...here's one that's a "new one" to me. It is a plastic model in 1/35 scale, made by Trumpeter, called a "German Panzerjagerwagen Variant I Armored Rail Car". Looks like a PzKfpw IV turret mounted on some sort of rail car...
Was this for real? If so, was it a "one-of"? Can't imagine there were too many of them... could make an interesting kitbash / scratchbuild for the armored train buffs...
BTW, the picture of the 1/35 scale models is courtesy of Great Models Webstore's website:
"Well, I've been to one World's Fair, a picnic, and a rodeo, and that's the stupidest thing I ever heard come over a set of earphones. You sure you got today's codes?"
Hi Tom:
Yes, it's real. I have at least two photos that appear to be different examples of it.
Not just the turret, but if you look closely, a good part of the upper hull to supply the turret ring is used -mounted on a heavy duty flat-car.
There was another variant; much larger structure- that mounted a late model Mk. 4 turret at each end... Have see photos of it too, as well as some other Really odd types...
Sorry, I have no production numbers in front of me; just "a small number"...
for what it's worth...
Jim R.
Leave it up to the Germans to make an insanely stupid weapon look so damn cool!
"Congratulations Hans, you just got command of a turret on a hull that only runs back and forth on roads easily seen from 15,000 feet, has no internal engine of its own, and will be a sitting duck to anyone clever enough to just shoot up the tracks in front and behind you."
Mark Severin
Owner, Scale Creep Miniatures
Author DeepFriedHappyMice.com
Seems they would make great supporitng arms for the infantry defending the train from partisains. If the train was forced to stop and was then attacked they would come in handy.
Not sure they would ever face tanks.
I pray for Peace on Earth Good will toward men. Till then one round HE fire for Effect!
I have run in to the problem with 5-1 for many years as I play a Command Decision based game. When organizing my armies, I worry more about the balance of weapons rather than the strict 5-1 ratio. sometimes this means bumping up weapons one level -- two MGs per company would bump up to one MG stand per battalion, etc. The whole thing about TO&E somtimes makes me laugh -- units on the actual front lines were rarely at full strengh and/or often had substitute or unathorized equipment. The above example with the 57mm ATG in American armored infantry bats is a good case in point. A collegue of my father, and one of my high school teachers many years ago, commanded an M-5 Stuart in the 4th Armored. When I first started wargaming, I recall him shaking his head when he saw us using the 57 to support an assault by armored infantry. He said most common use of his tanks was in infantry support and that he NEVER saw a 57 anywhere near the front lines. In fact, he rarely saw a 57 at all, except in the depot -- where there appeared to be plenty of them -- or sitting abandoned along the roadside. Basically, the troops found little use for the heavy gun and got rid of it as soon as possible. My gaming armored inf bats have just one stand at the battalion level representing the few that might have been kept around. Another case is British reconnasance units, which have quite a large number of scout cars and such. Gamers need to understand that besides actual recon, Brit recon units were also tasked with traffic control and communication line security. Soooo... remove about half of the scout cars and bren carriers from the board....they were busy doing other duties! My point is that TO&Es should be taken as a guide, and in a 5-1 scaled game, imperfect adherance to the exact ratio can be explained in many ways...
