Hitler's Third Reich and World War II in the News is a daily edited review of WWII news, providing thought- provoking collection of hand-picked WW2 information.

Category: German Tanks of World War II  -- See latest WWII news here.

Will Foster gets around campus in half-scale model of Tiger tank [video]
A Kettering University student has been working on a project that makes him ready for the paintball blitzkrieg. It's something you don't see every day: A German Tiger Tank menacing the University mascot. Two years ago Will Foster started building a half-scale replica of a WWII Tiger tank. "I just think they're awesome machines." It's powered by a 3-cylinder diesel engine, has a steel frame, but its "armor" is particle board. Foster, paintball hobbyist, built his tank to shoot hundreds of projectiles at a time with the compressed air powered cannon. Eventually, Foster would like to build a line of tanks for paintball wars.     [ abclocal.go.com :: 2008-07-23 :: German Tanks of World War II ]

Restored Panzer 38t model F ready for World War II movies
For 40 years a rare Nazi tank lay buried in Hungary. Now the Panzer 38t model F (armed with a 37mm gun and two ZB37 machine guns) is about to star in war films. But first it will roar into life, with the only wartime Sherman Beach Armoured Recovery Vehicle (BARV) still running, at The War and Peace Show in Kent. Stephen Lamonby, whose company Plus Film Ltd has provided military vehicles for films like Saving Private Ryan and Charlotte Gray, spend 5 years restoring the 38t. It's turret still has the original number, 524, and the style of the numbering reveals it was part of the 25th Panzer Regiment of the 7th Panzer Division. Only 4 Panzers of this type still exist.     [ kentnews.co.uk :: 2008-07-06 :: German Tanks of World War II ]

Will Foster builds fully operational half-size Panzer tank
Will Foster never has trouble getting a parking spot: Who's going to argue with a guy driving a half-scale Panzer tank? He began building the tank from scratch 2 years ago. It runs on treads and has a 360-degree cannon (compressed air). A builder since he made his first tree house at 9, he came up with his first designs for the tank when he was 14, but he didn't have the resources to pull it off. "It's been a lot of trial and error... I've probably got $2,000 worth of parts on it, but $10,000 total has gone into it because I'd buy a $200 part that didn't work... before finding a $50 part that did."     [ mlive :: 2008-04-03 :: German Tanks of World War II ]

Bidders rush on Russian T-34 and German Pz IV Tanks from the WWII
The elements of over 140 firing systems made up of WWII tank parts will be put up to a secret auction - 840 auction papers are sold. The "tank scrap" consists of gun - turrets from Russian Ò-34 tanks and also of 6 German tanks' elements. This World War II military equipment got a huge interest from militaria collectors all around the world. Before restoration the tanks cost 250,000 euros, but after their overhaul they could rise to 500,000. A group of American collectors considered to offer as much as it will take to have this unique and rare military machine.     [ international :: 2008-03-20 :: German Tanks of World War II ]

World War II Nazi tanks for sale: Panzers, Jagdpanzers, StuG III assault guns
22 Nazi tanks that have lain forgotten in Bulgarian fields for decades are to be put up for auction, with the starting price of 100,000 euros. The World War II relics were a first line of defence against a Nato invasion. Dug into the ground, the Panzer tanks, Jagdpanzer tank destroyers and Sturmgeschuetz assault guns have been mostly forgotten since the end of the Cold War. In 2007, authorities caught persons who allegedly stole one of the tanks. Collectors were willing to pay millions for the stolen tank, reportedly a present from Adolf Hitler to the former Bulgarian queen.     [ telegraph :: 2008-03-03 :: German Tanks of World War II ]

Bulgaria's Army Digs out Its WW2 Panzer IV tanks
Bulgaria' s army has began to dig out its vintage WW2 tanks, in order to protect them from looters. A number of Panzer IV tanks, equipped with Maybach engines and buried as stationary guns, have already been moved to a secure military base. All WW2 tanks will be in a safe place before the end of February but it is unclear what their future will be. There are few tanks of the same type in the world still outside the military museums and robbers could make a good profit by selling tank parts to collectors. Recently authorities nailed two Germans and a Bulgarian army major over stealing a whole Panzer IV tank. After that there was a probe over a stolen turret of a vintage tank.     [ novinite :: 2008-02-09 :: German Tanks of World War II ]

