Okay there have been a lot of interest about my PAK 44 and I'm sure it
qualifies as a military vehicle so i'll answer one of the replies.. This is
the FULL story and if you hate long email then quietly move on to the next
message..
Ian Cooper wrote:
> Do you mean the 128cm pak 44 on the two wheeled carriage which weighs 10
> tons? It was an attempt by the Germans to get a long range anti-tank
> gun, but with the accompanying weight problem.
Yes and you can believe that we felt every single damn ounce of the thing...
> My interest is how did you get a weapon like this in a hedge?
I use the term 'hedge' loosely it was actually in a thicket originally - now
a copse (see below)
> When did you get this monster?
Okay full story...
Back in 1992 I met a polish journalist while in Bosnia and we got to talking
about all the antique armour and artillery that was floating around at the
time... I was commanding an antique myself then - an ex-serbian M36B2 but
that's another story, anyway he told me about a WW2 battle that took place
near his home village that his father had told him about and mentioned that
a few old guns and a 'tank' were still lying about the woods near them.
Incidentally I am omitting the place names for reasons which will come
apparent later.
In 1995 I finally got the chance to go have a look at this area and
discovered what had undoubtadly been a german Pak-Front position placed at
the junction of two wide valleys. The centre was a large well fortified log
built anti-tank position with the PAK 44 in a thicket on the crest of a
small hill and it was flanked by two further positions, one each side about
800 metres away in the woods at the base of the ridge. Both the flanking
positions had infantry trenches/barbed wire around them.. The northwestern
position was empty apart from some laquered steel 88 cases in a very bad
state ,the southern one still contains a gun, partially buried, which we
will recover at a later date because we are not quite sure what it is, in
addition it looks like it has suffered some damage. If anyone can identify
it - it is at least a 128mm with a smooth stepped barrel and mounted on a
four wheeled carriage with two tapering square section trails - no shield.
Nearby is a Jagd Tiger That has been burnt out and is pretty well
concealed.. you have to be on top of it before you can find it despite its
size... incidentally it looks like it has an 88 for a gun barrel rather than
the normal 128 - anyone heard of one of these before? It has 14 AP strikes
on the front, six on the side and 2 on the rear - 1 of which penetrated the
rear hull and probably started the fire that burnt it out. It would be one
bitch of a recovery as it is totally dead and the tracks are seized solid.
There are no signs inside of ammunition or ammunition cook-off from the fire
so I would guess that it had run out of ammo and was withdrawing when it was
hit. A good derust and soot removal and it may not look bad. The engine is a
TOTAL write-off.
Anyway last year the PAK was recovered with the help of two praga recovery
vehicles, a few friends, some local villagers and a lot of steel cable!. It
was lying in the rear of its pit with a russian 152 AP round embedded in the
left hand outrigger. It was partially buried at the tail end with some tree
roots growing over it.
In the pit itself between the gun and the forward edge of the pit and off
to one side in the remains of a small bunker were the corroded remains of
24 fired steel cartridge cases and what was probably the wooden cases they
came in.
The remains of the metal case that held the rangefinder was found and will
look alright after a reskin.
No bodies, graves or live ammunition were found.
The guns firing pin and sighting telescope had been removed we assume they
are buried nearby and will search for them with a metal detector when we
return. We actually took one with us but in true style the batteries went
flat and were unavailable locally!! Moral: always take spares.
Curiously enough the breech cover and muzzle cover had been replaced. [I
think they must have considerd retrieving it at some stage} and we found it
had been covered with a sheet - a very rotten sheet by then but it plus the
sheltered position had protected the gun well over the years and we were
actually able to wind down the wheels after removing the deformed outrigger.
