seat presumably originating from the tank. Those with
another example based upon the style and location of the Balkenkreuz on the turret side an eye for detail will have spotted the emblem on the left stowage bin of a skull on a dark
and between the exhausts. The 'Zimmerit' coating on the tank is in excellent condition and background. W.Auerbach
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I Iii' Ill',,' .ll ld p~rsonal with a Sturmgeschutz III Ausf.D, an unusual sight in 1945. Like some guard, next to the air intake; these were fitted to vehicles destined for Greece, Southern
,,11 ...1 W I'" k·. in Ihis book, it probably belonged to a training unit thrown into battle to stop Russia and North Africa. Note the different camouflage patterns on the side of the fighting
I I,. · /\11" " .. Iii, ' whick' has a cylindrical 'Filzbalgvorschaltluftfilter' (pre-filter) on the track compartment and above the roadwheels. W.Auerbach
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I 1\ 11)()re complete view of the SturmgeschLitz shows that whoever painted it has gone to a lot of
I ing 1IIIIIbic to apply camouflage paint to the area above the roadwheels. The object poking out of the
Ic h 1:1111 l)arrel is probably the base of a 7.5cm shell.
W.Auerbach
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\ ,'" (liid series Panzerjager I with seven-sided superstructure is a another unusual sight in those examples seen in the early war years apart from a somewhat oversized Balkenkreuz
I'l l', WI' have no location or date on the photos but they were probably from the same and the missing armoured cover for the exhaust outlet. On page 4 the GI graphically
11 1111111/: ;lI1d replacement unit as the Panther and Sturmgeschutz, It is unmodified from demonstrates the small size of the Panzerjager, 2x W.Auerbach
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The side of the Panzerjager I shows the tactical number '222'. A 4. 7cm shell leans next to the hold tree branches that augment the plain Dunkelgelb (RAL 7028) camouflage. The
driver's visor, the Panzerjagercould carry a total of84 roundsof4.7cm ammunition. Wire has on pages 1-6 were taken by a veteran of the US 9th Armored Division who passed across the
been looped through the tie-downs at the top of the sides of the fighting compartment and bridge at Remagen. W.Auerbach
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I I I (Iy. E. Westbrook of 92nd Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadron, 12th Armored fitted to the rear side of the turret with the convex side out and track hanger style
photographed a buddy with this knocked out Panther Ausf.G. On the back of on the turret are typical of a vehicle belonging to I./Pz.Rgt.15, 1l.Panzer-Division.
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II " IIi 1I11 () he wrote, "This is a German Tiger tank. It took three hits from a '75' and 14 G.Westbrook
I, " ,( 11<.1\ to knock it out. The crew of five are still inside roasted." The spare roadwheel
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A photographer with the Polish 1. Dywizji Pancernej (1st Armoured Division) caught effective against allied armour. This Jadgpanther was seen in Panzerwrecks 3, page 93,
these Panzerjager side by side in a vehicle dump in Meppen at war's end. The Pz.Sfl.2 and has the sectional gun tube and single driver's pivotable periscope. It appears to have
fUr 7.62cm Pak 36 (Sd.Kfz.132) on the left, with its thin armour and high profile, stands in a very late war modification as well: additional armour shields over the engine air intake
stark contrast to the heavy 'Jagdpanther' on the right, but both main guns were extremely and exhaust louvres. Other details are obscured by heavy camouflage. PISM
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