Help confirm ID of a German Panzer

[fackerman64]

I need help confirming the ID of the tank in these photos which I received from my uncle who recently passed away. My uncle served with Regiment 1. of the 1st Panzer Division. Most of his service was on the Russian front. It looks to me like a Pz. IV F2 which I believe had a 75mm main gun, an mg42 bow machine gun and an mg35 turret machine gun. According to him, he was the bow machine gunner/radio operator. In this photo, he is seated on the front right of the tank above the machine gun.

[fackerman64]

Here is another shot of the tank and its crew. My uncle is the one wearing the Ushanka with the flaps hanging down. Sorry for the quality of the images, they are scans of his originals which his wife/my aunt still owns.

[fackerman64]

Based on the number 823 on the side of his tank, can anyone also tell me which Abteilung or specific company he was with? His name was Willy Burk, see picture below. I was told his unit was deployed out of Ehrfurt.

What would also be neat is if someone had info on the orders of battle showing tank 823.

Any help would be appreciated.

[ChrisW]

Frank,

I'm no expert on German armor, so I won't hazard a guess. But I would suggest that, if you haven't already tried it, to post these photos on www.missing-lynx.com, a dedicated armor modeling forum. There are LOTS of folks there who would find these photos of great interest, and probably have all sorts of information for you.

Don't get me wrong, I thoroughly love GMIC for all subjects medal/uniform/insignia-related, but sometimes the forums on military hardware seem a little quiet....

Hope this is of some help!

Cheers,

Chris

[Laurence Strong]

I would be inclined to say an Ausf G. There were only 200 F2's made and the majority went to Afrika, as opposed to 1275 Ausf G's. Secondly F2's were never fitted with steel armor skirts; this was only started on late models Ausf G's.

Hope this helps some :cheers:

[fackerman64]

Thanks for the input gentlemen.

[Taz]

Looks like a Ausf G, yes

The Ausf F-2 was only an interim variant and was replaced by the Ausf G (Chassis No: 82396 - 82500, 82565 - 82600 und 82614 - 84400.

Panzerkampfwagen IV Ausf F2 - 75mm KwK 40 L/43,

Panzerkampfwagen IV Ausf G - 75mm KwK 40 L/43 (early),

Panzerkampfwagen IV (Long) Sd.Kfz.161/2 - March 1943-March 1945

Panzerkampfwagen IV Ausf G - 75mm KwK 40 L/48 (late)

In March of 1942 the variant Ausf F2 was produced, followed by Ausf G in May.

Current research shows that in reality the designation Ausf F2 was not used when describing Ausf F armed with 75mm L/43 gun and instead tanks known as Ausf F2 were in fact early Ausf G tanks.

They were the first tanks to be isued the side skirts.

Ausf F2 and Ausf G variants were based on the long version PzKpfw IV chassis and were armed with newer 75mm KwK 40 L/43 gun.

The British nicknamed the Ausf F2 (early Ausf G) - "Mark IV Special"

1st Panzer Division, 1st Regiment.

823 = 8 (8th Company) 2 (2nd Platoon) 3 (Number of the tank)

Regards Eddie

Edited April 15, 2009 by Taz

[fackerman64]

Thanks much Eddie,

Very helpful information. I didn't know that the number 823 broke down that way.