IWM NA 7138 - Pz IV knocked out at Salerno

Is is supposed to be scarred?

 

I would guess some sort of deformation or flaking. This is fairly typical for hardened but low-grade alloyed metals under unregulated heat.
In German tanks, brittle armor was an almost typical sign from 1943 onwards because the necessary alloying components were missing:
Armor plates need to be hard on the outside but tough on the inside. With low-grade steel, this can lead to significant damage patterns when exposed to heat or kinetic energy

 

It definitely says “starred” which I assume means that the armour showed signs of hair-line cracking caused by the “deformation or flaking” which Itdan mentioned.

It would be interesting to see whether any of the Technical Intelligence reports covered these kind of issues.

More to look for!

Regards

Tom

 

Hi Tom, not meaning to take a liberty here. Okay only slightly. Could you please email that Cab file Cab146/34 for September 43? Is it only for that month? Or do's it run to December 43? Willing to send some others you may not have in exchange...

Will email you to start things off. Many thanks.

Regards,
Stu.

 

I would just like to add that Vol. 2 is rather good. Been waiting for the above volume, along with volume 1 for a while and have not got around to buying them. For those that are interested in all three, then they can bought for a reasonable price. Below is in what's in volume 2:

INDEX
5/ Preface/ Introduction.
6/ Chapter Severn Panther tanks.
112/ Chapter Eight Marder II and III light tank-destroyers.
168/ Chapter Nine Grille support self-propelled howitzers.
178/ Chapter Ten Field and heavy artilleries.
216/ Chapter Eleven Towed anti-tank artilleries.
236/ Colour profiles.
247/ Acknowledgements/Thanks/Documentation sources.

Thanks Itdan for reminding me. Just a thought to Tom, and Gary- is it not worth a look in the Battalion history of the 2/6th Bn History THE QUEEN'S ROYAL REGIMENT? It's by Roy E. Bullen. I'm sure this chap did all three of the battalion histories. Only got the 2/7th.

Tom, thanks for emailing me.

Regards,
Stu.

 

There is also a volume 4, published earlier this year - Italienfeldzug Vol.4 - MIG6267 (panzerwrecks.com).

 

Thank you. That's another three then. They have been printed well in a A4 size hard back.

Edit: I thought I'd given up on books on this campaign.

R,
Stu.

 

One of the Alsatian Infantrymen was Pierre Paul Golling