>---"Gordon.W.I. McMillan" <gwim2@student.open.ac.uk> wrote:
>>
>> Jim Webster of the SImonides Group if I recall correctly. He was
(is)
>> cagey about any info as the group has lost so much stuff in the past
>> from claim jumpers and the like
>>
>
>I can certainly understand not wanting to give out any location info
>and all that....especially with a find such as this. I'm much more
>interested in photographs of it as, if I read the diary right ( I did
>find the Simonides Group site....thanks much for the info to locate it
>), its already out of country and offers being made for its sale. I
>was disappointed to see the site didn't have any scans of any
>photographs taken...as I'm sure they must have been ( of the Jagdtiger
>or any of the recovery projects ) . . . . . . . . . . .
Hi All,
This lack of data is a common problem, Jim and I have emailed at length
about the location of this Jagdtiger as it would have left the factory
only a few weeks before wars end (data plate says 04/45) and Poland was
already overrun by the Russians at that time, most Jagdtigers were
captured/killed within 20 miles of the plant at St. Valentin
(Niebelungerwerke), however Jim tells me that recovered documents
include a rail warrant. . . . . . .
Almost all of the recovered/restored German armour ends up in one or two
locations in the USA and is unavailable for even respected authors to
view and record, regretfully. This particular vehicle is an even rarer
device with an 88mm gun owing to the shortage of 128mm units and was
only ever a prototype but when needs must it was no doubt pressed into
service, to be accurate it is then a SdKfz 185.
Not only do Simonides need to be careful about the location but some
European countries can be very strange about armoured vehicles, a
cautionary tale which I must start with "allegedly". . . .
A well known collector here who advertises in W&T bought a complete,
undamaged, operational Panther from a Russian museum, reputedly some 1/4
million UKP changed hands. En route through Poland the authorities
noticed and impounded the vehicle whilst they had a long think, as
authorities do.
The vehicle was "stored" in a field, it is still there, except the
engine has now gone together with the turret. Allegedly.
At the present time all you Americans could have a very interesting
shopping spree in the former USSR with US dollars. . . . . . . .but sort
out the shipping route first.
Regards,
Richard
(Southampton UK)
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