Panzer Hatch Normandy found can you identify?

[psaep]

Hello Luckystrike,

Sorry for my English but I am French.

I don't know if your question regarding the piece of steel you have found in Normandy is still active, but I am sure at 99% it is a part of the roof of a Stugeshutz III auf G.
This piece is the half of the roof around the target sight. On the Stug III auf G the sight was going through the roof as an episcope or a periscope.
So it is German relic but not from a Tiger, not enough thick. The tiger roof or hatches were from 20mm to 40mm.

Regards

Patrick

[LUCKYSTRIKE]

Hi psaep.. Thank you so much for your response your English is very good.
My thread is always active for new information. I'm very pleased to hear your indentification as the hatch of the a Stug G. This is one of my favourite armoured vehicles. Looking at pictures and comparing with my hatch it does appear you're correct with this identification.
Thank you for your help.
LUCKYSTRIKE

[Paul D]

Have again gone through my numerous books on Sturmgeschutz , photos, drawings , designs etc and i'm afraid i can't see this anywhere on any Stug.

Definatley not part of any hatch or the gun sight slot, could possibly be part of a retro machine gun shield but i think you should look at another AFV.

Can anyone post any photo etc that identifies this as part of a Sturmgeschutz ??

regards

Paul

[Tom Bennett]

Hi,
It does'nt look like anything from a standard German tank as they mainly have square or oblong shaped hatch's with rounded corner's but could possibly be from a Flak Panzer as they had weird shaped armour and hatch's
The other option could be that it's from a French or Chech chassis such as Loraine or 38 T that were used in large number's in Normandy.Good luck with your finding's and hope the museum guy can help you ID it asap

Tom

[Jan]

Interesting diskussion , this only proves how much there is to be done in this particular field.

[psaep]

Lucky Strike, Paul E and Tom Bennet Bonsoir from France,

As Zwerge had shown it, your hatch is a part from a Stug III or IV.
Unfortunately Zwerge have shown a quite low quality Stug IV plastic model (1/72 or Italeri…).
Pictures and drawing from the book “Sturmgeschutze” Motor buch Verlag editor it is very clear and also on my Tamiya 1/35 model.
The rail on your steel plate has 5 screws, you can clearly see them despite the rust. These crews are exactly the same than the ones we can see on the 2 rails to guide the armor cover for the gun sight. The shape of the rail is exactly the same.
If you have found this in Normandy it comes from a Stug III G or Stug IV, they had exactly the same roof.



In the red ellipse is the place of your steel plate, perhaps I am wrong but I am 99% sure.
Bonne nuit.
Patrick

[Paul D]

Patrick,

I know what you are saying , i have the drawing you have reproduced as well but i think that it doesn't compare as the area for the gun sight to come through would be too large on lucky strikes find leaving too big an area exposed into the Hull. I have an origianl Sturmgeshutz gun sight so i know what the dimensions of the sight are,

cheers

Paul

[LUCKYSTRIKE]

Hi Guys.. I'd like to thank everyone for the input on this Hatch identification, particularily psaep (Patrick) for posting the Stug Plan. Paul E I can also understand your argument about the size of the aperture being a little too large which would have created a danger. But I wonder if perhaps there were slight variations in the hatches shape and design over the period of manufacture if so then perhaps a slightly different hatch/cover shape on the other side could have reduced the size of the aperture to a smaller and safer size. It's just a theory, but its known there were umpteen minor variations through out the period of manufacture or even between different manufactures.
For reference I've cropped the original hatch picture (to scale) and pasted it onto the Stug plan to see if it helps.
Again thanks for all your time with this thread.
LUCKYSTRIKE

[Paul D]

Mate,

It's too big and the wrong shape , i have drawings from the top of all marks of the Sturmgeschutz and it doesn't fit any , i'd really like to say to you that it is from a Stug but i can't

Any aperture into an Armoured vehicle is going to be kept to the absolute minimum in size to prevent anything getting into the fighting compartment and this piece is just too big !!

cheers

paul

[LUCKYSTRIKE]

Picture didn't seem to cut over for me so heres another go.
LUCKYSTRIKE