Third WWII Maybach battle tank stolen in Bulgaria
The turret of a third Maybach tank from World War II had been stolen. The tank had been buried over 50 years ago in the region of Elhovo and served as a firing point. It is the third Maybach tank theft in Bulgaria. In Dec 2007, military counter-intelligence arrested a gang, who had stolen one WWII tank and tried to steal a second one. The Maybach produced the engines for the Panther and Tiger tank, highly valued by collectors. Tank-theft seems to be profitable as in mid-January 2008 3 men were captured from the Momina Tsurkva, after they sold parts of the turret of an unknown tank for scrap metal.     [ sofiaecho :: 2008-01-23 :: German Tanks of World War II ]

Canadian War Museum shows restored German Panzer V: Panther tank
The Canadian War Museum has finished a 2-year restoration of a WWII-era German Panzer V tank. Panthers, as the Pz V tanks were known, were among the largest battle tanks made in quantity during the war. They were planned to combat the Soviet T-34 tanks that Nazi Germany ran into after the invasion of Russia in June 1941. By war's end, almost 6,000 Panthers had been deployed on all fronts. As part of the restoration, the exterior surfaces were covered with a "zimmerit" paste created from a WWII recipe. Zimmerit was used to tank surfaces to overcome magnetic anti-tank mines. Panthers and T-34s, both on display in the Museum, are considered to be the best tanks of the war.     [ canadianpress :: 2008-01-19 :: German Tanks of World War II ]

Neville Smith, wargames with radio controlled WWII battle tank models
Neville Smith has spent $11,000 on 11 radio-controlled tanks to use in scaled-down World War II themed battles. His tanks range from the famous German Tiger 1 to the American Sherman. Each 1/16 scale model costs $1000-$2000 and takes weeks to assemble. "I guess the fact you can shoot one another and play games with the tanks won me over." When he isn't assembling tanks Smith spends hours fashioning toy soldiers and artificial trees to use on the battlefield. Those come in handy at gatherings of radio-control tank lovers. The group was formed by Smith and has 20 members throughout New Zealand. Auckland enthusiasts meet regularly to battle their tanks in wargames.     [ stuff :: 2007-10-06 :: Military Scale Model: Aircrafts, Vehicles ]

Finland auctions disused battle tanks, Sturmgeschütz III assault guns
The Finnish Defence Forces generated 916,000 dollars when it auctioned off 20 disused tanks and assault guns. Most of the buyers were foreign nationals like Mike Stallwood of Britain. "My company buys old tanks, renovates them and sells them on to museums and private collectors," Stallwood told. Stallood bought a German-made assault gun, Sturmgeschuetz III Ausfuehrung G for 260,000 dollars. The assault guns were deployed by the Finnish army during World War II.     [ hs :: 2007-09-26 :: German Tanks of World War II ]

Super-heavy tanks of World War II
Super-heavy tanks were designed in response to the arms race of ever-increasing armament and armour in battle tanks. Although some models were built, they were impractical and saw no combat. Some extreme tank designs approved by Adolf Hitler were devised to be all-conquering monsters of the battlefield. A prime example being the Maus, which only reached the prototype stage. Ultra-heavy tanks of 1,000 tonnes were considered, like the Landkreuzer P. 1000 "Ratte", an enormous tank, and the P. 1500 "Monster", a gigantic self-propelled artillery platform. These were deemed impractical and neither was built, as Albert Speer put an end to these behemoths.     [ wikipedia :: 2007-08-30 :: Vintage Military Vehicles (AFV) & Battle Tanks ]

Nazi-era tanks - with imperial eagle, Nazi swastika - still stand in Bulgaria
A visitor to the village of Fakiya in Bulgaria can just make out a rusting tank cannon 10 metres off the side of a road. It belongs to tank equipped with a Maybach engine, built in 1943 for Nazi Germany's World War II army, the Wehrmacht. Serial number, the stamp of the imperial eagle and a Nazi swastika are recognisable. There are around 40 such tanks in the region along the border with Turkey. "During World War II, Bulgaria was allied with Germany," explains Petko Yotov, director the Museum of Military History in Sofia. Battle tanks were never scrapped, but instead were employed, together with T-34 tanks, to secure the border after the war.     [ dw-world :: 2007-08-17 :: German Tanks of World War II ]

