057

GERMANYS P ANT HER TANK

6 1 2 SCHMALTURM

By usmg a new type of gun mantlet. it was possibie to have a much narrower turret front piata (about 950 mm at the top and 1500 mm at the bottom) and so reduce the area exposed to attack The turret front consisted of a homogenous piąte which did not require expensive machming of an armor Steel casting as did the old Panther turret It was possibie to m-crease the armor thickness without mcreasmg the overall weight of the turret. owmg to the narrower front piąte, the new type of gun mantlet and simplification of certain mstalla-tions m the turret

Other features of the new turret mcluded:

•    A Nahverteidlgungswaffe in the offside rear of the turret roof

•    A redesigned commander s cupola

•    An escape hatch in the turret rear piąte

•    A pistol port in the turret rear piąte This was found to be essential following experience gamed m fightmg the Russians, who madę a point of stalking tanks from the rear.

•    A rangefinder fitted just behmd the turret front piąte

Details regardmg new features of the Schmalturm were as follows

6 12 1 Main Armamenl The 7.5 cm Kw K 42 was modified so that the buffer and recuperator were arranged below the barrel mstead of on either side A new type of gun mantlet, similar to that on the Tiger II. was developed. The new gun. developed by Skodawerke. Pilsen, was referred to as the 7.5 cm Kw K 44/1 With the new arrangement the cradle was rio longer of welded construction The air compressor set for the borę evacuator was replaced by an air pump created by an additional cylinder surrounding the recuperator The air pump cylinder was actuated during the first 420 mm of recoil.

No muzzle-brake was to be fitted, though some of the first 7.5 cm Kw K 44/1 barrels were fitted with muzzle-brakes The increased recoil force of 18 mstead of 12 metric tons was taken into consideration

6 1.2 2 Turret Bali Race The turret bali race was of the deep groove type and its internal diameter was the same as on the previous Panther turret The mner race was mtegral with the traversing rack mstead of bemg separate as was previously the case

Four views of a Schmalturm picked up at the Daimler-Benz assembly plant in Berlm-Marienfelde and shipped to England for study Remnants retneved from a firing rangę are located at the Tank Museum in Bovmgton. England. The hatch for the commander's cupola was hinged at the back mstead of bemg hfted and pivoted on a shaft Other features mcluded five rings welded on each side to aid in attachmg camouflage. three brackets for fastening Losterkennungstafel (poison gas warnmg panels) to the turret roof. three Płlze (mounts) for the 2t Kran. a radio antenna base on the turret roof. and a machmegun port in the turret rear. Armored components for this turret were manufactured at the Dortmund Hoerder Hutten Verem Steel works (TTM)

CHARTER 6: PANTHER AU8F.F

O 3 Turret Trayer&Jlig System The turret was rotated by ^{6 1} ns of a turret traversing gear which was fixed to the tur-a and dnven from the mam transmission shaft though a ^fdt^auiic motor Coarse traverse and fme sight alignment on ^ny°taraet were both effected hydraulically For accurate con-^,n®¹ _f r_irret traverse, the former foot control was replaced by ^tf° nd control The maximum speed that the turret could be ullersed usmg hydraulic power was 360 degrees m 30 sec

°^ndThe turret could also be traversed by hand One turn of handwheel equaled 0 405 degrees traverse The speed ^tn® _erse usmg the handwheel was 4 mmutes for a fuli 360 ° ,ees lf the tank was tilted to one side, the loader could prate an auxiliary hand traversmg wheel and so help the °^P ner traverse the turret The former separate drive for the Hillary unit was elimmated.

^a Bv droppmg the two differentials and the multi-plate over-. clutch used in previous turrets. it was possibie to pro-jf³⁰ a cheaper. smaller and lighter turret traverse gear ^duC A separate Imkage connected to the hydraulic traverse tor enabled the commander to direct the turret onto a se-l^cted target but did not allow for fme control necessary for accurate aimmg.

24 Gjjn ęievatlng Gear The elevating gear was housed ⁶ derneath the mam armament and consists of a screw and t mechanism connected by universal jomts to the frame of me turret turntable at one end and at the other end to the gun adle Drive was taken from a handwheel located on the trret traverse gearbox casing to the nut of the screw and nut mechanism by means of a carden shaft and bevel gearmg. A na sprmg was mcorporated to damp out any shocks caused hv the movement of the tank. The new elevating gear had the advantage of being lighter. morę compact and cheaper to ¹ roduce The gun could be elevated 20 degrees and de-pressed 8 degrees. One turn of the handwheel equaled 4 degrees elevation

6 1 ? 5 ę?^mm?^nde|,,s Cupola The commander's cupola was modified so that it was lower and therefore presented a smaller tarqet to attack It was fabricated as a casting and had 7 slots for accommodating bullet proof and watertight periscopes. which could be easily replaced if necessary. A ring was mounted inside at the top of the cupola on which a scissors telescope. V-shaped rangefinder. anti-aircraft machinegun mount or mfrared mght sightmg scope could be traversed. At tne bottom mside the cupola an azimuth indicator was pro-vided

6.1.2.7 Gun Sjghf Imtial plans were to mount a monocular. articulated T.Z.F.13 telescopic sight, developed by Leitz. Wetzlar. in the Schmalturm. The T.Z.F.13 had dual magmfi-cation selectable at 2 5X and 6X At Iow magmfication the field of view was 28 degrees. at high magmfication 12 degrees. An aperture in the turret front piąte was provided m-stead of the previous aperture m the old style gun mantlet. From an order for 4802 T.Z.F.13 awarded to Leitz, only two were produced. one m October 1944 and one in January 1945 A periscopic gun sight with stabilized optics was mtended to be installed during series production. The head of the peri-scope protruded through an aperture in the turret roof and was protected by an armored guard. Atrial series of 10 S.Z.F.1 stabilized gun sights were ordered from Leitz in 1944. fol-lowed by a series production order of 1000 in January 1945 Five S.Z.F.1 were produced from September through Decem-ber 1944. and four modified S.Z.F.1 b were produced in January and February 1945.

6 12 6 Mo u n tj naJ_Qr^o3xi ąj_ M,G_42 A completely new mountmg had to be designed to receive the M.G.42. It was attached to the gun cradle and consisted of a barrel support with recoil spring, a rear support for the machinegun. and a front support with a locking clamp and adjusting mechanism Two ammumtion bags were arranged underneath the mountmg one to supply live rounds and one to receive empty cases The requirement for an M.G.42 instead of an M.G.34 was caused by the fact that the armored M.G.34 was no longer in production.

6.1.2.8 Loade^s Periscope Present on the first Versuchs-Schmalturm. the periscope provided for the loader on prevt-ous Panther turrets was dispensed with in the production series Schmalturm This design change was approved after the start of fabrication of the production turrets The hole that had been cut in the turret roof was filled with a welded armor pług.

6 1 2.9 Rangę Finder The 1 32 m stereoscopic rangefinder. under development by Zeiss. Jena. had a magmfication of 15 degrees and a field of view of four degrees Zeiss did not

This Schmalturm shipped to Aberdeen Provmg Grounds for exammation is unique m that there is an aperture in the turret front for a telescopic sight but it does not have an aperture for a periscopic sight The five rmgs welded to the turret side and the brackets for fastenmg the poison gas warmng panełs attest to the fact that this turret was bemg assembled in a norma! production senes (TTM)

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