Picture of the day

[Falcorn]

8.8 cm PaK 43/1 auf Geschützwagen III/IV (Sf) "Nashorn", Italy, 1945

 

[Ganderite]

^^ What is going on at the muzzle?

 

[Winchester-1897]

^^^what he said^^^^^

 

[37patt]

Almost looks like a cleaning brush with the stave end pushed into the barrel. Otherwise .............?

 

[diopter]

Just a guess, think crew used cannon cleaning rod for a white surrender flag.

Edited:
Shows they can't fire their main gun.

 

[shredder]

Just a guess, think crew used cannon cleaning rod for a white surrender flag.

I think you're right.

That looks an awful lot like the cleaning rods I used in the field artillery to clean the gun barrel.

 

[purple]

Those troops look to be at ease and having a good time. Officer study period followed by happy hour?

 

[zupermann]

I've heard of "spiking the cannon" to make it in unusable for the enemy. Perhaps this is what the Nashorn crew did by jamming a pole down there ?

 

[sail32]

If I remember correctly;

Disabling a 105mm howitzer.

If very short of time, the firing mechanism was removed from the breech block.

If short of time the breech block was removed as well.

Time permitting, a maximum propellant charge, all 7 bags and a projectile was loaded, and a projectile was inserted in the muzzle with the fuse pointed at the breech. I think the fuse setting was super quick.

The air and hydraulic recoil systems were opened and drained.

The 2 optical sights were smashed

The howitzer was then fired, and if the preceding was done properly, was now useless.

 

[Dark Alley Dan]

Yeah, that sounds comprehensive as hell. Can't picture a gun being good for much after something like that.

Speaking of which, here's a Sherman past the point of "buffing out":

 

[Sharps '74]

.... and GI Joe is saying : "Jesus wept! Sure glad I'm a grunt!".

 

[woodchopper]

top half looks ok

and the .50 looks good to go

 

[Ganderite]

Big land mine?

 

[woodchopper]

Big land mine?

damage looks interesting

earlier Sherman with the bow gun

the front axle housing looks mostly intact

tracks are all over the place, I would expect more damage on one side if it hit a mine. Unless it was a tilt rod design

turret was not blown off so I don't think the ammo blew up

 

[trilobite]

The howitzer was then fired, and if the preceding was done properly, was now useless.

I always imagined this being done with the longest available rope tied to the lanyard - I can't imagine you'd want to be all that close.

 

[donor]

ups

 

[fingers284]

damage looks interesting

earlier Sherman with the bow gun

the front axle housing looks mostly intact

tracks are all over the place, I would expect more damage on one side if it hit a mine. Unless it was a tilt rod design

turret was not blown off so I don't think the ammo blew up

I suspect that that tank was built for a specific purpose of some kind with the hull elevated on a sort of frontrunner of the Caterpilar Hi-drives of today, there is enough track length on just the one side for two regular conventional drive tanks I think.

 

[CV32]

I suspect that that tank was built for a specific purpose of some kind with the hull elevated on a sort of frontrunner of the Caterpilar Hi-drives of today, there is enough track length on just the one side for two regular conventional drive tanks I think.

Its an ordinary Sherman tank (looks like an early model M4A3). The hull has been lifted off the chassis and differential housing by the force of the explosion. Probably a large anti-tank mine.

 

[ipscgraz]

Not wishing to speculate, if it was an enormous landmine, wouldn't there be a crater? But what else could do that...

 

[CV32]

Not wishing to speculate, if it was an enormous landmine, wouldn't there be a crater? But what else could do that...

Might not have been that huge, just placed in the right spot on the surface and perhaps exploded directly under the hull. Sometimes there isn't a crater. This Sherman fell victim to a German mine in France. No crater.