German Mk IV tanks lost in transit to Libya

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lufty1
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German Mk IV tanks lost in transit to Libya

#1

Post by lufty1 » 01 Jul 2016, 14:34

I have seen statistics that 34 Mk IVs were sunk en route to north Africa in December 1941. Which ships were they on and how were they lost?
Quite a loss considering only 750 odd mk ivs were produced that year.

thanks to all

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Kingfish
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Re: German Mk IV tanks lost in transit to Libya

#2

Post by Kingfish » 01 Jul 2016, 15:48

Although the date and destination do not match your post, this might help:

http://www.feldgrau.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=10434
The gods do not deduct from a man's allotted span the hours spent in fishing.
~Babylonian Proverb


lufty1
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Re: German Mk IV tanks lost in transit to Libya

#3

Post by lufty1 » 03 Jul 2016, 13:15

Hi - thanks for that. I think the 2nd panzer div is separate from supplies to Libya.

But I have seen a table on various sites showing german tanks sent to Africa by month and those lost in transit.

eg

http://www.ww2f.com/topic/8979-german-t ... to-africa/

But I am not sure hose numbers are correct either - they don't match what is on the crusader project site.

LColombo
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Re: German Mk IV tanks lost in transit to Libya

#4

Post by LColombo » 09 Jul 2016, 17:07

On 13 December 1941, submarine HMS Upright torpedoed and sank Italian motorship Fabio Filzi and Carlo Del Greco en route from Taranto to Tripoli via Messina. The two ships were carrying dozens of tanks, although AFAIK it was 52 Italian M13/40s ("Littorio" Division) and 44 German (5th Panzerregiment) of which 11 were Panzer IIs and 34 were Panzer IIIs, and not Panzer IVs.

lufty1
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Re: German Mk IV tanks lost in transit to Libya

#5

Post by lufty1 » 11 Jul 2016, 10:48

Thanks.

btw what does AFAIK mean?

Larry D.
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Re: German Mk IV tanks lost in transit to Libya

#6

Post by Larry D. » 11 Jul 2016, 14:37

AFAIK = As Far As I Know.

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Urmel
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Re: German Mk IV tanks lost in transit to Libya

#7

Post by Urmel » 25 Jul 2016, 10:16

Lorenzo is correct. No Panzer IV were sunk in transit in 1941, as far as I can tell. Some (10 or 11 I think) were lost in a fire on Leverkusen while in Naples harbour in April 1941. Fabio Filzi and Carlo Del Greco were lost while almost inside the safe zone of Taranto gulf while travelling from Naples to Tripoli via Taranto as part of the (then cancelled) convoy operation M.42. The Italian mediums were a whole battalion of Littorio division's tanks I believe. The German were of 3. And 7. Companies of 15th Panzer's Panzer Regiment 5
The enemy had superiority in numbers, his tanks were more heavily armoured, they had larger calibre guns with nearly twice the effective range of ours, and their telescopes were superior. 5 RTR 19/11/41

The CRUSADER Project - The Winter Battle 1941/42

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