Test your knowledge, amaze your friends, astound your enemies and amuse the impartial judge!

Copy or print the following quiz questions and mail your answers to Panzer Tracts, P.O.Box 334, Boyds, MD 20841 or e-mail to panzertracts@aol.com

It takes five correct answers to become a Panzer Ace and have your name posted on this website.

Everyone sending a completed quiz to Panzer Tracts will receive a coupon worth dollars* off the retail price of books purchased directly from Panzer Tracts.

1. Which Sd.Kfz. number was assigned to the Bergepanzerwagen 38?__________________

2. When the Pz.Kpfw.I Ausf.B was outfitted with a box on a pivotting arm for placing explosive charges, it was known as a:_______________________

3. When used by the troops in Norway the Neubau-Fahrzeug was known as the?__________

4. Nibelungenwerk completed________________________Pz.Kpfw.VI (P) with the Krupp turret with lower sides

5. How many “Diana” (7.62 cm Pak 36 auf 5 t Zgkw.) were sent to North Africa?_____

Send the completed quiz by E-Mail to panzertracts.com, mail to Panzer Tracts, P.O.Box 334, Boyds, Maryland 20841.  Those answering all five questions correctly will be honored as a Panzer Ace on the Missing Links website.

1.             1- What is the diameter in mm of the steel tired roadwheels on some Pz.Kpfw. Panther Ausf.G produced in September 1944?

AnsweAnswer:   800 mm

Score:     60% answered this question correctly.

 Normal rubber-tired Panther road wheels are 860 mm in diameter.  The wrong answer (860 mm) was contained in a photo caption on page 142 and H.L.Doyle’s scale print on page 148 in the first edition of Walter Spielberger’s Der Panzerkampfwagen Panther und Seine Abarten (both errors have been corrected in the current German edition).

The correct answer can be easily obtained by comparing the track link pitch against the wheel diameter by measuring the clear side view photograph on page 142. Corrected information was first published on page 94 in Germany’s Panther Tank by Thomas L. Jentz and Hilary L. Doyle.

2-              2- The letters B.W., used as the manufacturer’s code designation for the Pz.Kpfw.IV, are an abbreviation for?

Answer: Begleitwagen

Score:  56% answered this question correctly.

The origin of the wrong answer “Bataillonsfuehrerwagen” (and thousands of other bits of erroneous data now in the published record) stems from the Illustrated Record of Germany Army Equipment 1939-1945 Volume III Armoured Fighting Vehicles compiled by M.I.10 The War Office 1947.  Bataillonsfuehrerwagen was first printed by Walter Spielberger in the pamphlet “Feldgrau” in 1962/63 (which was reprinted in Die Deutschen Panzer 1926-1945).  In 1976, we copied it into page 88 of the Encyclopedia of German Tanks of World War II). 

The correct answer was found in a Krupp annual report for fiscal year 1934.  It was published in the book Begleitpanzer, Panzerkampfwagen IV by Spielberger, Doyle and Jentz and Panzer Tracks No.4 by Jentz and Doyle.  The correct information was published over four years ago.

3-  The code name “Hetzer” was officially assigned to which Jagdpanzer?

Answer:   E-10

Score: 8% answered this question correctly.

The wrong answer (Jagdpanzer 38) was first printed by Walter Spielberger in the pamphlet “Feldgrau” in 1962/63 (which was reprinted in Die Deutschen Panzer 1926-1945 and copied in 1976 into page 53 of the Encyclopedia of German Tanks of World War II).  In several original strength reports the troops incorrectly applied this name to the Jagdpanzer 38 and this was also noted by Guderian in a report to Hitler.  However, a mistake by the troops does not constitute an “official” title.

 The correct answer was found as a handwritten entry made by Lt. H. Schroeder HTB dated 1 November 1943 in D 97/1+.  Notice that this date precedes the initiation of the Jagdpanzer 38 project (which didn’t meet any of the “Hetzer” specifications) by over a month.  The correct answer was first revealed on an overhead slide during a talk at the AMPS show given by Tom Jentz on Jagdpanzers over three years ago and recently printed in the Jagdpanzer 38 “Hetzer” 1944-1945 (New Vanguard) by Doyle and Jentz.

4-  Dr. Porsche designed a turret for which Tiger tank?

Answer:  None 

Score: Surprisingly only 16% answered this question correctly.

Due to the postwar misuse of  the name “Porsche Turret” for the turret mounted on the first 50 Tiger II produced, many have been misled into believing that Dr. Porsche actually designed turrets (including Tom Jentz when he wrote the text on Page 139 in the Encyclopedia of German Tanks of World War II back in 1976).

Details on the design of all the Tiger turrets were found in original Krupp records.  These also revealed that Porsche was only designing chassis and drive train components.  The correct information was published seven years ago in New Vanguard No.1 Tiger II (1993) and No.5 Tiger I (1993) by Jentz and Doyle.

5-  Armor thickness of the plates on the sides of an “Ostwind” turret was?

Answer:   16 mm

Score: 32% answered this question correctly.

This misinformation stems from data listed in the original Heeres Waffenamt Technishe Daten Blatt G318I as Turm 25 mm (rundum) for the Flakpanzer IV, 3,7 cm (and was copied from this source onto page 111 of the Encyclopedia of German Tanks of World War II).  25 mm is correct for the flat sides of a “Moebelwagen” superstructure (starting with No.46) but not for the turret of the Ostwind.

The correct data was found on an original turret drawing and original documents on mounting this same turret on a Pz.Kpfw.III chassis.  The correct information was first published in Panzer Tracts No.12 in February 1998.

Overall results of Panzer Ace Quiz No.1

The following scores were achieved:  20% scored 0, 40% scored 1, 8% scored 2, 12% scored 3, 20% scored 4, and 0% scored 5.

Several came close to answering all five correctly.

Let’s see if you can become a “Panzer Ace” next time.

Thanks for participating,

Tom Jentz and Hilary Doyle