It took us 2 days to reinstate the gun into its towing mode and get it out
of the copse and then we discovered the wheels still rotated with a little
help and it took us half an hour to tow it the 2 miles to the trailer on the
road. Then after paying the farmer a little restitution for the damage to
his copse and field [ 6 bottles of Bushmills Best irish whiskey] the PAK
began its long trip home under the description of 'scrap'
>From the evidence in the pit and from what a few old fellahs in the village
told us we gathered that the following had happened - The germans had
arrived at the village and spent a day and night preparing the position and
the morning after 8 russian tanks [company?] had appeared down the far end
of the north-eastern valley, almost 3 miles away, and our PAK had commenced
firing at them and hit them all before they got within 2 miles. one survived
and withdrew. Later that day about 15 more tanks
[ two companies?] appeared and charged up the eastern valley while the
position was under artillery fire. The PAK fired on them destroying at
least 8 until they got within a mile and then the other guns opened fire.
The nearest any russian tank got was about 800 yards and all were hit. The
attackers then gave up and the position was shelled sporadically for the
rest of the day. During the night a 'big' russian SP Gun crept up the valley
and hit the gun. The solid AP round that hit it went through the earth and
log breastworks and struck the gun on its left outrigger, bending it back in
a crazy L shape and throwing the gun into the back of the pit [ ten
tons!!!]. We assume that the PAK was still capable of firing as there were
two cases behind it and the gun barrel was pointing along the line of the
russian shot! The assumption is that the crew manned the gun again and
destroyed the SP. The germans then left before the morning along with the
villagers who returned about two months later. Some of the destroyed tanks
were lying about for at least 3 years after the war and the local farmers
still come across the odd bits of metal where the tanks were hit.
As it stands at the moment :-
1. The gun assembly justs needs a good shotblasting.
2. The Breech will have to have about 3/8" of rusty metal skimmed off all
round.
2. Only one of the roadwheels is beyond hope - the others will need new
rubber.
3. A Section on the cuvature of the shield will need replacing
4. I may have to fabricate a new left outrigger as the old one is crazy
bent.
5. A number of sheet metal fittings will have to replaced.
6. The chassis of the gun is in remarkbly good shape despite the AP strike
on the outrigger.
I need the following if anyone knows of any available:
1. Any inert 128mm ammunition
2. A replacement roadwheel - not the Rheinmetal spoked, the Krupp dished
one.
3. A Manual??
4. Details of any german unit equipped with these guns on the german/polish
border?
5. Any equipment pertaining to this gun [tools etc]
Well.. next year I am going back to get the other gun and follow up on some
possible MkIV's and by then the PAK should be restored, I'll have recruited
a gun crew for re-enactment purposes and it'll look fine behind the Demag.
Please dont ask me where the place I found it is... you can undertand why I
want to keep it secret ! Applications to view the gun will not be allowed to
strangers.. I have already had one attempt to steal it and have had to move
it! if you live in the UK and want to see it go to a UK Military vehicle
show next year.. it may be there. AND I have already turned down a
substantial offer for it so please try to exceed 12 grand in your offer
which will be turned down.. or at least reconsidered in a few years time.
One person has even offered paying a deposit so that he gets first refusal
whenever I would consider selling it. Some people are plain crazy... but
then again it is a rare item.
Lastly.. anyone going on any military archeology trips needs a seat filler
with a compulsive urge to rummage old battlefields and an unerring sense for
finding things - drop us an email!
TTFN
--------------98C4B37EED0E684FE7EF409B
Content-Type: text/x-vcard; charset=us-ascii; name="vcard.vcf"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
Content-Description: Card for Jim Webster
Content-Disposition: attachment; filename="vcard.vcf"
begin: vcard
fn: Jim Webster
n: Webster;Jim
org: PatchWork
email;internet: jimweb@patching.thegap.com
x-mozilla-cpt: ;0
x-mozilla-html: TRUE
version: 2.1
end: vcard
--------------98C4B37EED0E684FE7EF409B--
===
To unsubscribe from the mil-veh mailing list, send the single word
UNSUBSCRIBE in the body of a message to <mil-veh-request@skylee.com>.