Aces High Bulletin Board
General Forums => Aces High General Discussion => Topic started by: Guppy35 on December 21, 2007, 03:40:15 AM
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It's amazing what turns up at times. Can't read Czech but it's a well preserved Stug III
http://www.detektorweb.cz/index.4me?s=show&i=2988&mm=1&vd=1
(http://www.detektorweb.cz/upload/clanky/2988/obr20.jpg)
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:eek: :O
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its like they just dug it up out of the ground.....wow :O
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Looks like an awesome little ride. You got any details/specs on this machine ?
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Here's a free online Czech to English translator page. I tried it, but the result is fairly fractured....
http://www.translation-guide.com/free_online_translators.php?from=Czech&to=English
:huh
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Originally posted by SlapShot
Looks like an awesome little ride. You got any details/specs on this machine ?
It's an assault gun based on the Panzer III chassis. Designed and used as an infantry support vehicle (direct fire artillery), but later in the war it was also used a lot as a tank destroyer. Early versions had a short barreled 75 mm howitzer. This one seems to be a late war example with the same 75 mm gun that the late mark Panzer IV had. The famous tank ace Michael Wittman started his career as an artilleryman in one of those (StuG crews were considered artillerymen, not Panzer men).
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I have read of planes bulldozed in a pit and buried in Germany after the war. I wonder if they are still there to be found or were they dug up and melted into something "useful"...
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That's a really sinister looking piece of equipment. I'd love to find one in my yard, but I have a feeling any tank I dig up won't be of the self propelled type.
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sweet looking ride
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What's suprising is how well preserved it seems to be, after what, 60 years' buried in a bog?
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Originally posted by hubsonfire
That's a really sinister looking piece of equipment...
Yeah, kinda looks like a Decepticon.
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Originally posted by FrodeMk3
What's suprising is how well preserved it seems to be, after what, 60 years' buried in a bog?
It still has paint on it. Incredible, very nice.
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Photoshop
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Originally posted by hubsonfire
That's a really sinister looking piece of equipment. I'd love to find one in my yard, but I have a feeling any tank I dig up won't be of the self propelled type.
:rofl :rofl
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Took me a minute to figure out the site is advertising metal detectors. :)
Check out "Top 10" on the sidebar (funny how Czech for Top 10 is Top 10 :D). There are pictures of a T34 and a Churchill that were found and of a cache of assault rifles and machine pistols that were found.
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I wonder if you could see it's profile on the little screen on the metal detector.
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We bought a metal detector for my son for Christmas. Highly unlikey he will find something like that though.
:)
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WWII color footage of StuG III's
http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoID=1229412400
Restored StuG III in Finland:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-XWFHCd1aNw
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Originally posted by Viking
Restored StuG III in Finland:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-XWFHCd1aNw
The announcer said that 59 of Sturmgeschützs were acquired from Germany 1943-44, of which almost all made it to the decisive battles at the Karelian isthmus. The StuG which appears on the video was at the Tali-Ihantala battle and took a hit to the tracks (June 23rd'ish, mid-Summer) from a Soviet tank. The StuGs in Finnish service destroyed 82 of enemy tanks for 8 StuGs lost. The announcer then continues with some technical specs and then the Leopard enters the stage.
I just was at the movies this week to see the movie Tali-Ihantala 1944 (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0378848/), it featured some T-34 and Sturmgeschütz action. And of course there was the FlugWerk FW-190 A8/N, in the colours and markings of Oberst Erich Rudorffer, JG 54, when stationed at Immola/Finland. Plus some original war time footage (109's, Ju-88's, Stukas and a lot more).
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Was the film any good?
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Wow that was a nice find and it's amazing well preserved. It's a mean looking tank too..
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was checking out that site and there are a few other tanks there as well. I think these are some sort of Japanese light armor. Shame to see them just rusting away.
(http://www.detektorweb.cz/upload/clanky/12361/obr8.jpg)
http://www.detektorweb.cz/index.4me?s=show&lang=1&i=12361&mm=2&xb=2&vd=1
and another that's being restored..
http://www.detektorweb.cz/index.4me?s=show&lang=1&i=12309&mm=2&xb=2&vd=1
lots of various ww2 stuff in this one..(all on display)
http://www.detektorweb.cz/index.4me?s=show&lang=1&i=11539&mm=2&xb=2&vd=1
A Tiger 1 among others
http://www.detektorweb.cz/index.4me?s=show&lang=1&i=10936&mm=2&xb=2&vd=1
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Originally posted by Viking
Was the film any good?
Unfortunately it is the worst war-movie ever made in Finland.... (IMHO)
Nice documentary anyway.
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Lots of stugs and other...
http://www.andreaslarka.net/
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Originally posted by Charge
I have read of planes bulldozed in a pit and buried in Germany after the war. I wonder if they are still there to be found or were they dug up and melted into something "useful"...
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Horrible to think about in this day of million dollar warbirds. But, I'd bet those planes are good and gone. Not only would the bulldozing cause way more damage to aluminum components than it did to steel armor plate, but as I recall most aircraft materials from the 40s are pretty unstable in contact with moisture and dirt. I remember reading that magnesium components simply dissolve, and aluminum alloys get incredibly brittle with time and exposure. Even with fairly preserved warbirds, repair shops have to custom mill so many replacement parts that the original pieces are often in the minority by the time they're done with the work.
There is a small shop a couple hours from here, and a friend once brought me a piece of original skin from an SBD (or was it an avenger) they were working on. Has the primer still on it, looks good, but it wasn't structurally sound enough and they replaced it as they rebuilt,
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I suspect the same fate awaited many planes at the end of the war. On the other hand, had they not disposed of so many, they'd be no more out of the ordinary than old cars or pieces of farm equipment that are more prevalent in this day and age. We'd probably take them for granted were that the case, an even bigger tragedy.
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Originally posted by Viking
WWII color footage of StuG III's
http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoID=1229412400
The one they show in the first half appears to be the assault variant with the 105mm howitzer. Looks too big to be a 75mm.
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I don't think so E25280. The 10.5 cm Sturmhaubitze 42 had a much longer barrel, and usually with a muzzle brake.
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I could be over-estimating the barrel width, but if you look at the linked site almost all the way to the bottom (the two before the pic of the one at the Golan Heights), there are 105mm versions that look to me to be the one in the film.
The barrel in the film is too long to be the 75mm howitzer versions shown on the site at the beginning, and it certainly doesn't look like the long 75's used on the later versions.
The site took a long time to load for me, so you may have to be patient. Let me know what you think.
http://the.shadock.free.fr/Surviving_StuG_StuH.pdf
<> I also found this quote . . . granted, it is from Wiki, but . . .
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sturmhaubitze_42
The StuH 42 mounted a variant of the 10.5 cm leFH 18 howitzer, modified to be electrically fired and fitted with a muzzle brake. Later models were built from StuG III G chassis as well as StuG III F and F/8 chassis. The muzzle brake was often deleted as well because of the scarcity of resources.
<>
http://www.germanwarmachine.com/weapons/artillery/stugiiiausf.htm
The first vehicles had a version of the StuH 42 with a muzzle brake, but later machines were equipped with a howitzer not fitted with a muzzle brake and incapable of firing supercharge ammunition.
So it would appear the lack of muzzle brake does not exclude the possibility it is a 10.5cm version. (D'oh -- just saw you said "usually.")
lol -- it's late, I better stop obsessing . . .