Hi all,

I'm busy on a project where I rebuild 5 of my old models into somethings nice. One of these models is the old italeri Panther ausf A. A terrible kit, but I came up with the idea to use the turret for a turret bunker.

Now I've seen these things in Berlin dio's etc, but I never saw one representing a turret bunker used in the Gothic line in Italy

So, this is what my dio will be about. I just got to know which German forces occupied the defences in the Gothic line, especially what kind of soldiers have manned those turret bunkers! Are they just Wehrmacht infantry, or maybe panzercrews or fallschirmjäger?

Also, which camouflage scheme should I use for the Pantherturm?. Just dark-yellow, or also patches of green and brown......??? As far as I can see on the pics from the book "US tank battles in North Africa and Italy", there's more than just a dark yellow paint, but I can't tell whether it's heavily chipped paint or camouflage!

Thanks!

Martin

btw, more info about my rework project can be found on my site, just click my banner...

Martinnnn -

I've got a copy of Ian Allan Publishings "Tanks in Detail; PzKpfw V Ausf A,D, & G" and on pages 36-37 (sorry I don't have a link, maybe someone else can help here). There are couple very good detail pictures of these defensive strongpoints showing the "crew box" the turrets were mounted on and the log foundation. There were fairly common in Italy's defenses for the Gothic Line and very effective from what I've read. Hope this helps some. Great idea and keep us posted.

Blade48mrd

Yes, I've got the idea from the concord book "US tank battles in North Africa and Italy" (very nice book) and it says that these panther turrets controlled many narrow mountain passes.

But for the dio, I've got to know what kind of troops manned these turrets! Wehrmacht, fallschirmjäger etc

The turrets were manned by a specially trained company of the 15th Panzer Grenadier Division. The turrets were mounted on a concrete emplacement.
Hope this helps,
Andy

Yes thanks!

Any suggestions for a panzergrenadier kit in resting poses, waiting for the allied forces to arrive?

Oh and could somebody tell me what the German translation of "Let them come" is?

And also, what kind of camouflage should I use?

Only dark yellow? Or also patches of green and brown?

Martin

it's something like: Lassen sie kommen

Hi Martin,

I think you good go with some of these (loose, very loose) translations:

Lass dehm Kommen

Lass dehm 'ran (?)

Die Kommen hier nicht vorbei (they won't get past here / us )

Weiter gehts her nicht

groeten
Henk



ps Oh I think they used turrets from damaged Panthers, so basicly anything that was in the field would do. It looks in the pic above like a camouflage of dark spots over dark yellow

Henk

Yes that's about what I was thinking....just want to be sure (I've had german at school for about 3 years)

Henk,

They used turrets from damaged Panthers, but there were also specially made turrets for these bunkers. They had thicker roof armor, and they didn't have the commanders cupola with the persicopes etc, only a normal hatch (probably to make the profile lower, not sure about this)

Greetings

"Lasst sie kommen !"

or

"Lasst sie nur kommen!"

Really funny when British or American people try to speak any other language than their own...

:-)

Ciao

Frank

Probably also funny when you're trying to say things in Dutch

Words like "Scheveningen" are hard to pronounce when you aren't Dutch :-)

Anyway, thanks for the translation! I forgotten most of the German I learned already so I needed some help

Martin,

I live in "Aken". You're right, it's hard for the typical German to pronounce anything in Dutch (to be honest, to most Germans it sounds like a mixture of a sore throat and a carpet dealer in Bagdad) . But at least I am able to understand and read a lot of it. Our local dialect is not that far away. And thank God, nearly every citizen of the Netherlands understands German.
So, no offense to any CONTINENTAL European, as far as you won't win OUR world championships next year, will you ? Hope to see the Netherlands this time ...

"Lasst sie kommen !"

Frank

PS: We better stick to English in the forum for the non-continentals and their colonies, right ?

hahahha...

let's all begin with a some lessons German.

it's idd funny to hear some non-continentals speeking other languages. Especially french!

w ,people from sweet old Belgium speek 4 languages (we HAVE to learn them) French,dutch,German,English

cheerz Q.

Quinten, je pense qu'il est obligé d'apprendre plusieurs langues en Euregio., n'est-il pas ?

Frank

lol I've learned French, German, English and of course Dutch, but only English and Dutch are the languages I remember

Anyway, isn't this a little ?

I still would like to hear any idea's for the camouflage scheme!

Martin

Martin,

to get on-topic again, I'd suggest a standard two-tone camo of dark -yellow and red-brown. Generally, it depends on your background:: groundwork, vegetation etc. Build the landscape up and paint it, then try to blend in the panther turret; just as you would act when doing the real thing (camo nettings will be nice).
For a Berlin dio, I'd paint the whole thing in Panzergrau.

CU

Frank

@ Frank: Hallo, bin auch aus Aachen (Würselen/Bardenberg)! Nett, mal einen aus der Region zu treffen! Bin leidenschaftlicher 1/35 Fallschirmjäger Bauer/Sammler, was machst Du so?
Grüße,
Peter