- Member since
July 2003
- From: On my kitchen counter top somewhere in central North Carolina.
|
I'm taking a break on the tank to construct a home for it.
 I've been working on something simple, so as not to take attention away from the main subject here.
Here we go ➛➛➛➛➛
Got the foam packing out of a recent  box from ebay.
I did a bit of doodling to get an idea of how I wanted to present this.
Before the doodles.......
And the day af'ta the doodles.......Not sure if I'm gon'na use'em  though.
I like the brick and granite on the left...... still not sure yet.
Next is a piece of 8 x 10 foam board all laid out.
I went to town on it 
.............or should I say to "Kummersdorf" - hint, hint............. Further down the road...... After much patience - later. I brush painted it in brown acrylic hobby paint from wal-mart, it doesn't take that long.
Never use aerosol laquer based paint on styro-foam,
unless you've thoroughly futured it beforehand.
It's a disappearing act if you don't future it first. Enamel based paints might/should be ok, but I haven't tried it.Next a heavy  wash of raw umber acrylic craft paint. Then,  I took out some blocks of pavement
and
I hand painted various surface and wear details. The
unfinished areas were painted withacrylic hobby craft paint.
I'll deal with that later.
Dirt and dust will tone it down and fill in the cracks and spaces.
 Planted some weeds and twigs in the road crevices.
And, I tried out another wall option I did in addition to the first two I worked out.
Added some slight scrapes along the wall from errant traffic.
I think this will work better as it will give more overall color variation.
I'll save the others for another time. Then added a bit of plant life  on top of that stone wall before permanent installation.
 There'll be a lot more greenery to go on here too 
Here's another slice of that  dirt pie before the final placement.....
.....stone face on the left side - dirt and roots on the right (back) side. Time for a picture break.........
 Get yer glasses and read on. By the spring of 1945 Germany had become a battleground. At the
Wehrmacht weapons testing grounds at Kummersdorf the various test departments
began evacuating important materials and documents and burning the rest. At the
beginning of March 1945 the “Kummersdorf Panzer Battalion was formed from elements
of the Technischen Versuchs Kompanie “Technical Test Company” it had a mixed complement
of vehicles. [On the 14 March 1945, part of the panzer battalion Kummersdorf was
absorbed into I./Panzer-Regiment 29 which was part of the newly formed Panzer-Division
“Müncheberg” a division which itself was formed on the 5th of March 1945.
An OKH order dated 18 April 1945 shows that the Kummersdorf Abteilung and the
1/29 Panzer Regiment were organized into an ad-hoc regiment. The Kummersdorf or 1st
battalion had a staff, a staff company, a Tiger Company (formerly 3/Kummersdorf Panzer
Battalion), a Panther company, a mixed Panzer company, and a supply company.]
The Inspector-General of Armored Forces mentioned the formation of Kummersdorf
panzer company {new unit, formed out of the logistics battalion at Kummersdorf.} during
the course of a meeting of a briefing at Führer Headquarters on 31 March 1945. It was
organised into three tank platoons (partially mobile), one armored reconnaissance platoon
(not mobile). The vehicles were taken from those kept on hand for test purposes. They
included a Panzer VI Tiger II (Sd.Kfz. 182), a Jagdtiger, two American Sherman tanks, an
Italian P 40(i) tank, and several B IV heavy explosive charge carriers armed with machine
guns. {one Tiger II, one Jagdtiger, four Panthers, two Panzer N, one Panzer III, one
Nashorn, one Hummel, two Sherman’s, and one immobile Porsche Tiger 8.8-centimeter
L/71 main gun }
According to a priority telex message dated 4 April 1945, at least part of the panzer
company was supposed to be transferred into the Dresden area. {A report on the 19
April 1945 stated the Kummersdorf panzer company was on the march to Luchau. A final
report dated 21 April 1945 stated the battalion staff and the company had been attached
to Kampfgruppe MÖWS.} The non-mobile elements of Kummersdorf panzer company, including
a Tiger tank with the Porsche turret {Porsche Tiger 8.8-centimeter L/71 main gun} saw
action at the end of April in the fighting south east of the proving ground. Another tank
unit was formed at Kummersdorf using the civilian drivers, including Behnisch, whose name
appears several times. According to a note dated 21 April 1945, this unit was supposed to go
into action south of Zossen as part of Kampfgruppe Kaether. With a total of 42 vehicles,
including at least one Panzer V Panther, it set out in the direction of Baruth. Troops of the
1st Ukrainian Front advancing from Golssen had to be held up. A battle developed near Baruth
in which the makeshift tank unit was completely wiped out. (Baruth is approximately
7 kilometers from village of Horstwalde following text must be dated on or about the 21st
April 1945)
At Kummersdorf, the battle commander of Kummersdorf put together a Volkssturm unit
from the remaining men. It saw action on the road to Horstwalde. A damaged Tiger was
hauled out of the garages of the Verskraft to bolster its strength. There was a brief
exchange of fire with red army troops during which a T34 was knocked out. Fighting was
also recorded in the area of the army workers settlement, where 88-mm anti-aircraft
guns destroyed another tank. Members of the Volkssturm wielding Panzerfaust anti-tank
weapons destroyed several Russian tanks on the road from Scönefled to Gottow.
(Approximately 3km East of Horstwalde village) The defensive ring around Kummersdorf,
which had been broken in several places then disintegrated.
Conclusion
It’s clear from the text above that the Technischen Versuchs Kompanie “Technical
Test Company” left their immobile tank behind when they were ordered south. The tank
is referred to as a “Tiger tank with a Porsche turret” and “Porsche Tiger 8.8-centimeter
L/70 main gun” This could well be nothing more than an early Tiger II with a Porsche turret.
But you never know, and just because there are no pictures of the tank at Kummersdorf
and no photographs taken in or around Horstwalde by the Russians does not rule out that
it could have been a VK4502. People have pointed out that if the Tiger which fought there
was indeed a VK4502 then it would have surely drawn the interest of a Russian Army
photographer.
BUT to this day no Russian Army photographs of the knocked out VK4501 command tank
have ever surfaced. This one off rare tank, (lost in 1944) you would have thought would have
been photographed even if it was just a wreck. It’s very likely that once engaged - the single
tank defending Horstwalde would have been destroyed, if the tank had been wrecked - then
perhaps the remains may well have been over looked by the Russians just like the VK4501,
especially when you consider that the Maus V1 prototype and a blown up VK4502 were lying
just a few kilometres away.
Kind'a gives you an idea of where I'm headed here.
Dirt and dusted the road with pastel chalks.
And added the rock wall set-up.
Still needs a bit more color adjustment.... and that greenery I mentioned. 
Color looks better now.
Just a dirty old - well worn and nearly forgotten back road near Kummersdorf. 
Playing in the grass there on the right. Yep, somethin' BIG is gonn'a turn up here, and that'll bring it all together.
Well, much more on this later.
....well?
Hmm,  Now that's got me thinking.......... 
|