Picture of the Day

[Vietcong rus]

САУ ИСУ-122

[Seth_Soldier]

[Matthew_Baker]

That's not even a normal Panzer III, that's a Panzer III Beobachter tank- used for artillery observation.   It has a dummy cannon and the center position on the mantlet just as a spot for an MG34.

Interesting. I can't find a lot about their development in English. Did removing the cannon create more room for a better radio? Or did they remove the barrel to melt it down and be used in other things?

[Seth_Soldier]

it wasn't setup.
afaik they used this camouflage because early artillery observation/tank commanding were too easy recognizable and were targeted in priority.
Gun for these tanks are useless, and this way you gain spaces

[Sander93]

They could've gone with a little more convincing dummy gun though. It looks like they glued a toilet paper roll onto it lol.

[Leopardi]

[Born2Kill 007]

They could've gone with a little more convincing dummy gun though. It looks like they glued a toilet paper roll onto it lol.

I think the tube under that toilet paper roll is the actual fake barrel, but that it just came off in battle

[Sander93]

Oh didn't see that. That would actually do kinda look like the regular 5cm gun.

[Matthew_Baker]

Here's a picture of a complete one.



It was indeed used to make room for more radio/ equipment. This website says they removed the large gun and hull MG as well. I just wonder why they didn't keep the coax in the same place and put the fake barrel on the center. Must have something to do with how the stuff was arranged inside.

[nysä]

It was indeed used to make room for more radio/ equipment. This website says they removed the large gun and hull MG as well. I just wonder why they didn't keep the coax in the same place and put the fake barrel on the center. Must have something to do with how the stuff was arranged inside.

Pz.Beob.Wg.III were up-armored, including a specific 5 cm gun mantlet (vs. 3,5 cm on the original).
Besides Fu 8 and 4, it also carried a "Funksprechgerät f" which could transmit over distance of 4-5 km to loudspeakers mounted on Wespe or Hummel, allowing crews to hear the orders of the artilllery observation officer and his corrections of fire.

There were still 58 Pz.Beob.Wg.III in service with frontline units on January 1945, then reduced to 31 by 15 March 1945.

[nysä]

[Leopardi]

[nysä]

[Seth_Soldier]

[Mayhemic.MAD]