Hi I am new here today ! Tank Track fragment or heavy artillery sight mount partly damaged ??

[Panzer Kettenglied Sammler]

Hi I am new here today ! I have quite a varied collection, and I have recently got into collecting tank track links !!

What is this relic ? It was found in Normandy, so it could be any countries damaged tank or artillery fragment ??

Is it a Tank Track fragment or a heavy artillery sight mount partly damaged ?? What are the two prongs >>>>>>>>>

It does not look like any ice cleat from panzer I , II , III, Tiger 1 or King Tiger etc , Nice if it was a really rare ice cleat etc etc

Here are some pictures to begin with (the button is a replica totenkopf item for scale)

Quite a puzzler.............Thanks for looking

[Panzer Kettenglied Sammler]

Top tip: ALL of the crusty corrosion/scaling would tap off with a small hammer, I stopped at this point because it would not reveal any more form.
You ONLY get this on cast steel and NOT on cast iron which furs up over time and so any original form is lost forever !
If I had the patience I could clean away ALL of its adhering age gathered scale to reveal a very clean fragment !!
As we all know for example, cast STEEL tank track links can also be cleaned of ALL this acquired scale leaving only the pitting.
If you want your track totally cleaned of useless scale then it can be done, this scale is not history, it only serves to hide history !!
(For those who have not yet learned : Scale is the reaction between cast steel and the earth, it is a very hard composite of the iron content in the steel mixing with the earth
to form a hard scaling. This ultimately protects the cast steel underneath from more serious pitting. It can be very satisfying to carefully remove the scaling to reveal the original material and form hidden underneath)
Really hot water, marigold gloves and a very small hammer with careful tapping will loosen all but the most stubborn scaling. Persistence is worth the effort !!

[Thanatos]

Whilst I can't ID your link I do thank you for a most informative post.
I hope someone out there can identify it for you.
Welcome to the forum mate.
All the best
Dave

[VolksJager]

Great info. My suggestion would have been an ice cleat to, but those side shots with the prongs make it look like a sight of some kind. Hope someone is able to help

Cheers
Jason

[Danmark]

Could it be a breech guide from one of the PAKs??? ..... or a spade piece?
Dan

[Panzer Kettenglied Sammler]

Thanks Thanatos, VolksJager and Danmark, much appreciated.
Not sure what you mean by spade piece though (def not piece of spade for digging, so which spade r u referring to ? )

Looking closely at the 2 pronged piece, it looks to be a seperate casting added on AND What are those two oblong shaped flat areas nearby ?

On the other side there is an offset groove running down the middle when looking underneath at the 'Y' shape !

Did that groove move along a rail to move the whole sight assembly forwards and rearwards ?

The only areas of damage to this piece are the left and right top parts of the 'Y' shaped casting, how much longer were they ?

Was there a bore in each side with a split and two pinch bolts both sides to form clamps at both sides ?

Just saying what I imagine the piece could have looked like before the damage, we could be looking at only 30% of what it was !!

[Adrian Stevenson]

Spade: on the end of an anti tank gun's trail legs is a "spade" to help prevent excessive recoil, as these will dig into the earth.

Cheers, Ade.

[Panzer Kettenglied Sammler]

Thanks, this is a puzzle that may never be solved too many variants of german equipment, sometimes I wish they had invented and used full interchangeability of parts across all the vehicle marks and types. It could be an ice cleat from a very late tank variant, an extremely large mobile mortar or tractor. We need a massive online library of the breakdown of ALL equipment parts, axis and allies. Now that would be a huge site, microfiche style ! Anyone out there want to help us relic collectors, I guess it would take years to set up ????