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I find this photo fascinating.

By The Armorer on December 14, 2006 | | Comments (19)

Anybody guess what I find so interesting in this photo?

To take away those first thoughts amongst the grognards - no, not the markings.

German Armor destroyed during Operation Bagration in WWII

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19 Comments

By MajMike on December 14, 2006 8:49 AM
could you be drooling over all the open hatches?
 
By AFSister on December 14, 2006 9:10 AM
They all look different... 3 different tanks, disabled, side-by-side, and one that looks buried in sand in the forefront.
 
By John of Argghhh! on December 14, 2006 9:22 AM
AFSis just tripped over it.
 
By fdcol63 on December 14, 2006 9:40 AM
If I'm not mistaken, the vehicle on the right is not a tank, but it's a self-propelled artillery piece. Possibly a Grille.
 
By MajMike on December 14, 2006 10:03 AM
looks more like my maintenance yard when i was down at Fort Polk.
 
By John of Argghhh! on December 14, 2006 10:14 AM
Actually, Frank, I think that's an SU-76M. In fact, I think all the junk in there is German-captured Soviet gear. More conclusive pic on the SU-76 here, though it *is* a model.
 
By fdcol63 on December 14, 2006 10:22 AM
John, thanks! Yep, definitely an SU-76.
 
By Rod Thorsen on December 14, 2006 1:00 PM
The center one is Czech (38t), the one on the left could be the rear end of a T-34.
 
By John of Argghhh! on December 14, 2006 1:20 PM
Yeah, Rod, I think you're right. The turret profile is correct, and that was my first thought, but the rest of the profile didn't fit my image. So, enhance the pic a little bit - and that's because the entire powerpack area has either been blown open for disassembled. The track remants in the pic (with the guides on the edge) certainly argue for it as well. The vehicle to the left is a T-34 based on the shape of the track shoes and rear hull. The thing that intrigues me about the pic is that the turret piece in the lower left looks to be a T-34/85 turret side. And I don't think it's buried in the dirt. That looks like a piece of the turret - that was one helluva k-kill on that tank if that's the case.
 
By Rod Thorsen on December 14, 2006 1:21 PM
Bear with me for a moment, my eyes are aged. On the side of the su, there appears to be the letters "SFE". Soviet Foreign Equipment? It might appear that these are german captured and operated tracks that were then recaptured on the western front by the brits, us, mabbe even french forces after Normandy. The real interesting one here is the T-34. Could this be the elusive Italian T-34 used at Normandy? Only one known photo, showing the crew resting near a farmhouse and it's blurry. That T-34's the bigfoot of armour. Of course this could all be a WAG too!
 
By Rod Thorsen on December 14, 2006 1:27 PM
Being cut apart for salvage postwar mabbe.
 
By John of Argghhh! on December 14, 2006 1:55 PM
The letters on the SU are actually numbers or mostly numbers. 506-58 or 506-5B. The pics in the pile this came with are all putatively Russian pictures of the aftermath of Operation Bagration.
 
By Rod Thorsen on December 14, 2006 1:57 PM
Ah well, it was the best story I could come up with in such short notice anyway.
 
By MajMike on December 14, 2006 3:47 PM
if ya can get me a cleaner pic, i could make out the cyrillic lettering for ya.
 
By Heartless Libertarian on December 14, 2006 4:20 PM
You know, the marking on the buried/blown up turret side is weird...it's pretty much a photo negative of the normal cross the Germans used. See the track on the right for what a normal one should look like.
 
By Rod Thorsen on December 14, 2006 4:34 PM
Even those numbers sound alotta like foreign equipment issue.
 
By MajMike on December 14, 2006 4:58 PM
if this photo is evidence of what one Crapsprayer or Zing-Pow round can do... now that would be one mighty fine whattzis...
 
By Rod Thorsen on December 14, 2006 5:03 PM
Shutter
 
By AFSister on December 14, 2006 6:56 PM
If I tripped over it... you must be referring to the buried turret. Why, I don't know.. other than the fact that it's a cool picture to try to figure out. There's a lot of fiddly bits layin' around.