Interesting facts on the weapons of WWII

Thats interesting. What did the Germans call what we call the King Tiger?

 

The name changed during the war, so it would be impossible to answer it with a single designation.

The Wa.Prüf. 6 final designation was Pz.Kpfw. Tiger Ausf. B

The In. 6 designation was Pz.Kpfw. Tiger (8,8cm Kw.K. L/71) (Sd.Kfz. 182)

Tiger II, Tiger 2, Tiger III, Tiger 3, VK 45.02 (H), Henschel Tiger B and VK 45.03 are also designations which were used throughout the war.

Pz.Kpfw. Tiger Ausf. B or Tiger II woul dbe the most logical names to use...

 

Thanx and Welcome Christian!

You definitely have great pics and data on your site!

 

Great stuff Onthefield, I thought I knew all there was to know about the 42...

 

Another fact:

No Panther with the FG 1250 infrared searchlight and scope ever saw action on the western front.

 

Now that's interesting. Did not know they had such technology. Did they have any kind of night vision for the Luftwaffe?

 

The Luftwaffe isn't my field of expertize, but given the short range of the infrared devices at the time, I highly doubt it.

The number of Panthers which actually did recieve the FG 1250 was very low, as far as I can read from 'Germany's Panther Tank' by Jentz, MNH have only confirmed producing 20 (produced in September), however I suppose there were more than this.

The Panthers own search light had a range of 600 metres.

The Sd.Kfz. 251/20 'Uhu' had a larger 60cm. infrared searchlight (B.G. 1251), which would be used with the 'IR Panthers' and M.P. 44s with infrared systems from night combat.

10 Panthers with FG 1250 and 3 Sd.Kfz. 251/20 were assigned to the 1. Kompanie/Panzer-Abteilung 101/Führer-Grenadier-Division, and were reported to have performed will in action on 26 March 1945.

Sources:
Germany's Panther Tank - The Quest for Combat Supremacy; Thomas Jentz and Hilary Doyle; Schiffer Publishing
Panzer Tracts 11-1; Thomas Jentz and Hilary Doyle; Panzer Tracts

 

The Luftwaffe experimented with a series of infra-red sighting devices and spot lights on nightfighters with the Spanner 1 - 4 series devices. None proved successful.
All were prone to blooming (that is, washing out / blinding the sight because of searchlights, flak bursts that sort of thing), none had much range (at most a few hundred yards) and all had a small range of view (think looking through a spotting scope type of thing).
A few were tried operationally but quickly discarded in favor of airborne radar systems.

 

slight correction; the Spanner units were revised and used in the spring of 45. More in our books, but I will not share now....

Horrido !

 

There's a photo of a 'Spanner' eyepiece on page 47 of 'Profile' No 207, showing the device as fitted to a Bf110.

 

Tiger II

A March 1945 German report stated that the operational ratio of the tank in frontline units was 59 percent of the strength, second only to the Panzer IV with 62 percent and much better than Panther at only 48 percent. This is against some common ideas which want the Tiger II as a big, slow and unreliable monster. Many faults were overexploited by inexperienced drivers but with mature drivers and the needed pauses for restoring and maintenaince reliability greatly increased.


http://www.geocities.com/Pentagon/Quarters/4635/tanks/tiger2/tiger2.htm

 

Quoting from your link........

The s.Pz.Abt. 503 was the first operational unit to receive Tiger IIs in late May 1944 but received only 12

Therefore a 59% availability in a training unit - probably Panzer Lehr - and not in combat is not very impressive.

If this 59% refers to the 5 tanks supplied to Panzer Lehr Panzer Kompanie 316 (Funklenk) then 3 tanks out of 5 in total does not speak well of the abilities of the mechanics.

 

In the June 1944 jump the 101st Airborne Division were issued .30 calibre browning light machine guns. This was in response to a need for a light machine gun that had more fire power than the Browning automatic rifle. The LMG was in fact heavier in weight than the BAR but the increased firepower more than compensated.

When the Division dropped into Holland for Market Garden they were issued with BAR's, however it is not unlikely that many LMG's were also held onto to beef up their firepower.

I believe the correct designation for the Browning LMG is M1919A6. It has a wooden stock. If you own Rendezvous with Destiny there is a good picture of this weapon on the front dust cover.

Of course they also used the tripod-mounted M1919A4 Browning Machine Gun.

 

Bf 110 G-4/U7, Night Fighter
As Bf 110 G-4, but

Fuel: additional 440 kg GM 1 for 45 min
Flexible armament: without MG 81 Z
Armor: none in aft compartment

Compare with Bf 110 G-2/U7. The first ten Bf 110 G-4/U7 high altitude night fighters for combating Mosquitos were delivered in June 1943, and were in fact converted Bf 110 G-4s. The General Staff ordered that 50% of the aircraft be so equipped on 6/29/43. According to a report in the RLM, the field considered the GM 1 systems to be useless and potentially dangerous ballast in some cases and, since the British never flew at altitudes above 8000 m, these were largely removed. At this time the systems had not yet been fully developed. Trials with Bf 110 G-4/U7 W.Nr. 5457, NM+SE at Messerschmitt's Augsburg facility showed that the aircraft with full GM 1 tank and without ammunition was tail-heavy and unstable at higher altitudes. This effect was exaggerated with extended landing flaps, making any second pass after an aborted approach nearly impossible.

http://stonebooks.com/archives/030608.shtml

 

now lets see. i clicked m-1 grande and got fighters?well back to the orriginal subject... i think general patton was right. the m-1 garande was the best, not anymore, mind you. i feel for the m-16 and its bigger brother, the m-15 rifels.

 

Who me? Jk, yeah he said the M1 was good.

 

now, of course there is the prototype wepon they are makeing now. cant remeber what its called tho. the one that changes type and cal just by changeing barrels and stocks

 

I don't know either. Probaly an improvement on the M-16. Perhaps something like a cross between the M-16 and a Ak-47?

 

eh sorta. not so much the AK but it looks exactally like the m16 just has a shorter barrel when in rifel mode. it has a crap load of mechanics on it, like infer red, night vision, around the corner tracking(i dont know what to call it. it has a hight cal in rifel and mg modes. it has rifel, MG and sub-MG modes.

 

hmmm.. I saw that on the History Channel