Mobile steel pilbox

[jopaerya]

Here a photo from World War Forum from a Panzernest in Rimini-Bellaria

Regards Jos

[Konstantin]

Hello All

Here a other Panzernest this one is Russia .

Photo = Ebay.de

Regards Jos

Good day, dear jopaerya!

This photo belongs to the time before the onset of 8 Guards Army on the site, which is located south of Isjum. This Isjum - Barvinkove offensive of the Red Army 17-23 July 1943.



If you look at this map, we can see that in the offensive zone 8 Guards Army defending 46 and 333 infantry divisions of the Wehrmacht. I think if you examine the documents staff of these divisions for the July 17, 1943, you can define a place where there were Panzernest. And the fact that they were there, no doubt - a reference to these structures is in the memoirs of Marshal Chuikov. And here's another excerpt from the memoirs of a direct participant in the events:

«In July 1943, our regiment supports 8 Guards Army in crossing the Seversky Donets River in the raisins. I, as head of intelligence regiment followed in the first echelon of the attacking infantry units, under enemy fire, ran across the bridge the river with the hook. But the enemy opened heavy fire from machine guns, concealed in the high right bank of the river, our infantry took cover.
In addition, the first position defense was tight mined, and its aircraft bombed our continuous battle formations. ... Our artillery carried by machine-gun fire, but they continued to shoot. I noticed a well-covered machine gun. He called the fire one of its batteries. Gaps formed precisely, a machine gun fell silent, but soon reopened furious fire. I repeated the fire. Together with the infantry rushes, I moved forward.
Send it to a machine-gun. This proved armored machine-gun nest, buried in the ground. Actually armored machine-gun nest towered above the ground at 40-50 cm, there was a small porthole, closed armored shutter. In the nightcap was installed heavy machine gun and was a machine gunner. Such armored machine-gun nest called 'crabs' (as in the Red Army was called Panzernest) - it was a new weapon. Gun, which I was shooting, throwing the earth, so he stopped the fire. Unfortunately, a direct hit in armored machine-gun nest was not. There was machine gun point in this direction a lot, some even lying on the ground - the enemy did not have time to bury them. Therefore, our infantry with great difficulty, seized a bridgehead on the right bank of the river Donets» (Chernyshev E.V.)

Dear colleagues, I am from Ukraine is difficult to read the documents of the German divisions. Perhaps someone could somehow help. There may be more accurate data, which were, in the area of defense which the German divisions were established Panzernest?

Best regards.
Кonstantin.

[jopaerya]

Hello Konstantin

Thanks for sharing this great information , what do we amateur researchers want more ,
two different sources on one subject in the same place . As Hannibal Smith allways says
"I love it when a plan comes together".

Regards Jos

[Andrzej Ditrich]

Hi,

please see 3 photos from Orel-one of the first use of Panzernest.

Brgds
@ndrew

[Ropey]

Does anyone model these? Perhaps in resin?

[kstdk]

Hello

Certainly, just see this Google search for "Panzernest" - some nice models here.

Does anyone model these? Perhaps in resin?

http://www.google.dk/images?hl=da&rlz=1 ... 59&bih=774

Regards
Kurt
kstdk

[jopaerya]

Hello

Here a Panzernest in Italy ( photocaption Monte Cassino ) from Ebay .

Regards Jos

[Barovic]

Another one, unknown location, from e-bay.de

[Graham Clayton]

"German Defences in Italy in World War II" by Neil Short, Chris Taylor, (Osprey Publishing, 2006), has an excellent description of the Panzernest:

The thick upper armour provided valuable protection for the two-man crew and the nest was easily transported with the opening at the front doubling as the housing for the towing limber and the holes for the ventilation acting as the mounting for an axle, which was then fitted with two wheels. The position was designed to mount a machine gun that could fire through a small aperture at the front. This limited the weapon's traverse and meant it only had a 60-degree field of fire. When the position was not in use the opening could be covered with a shield. The crew gained access to the position via a hatch at the rear and two periscopes in the roof provided them with observation. When they were firing the machine gun, fumes were extracted by a simple foot-operated ventilation system.

Each Panzerfest weighed over a tonne, and this meant that it could be transported at a speed of 10 km/h. 12 men were needed to dig the hole and manhandle the Panzernest into position. The foot-operated fan needed to be fully depressed 60-70 times a minute to clear the fumes. Two treadles were fitted so that both members of the crew could operate the fan.

[herring]

Hello,

http://rufort.info/index.php?topic=1090.0

Russia, near Tula.

[OpanaPointer]

There's a picture of one being manuevered by a US armored recovery vehicle. I'll try to find it. (Set of two pictures, actually, IIRC.)

[jopaerya]

Thanks Barovic

Nice picture you have posted , looks that the turret recieved some extra protection .

Regards Jos

[jopaerya]

Hello

From a American report , a detail picture of the air filter system with pedals in a Panzernest .

Regards Jos

[Valtoro]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iE94nxIWjws
Ca 07:57 in the clip, from a soviet trophy exhibition in Moscow around 1943.

[searay]

For those interested in the modeling aspects, there are several kits of the Panzernest including a plastic one from RPM in Poland in 1/35, and resin ones from Verlinden and Farina. Here's my rendition of the RPM one for a small vignette.

There have been some very good published accounts of the Panzernest, including a string of articles in the German journal Fortifikation, and even one in the (now-defunct) Russian magazine Polygon.