German Ersatz M10 Panther Tanks - (And the legality of disguised vehicles?)

I was surprised the other night to read that the Germans disguised some of the Panther Tanks to look like American M10 Tank Destroyers during the Ardenne Offensive.

There were around 10 converted and were part of Panzer Brigade 150, commanded by SS-Standartenfuehrer Otto Skorzeny. They were used in his Operation 'Greif' and fought around the Warche Bridge area, SW of Malmedy.

Some shot's of the converted Panther's.

 

A not terribly well-disguised STUG and a fairly blatant Sdkfz 250, from a Spanish WW2 forum:
Foro Segunda Guerra Mundial • Ver Tema - La Panzer Brigade 150

 

Adam,

The whole story of him running up and down the street initially getting ammo for the bazooka and then running around with it in the street (What a top nutter) shooting at tanks and then with a german machine gun when he ran out of ammo for his bazooka is in ATB's Battle of the Bulge.

A well desrved MoH in my opinion.

 

Couple more better shots of some Panthers/M10 that show the added armour quite clearly:





Operation Grief
Skorzeny was tried as a war criminal at the Dachau Trials in 1947 for allegedly violating the laws of war during the Battle of the Bulge, he and officers of Panzerbrigade 150 being charged with improperly using American uniforms to infiltrate American lines. All the defendants were acquitted, the military tribunal drawing a distinction between using enemy uniforms during combat and for other purposes including deception; it could not be shown that Skorzeny had actually given any orders to fight in US uniform.<SUP> </SUP>A surprise defence witness was F. F. E. Yeo-Thomas, GC, MC & Bar, Croix de Guerre, a former Allied SOE agent who testified that he had himself worn German uniforms behind enemy lines.

 

Just wondering, but say for example one of these tanks were disabled, and the crew was captured by US troops, would the captured crew be treated as if they were captured in US uniforms? After the word of the Malmedy Massacre got out, more than likely they would.

This is the first that I have heard of German AFV being disguised as US AFVs. I have heard that captured jeeps and 2 1/2 ton trucks were used in Operation Grief before, but this is new to me. Very interesting indeed.

 

I believe those that were captured and stood trial. A few were shot for wearing a American uniform.

Aswell as Op Grief you may wish to check out the other special operation at the time- Operation Stosser. It was Germany's last major airborne operation of the war involving around 800 paratroopers to be dropped behind the American lines. However it didn't quite go to plan if I remember rightly.

Cheers
Andy

 

I've not got to Skorzeny's trial at Dachau yet in the book I'm reading but his defence did use as said above a British SOE agent as a witness. I believe he was better known as the 'White Rabbit' and dressed in German uniforms as and when.

There is also the New Zealand chap on the first page of the VC thread I posted. He dressed up as a German paratrooper to get closer to the German snipers and then shot them all.

I'll make a note of the trial when I get to it.

I've already read about the execution of Wilhelm Schmidt, Billing and Pernass who were captured in an American uniforms. They were court martialled as a spies in December '44 and shot.

They were quit a few executed, I assume with the same charge of being a spy and a bit of a kangeroo court to boot no doubt as they were all fairly small fish in the big scheme of things. Although I suspect some probably never made it that far and were shot by soldiers at the point of being discovered.

A couple of other interesting points raised:

A lot of Americans killed each other through failure to give the correct password or jumpy inexperienced guards. Americans became very suspicious of each other as a result of Op Grief. I think this probably was its major success even though the Germans planned a more aggresive role behind American lines - that never really came to life.

The other thing I found interesting that a lot of your average Germans at the time were wearing American winter clothing either captured or taken from dead soldiers because of a lack of winter kit. When they found out about the possibility of being executed they were draw between being cold or shot as a spy.

 

Yes, the trouble caused by Operation Grief went far and wide. I remember a story told to me by an old veteran who was in the US 504th PIR. He and some comrades were travelling in a jeep, and were stopped at a roadblock by a mob of GIs, not MPs, just regular infantry. They went back and forth with the improvised "20 question game" (what is the capital of Texas, who is Betty Grable's husband, what team won the World Series, and what was the score of the last game and so on). The paratroopers ended up being taken into custody at gunpoint, and put in a POW pen with some Germans because the deciding factor was their unique paratrooper uniforms. US paratrooper uniforms were very different from the regular issue to the rest of the army. They spent several hours locked up before several officers arrived to interrogate "the strangely dressed soldiers." Luckily a fire-fight didn't erupt over the issue, as I've read elsewhere that happened.

 

Wasn't General Bradley detained for a while too?

I know Eisenhower was placed under guard through Christmas and couldn't go out because they thought the Germans were attempting to capture him in a Mussolini rescue type mission.

 

That does sound familiar, the Bradley and the Ike stuff. It's been quite some time since I've read about it though, and the details aren't fresh in my head.

 

A couple more shots.

Stug III



A German soldier caught in an American jeep wearing GI clothing over his uniform.

 

I've just finished reading about the War Crimes trials at Dachau in ATB's Battle of the Bulge.

It doesn't really mention any of the above mainly focusing on Peiper, the Malemedy massacre and that it was all a bit of a kangeroo court.

Adam,

I've just read the link you posted and it does seem they made much of the issue of wearing uniforms which to me seems a bit of cloudy area:

The say it's ok to wear the uniform to gather intelligence etc but at the point of fire being exchanged the uniforms etc should be taken off etc. I believe Skorzeny's men in many cases were wearing their German uniforms under the American ones. I can only guess though that changing a uniform whilst under fire is probably at the back of one's priorities.

I think the Vehicle/Tank arguement is a bit more intersting though as the link implies the same with the use of enemy insignia and flags. I good example of the Allies using a German flag as part of a ruse was HMS Cambeltown. However when she could bluff no more and came under attack the Kreigsmarine flag was lowered and she hoisted her battle ensign.

As the pictures above clearly show the Germans not only changed the look of their Panther's to resemble M10's but many vehicles and tanks were painted with the American White Star insignia. Now there is no way that that could be changed once fighting commenced.

I do wonder why they focused on a much more grey area regarding the use of uniforms rather than a more clear cut route of the insignia on the vehicles.

 

Not familiar with the French battlefiled but:

At a time about 85% of the trucks used by the Germans in NA were of British origin.
British uniforms were widely used by the Germans because of the better quality
The australians used Italian tanks for the lack of own vehicles (not long because of mech. failure )
etc...

 

Not familiar with the French battlefiled but:
The australians used Italian tanks for the lack of own vehicles (not long because of mech. failure )
etc...

I have seen pictures of Australian troops in North Africa with captured Italian M40 tanks. The troops are quite clearly Australian because of the large Kangaroo painted on the tank. The Germans also use captured Russian T-34s and painted large Balkan crosses on the turret. Naturally this was done in order to help prevent their own troops from firing on them, not to help the enemy identify them as captured vehicles.

I've heard that although Allied troops held a number of German weapons in high regard, such as the Mp-40 and the Mg-34 and Mg-42, they often chose not to use these weapons when they captured them because it was believed that if they, themselves were captured while using enemy infantry weapons they would be shot out of hand.

 

That is how I read it too.

I wonder if the reason for them not bothering to persue this line of enquiry was due to them either finding the crews dead inside destroyed tanks and the like or vehicles abandoned which then proved impossible to determine who was in them?

 

Article on Wiki regarding Germans found wearing US uniforms during Ardenne campaign.

Operation Greif - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Regards
Tom