Slitherine

From yesterday on, the German police made a raid on a mansion in Kiel, Germany, Europe. In the basement they found, among other weapons and vehicles a Panther (model not mentioned), an 88 and a V1. Not models, but the real thing. Owning war weapons is a major crime under German law. The prosecutors claim they were not demilitarized. Confiscating a Panther poses severe logistical problems, though. They police is receiving assistance from the Bundeswehr in the form of armored recovery vehicles.

Here is an image of the Panther....looks like it is one of the "early" models ?
http://www.spiegel.de/panorama/justiz/h ... 41868.html

There will be a full TV-documentation on german TV on Sunday 22:30.

Looks like a Late G with the chin armor and dustbin exhaust.

But the turret reminds me of the early ones ?

Wow, nice find. Reminds me of the Centurion tank owned by a scrap dealer they impounded in my country.

BTW, it sure looks like a late model G, but not with all the features. For the curious, I checked my book, which claims:

- exhaust pipes are last model (introduced october 1944)
- turret has a guard strip on top for the mantlet (introduced august 1944), and a rain guard over the gunsight hole (october 1944).

What is missing is the 'chin' under the mantlet and the newer type roadwheels. But it seems these features weren't on every example produced, and a lot of retrofitting could have happened, but the hull is definitely a G.

Iscaran wrote:But the turret reminds me of the early ones ?

Lack of Zimmermitt identifies this as even later. Produced sometime in 45'/late 44' I would guess.

I hope they don't destroy it its so beautiful maybe they will send it to Munster to be restored and researched It looks like someone loved it

I hope the collector makes them pay.

He is accused of having stored "weapons of war". But the Panther could not shoot anymore, neither could the 8.8 nor was the torpedo they found armed. The Panther didn't even have its chains attached and was not operable at all.

The owner is accused of a "possible" violation of the War Weapons Control Act. I am quite on the side of his lawyer who states confiscating his entire collection because of a suspicion and damaging both tank and driveway in the process is out of proportion.

Newspaper said the panther came from a UK scrapyard. They speculate it was a test model built by the British from confiscated spare parts for evaluation purposes. He is going to keep his V1, but tank and AA gun stay impounded.

I happen to be a German lawyer but I wouldn´t comment the matter legally, since the law of war weapons is a rather special branch. I know that the German rules for demilitarization are very strict. Not being able to shoot isn´t enough by far. I seem to remember, for example, that the drivers station has to be free of effective armor protection.

Also, the prosecutors of Kiel will be very careful in such a matter, after being forced to rebuilt an Hells Angels building recently.

Rather than destroying the Panther they should send it to Bovington. I'm sure the people there would like to expand their collection

- BNC

sn0wball wrote:Not being able to shoot isn´t enough by far. I seem to remember, for example, that the drivers station has to be free of effective armor protection.

And the 1000$ question... Why?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pU2oZYcx6QY GTA: Panzer Corps!

" Herr General, today your mission is to visit a liquor store and secure their finest Belgium beers, and also some Wodka, Żubrówka if possible. In addition to this, High Command asked that you enter a 'drive-through' on the way back and take some pretzels and those curly fries with you. Intelligence reports that opposing forces are spread out and imminent contact with patrols is likely. Once you are spotted, expect their forces to converge on you and make an attempt to stop your advance. Be advised that numerous enemy air assets have been sighted in the area as well. Good luck, commander.

P.S. You have permission to squash all non-German cars in your way. "

To funny I remember that!!! Of coarse now if that happened again here in America the cops would just chase the guy in there tank because all the local police here in the states have been buying surplus Iraq war equipment !!!!! I saw a SWAT team deploy
on TV the other day and It looked like Panzer grenadier company deploying in a french town in 1944

ThvN wrote:P.S. You have permission to squash all non-German cars in your way. "[/i]

This would have not been possible over here. His ride would have been over the first time he´d try to squash a Volvo or pre 1990 Mercedes-Benz.