Midnight breakout out from WWII Budapest in King Tiger tank
Article no longer available from the original source.
Joe Senzig served as tank commander in the Wermacht's Panzer command: first of a Panther medium tank, then later of 63-ton King Tiger tank. In the wake of the loss at Stalingrad, German Panzer units struggled to retreat across eastern Europe, pursued by Soviet soldiers. Finally, encircled by Soviet armored units at Budapest, 13 battle tanks attempted a daring midnight breakout toward the American 3rd Army. Senzig's Tiger tank would emerge as one of 4 tanks to complete the 15-mile run for survival. The burning wreckage of the 9 tanks lighted the roadway like bonfires at a Nuremberg rally. He survived the war, including a Soviet sniper's bullet which grazed his head.     [ daily-journal :: 2007-05-22 :: Panzers & Armored Divisions & Tank War ]

History buff collects tanks, combat vehicles, self-propelled guns
Jacques Littlefield has amassed the country's largest private collection of tanks, self-propelled guns, armored personnel carriers, and anti-aircraft and other heavy combat vehicles on the lush, rolling hills of his 470-acre ranch. The real prize is the dreaded German Panzer V Panther, which the German army sank in a Polish river during World War II to keep it from the advancing Russians. The Panther sat submerged for 50 years until Littlefield acquired it and began a painstaking restoration four years ago. As an undergrad, he built a model tank from scratch in the campus machine shop. In 1976, he bought his first combat vehicle, a WWII Scout armored truck.     [ sfgate :: 2007-04-09 :: Vintage Military Vehicles (AFV) & Battle Tanks ]

Estimating number of tanks Nazi Germany produced
By 1941 the allies knew that their tanks had been superior to German Panzer tanks in combat, but they were worried about the new marks IV and V (Panther). They had very little idea of how many tanks Nazi Germany was capable of producing, and intelligence estimates were unreliable. The statisticians had one key piece of information, which was the serial numbers on captured mark V tanks. They believed that the Germans, being Germans, had logically numbered their tanks in the order in which they were produced. They estimated that the Germans produced 246 tanks per month. Intelligence said 1,400 per month. After the war records showed that production was 245 per month.     [ guardian :: 2006-07-22 :: German Tanks of World War II ]

Armoured and dangerous - Shermans, Panzers, Panther
When we tumbled at Jacques Littlefield's 10,000 square foot vehicle restoration facility, we saw several old and battered looking genuine battle tanks sitting outside the facility. Battle tanks are not something everybody collects and there are 220 military vehicles, which reside at Pony Tracks Ranch. A muscular German Panzer IV - which under Rommel's Afrika Korps attacked British forces in the desert of North Africa. A 1944 German Panther tank rescued after 40 years in a Polish bog. Numerous one-of-a-kind prototypes.     [ deccanherald :: 2006-06-11 :: Vintage Military Vehicles (AFV) & Battle Tanks ]

King Tiger tank from the Normandy campaign arrives Museum
A rare German tank - a veteran from the Normandy campaign of World War Two - has gone on public display at the Tank Museum for the first time since its capture. The German King Tiger (Sd Kfz 182 Tiger II) was captured after a tank battle in Nothern France in August 1944. It was issued to 1 Kompanie of SS Panzer Battalion 101 in the summer of 1944 and was commanded by an Obersharfuhrer Franz. The King Tiger was the largest and most feared German panzer of World War II. It gained a fearsome reputation as a formidable opponent: Mounting an 88mm gun and with virtually impenetrable armour to its front it has since become recognised as the most powerful tank of the war.     [ 24hourmuseum :: 2006-06-01 :: Panzers & Armored Divisions & Tank War ]

Hitler's favorite tank sits rusting on a dumping ground in the Russian province
According to Mr. Speer's memoirs, Hitler was closely following the combat baptism of the new tanks. He demanded an hourly report on the situation. Hitler flew into a rage when he found out that the attack was a disgrace. He demanded all tanks should be smashed into pieces so that the enemy could never get a hold in the German secret weapon. The Germans managed to blow off four tanks. However, the Soviets had already removed two tanks using tractors. Soviet designers painstakingly examined the specimen and learned the important combat specifications of the Tiger by the summer of 1943.     [ Pravda :: 2005-09-29 :: Panzers & Armored Divisions & Tank War ]

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