Beute Panzer JagdSherman - Ardennes, December 1944

[PR19_Kit]

I think I would discard the shield on the .50 cal as I've never seen that until the ACAV mod on the M113 in Vietnam.

Didn't some Buffalos have shielded 0.5s like that in WWII?

I know that sounds crazy coming from me, who knows NOTHING about armour, but the only 'tank' I've ever built for myself was a converted Airfix Buffalo with a small turret on top and a couple of those shielded 0.5s. The whole thing was done from an Airfix mag article in the 70s some time.

[RAFF-35]

I found it!!!
I knew I had seen that third pic before. I just couldn't for the life of me remember the manufacturer. Finally on Scalemates I found the maker. I knew it had the word helm in it. Turns out it was a company called Stahlhelm Models. I don't know if it exists anymore. Their version of the Sherman assault gun was intriguing.
Here's the Reddit link;

https://www.reddit.com/r/TankPorn/comments/h0p3yu/stahlhelm_models_assault_sherman/



I think I would discard the shield on the .50 cal as I've never seen that until the ACAV mod on the M113 in Vietnam. Otherwise it's pretty cool. 😎

Can't wait to see your take on an assault gun Sherman!

So you can just buy that model as a kit?? 

[kerick]

I found it!!!
I knew I had seen that third pic before. I just couldn't for the life of me remember the manufacturer. Finally on Scalemates I found the maker. I knew it had the word helm in it. Turns out it was a company called Stahlhelm Models. I don't know if it exists anymore. Their version of the Sherman assault gun was intriguing.
Here's the Reddit link;

https://www.reddit.com/r/TankPorn/comments/h0p3yu/stahlhelm_models_assault_sherman/



I think I would discard the shield on the .50 cal as I've never seen that until the ACAV mod on the M113 in Vietnam. Otherwise it's pretty cool. 😎

Can't wait to see your take on an assault gun Sherman!

So you can just buy that model as a kit?? 

IIRC it was a resin conversion for the basic Sherman. I've been searching for a kit but I haven't seen anything about that company in a long time. They might be out of business.

[kerick]

The Stahlhelm stuff is now a part of company called Bold division.
Here's a link to a farce book page.

https://www.facebook.com/BoldDivision/

The kit is out there but it's not cheap!

[Rick Lowe]

I saw one on Missing Lynx once, called the 'Su-Emcha'; basically what you're doing here, but with the superstructure and gun from an SU-100 and in Israeli service.
Looked quite good.

Another one that's in my "Big Folder of Ideas to Be Made Sometime"...

[NARSES2]

I think I would discard the shield on the .50 cal as I've never seen that until the ACAV mod on the M113 in Vietnam.

Didn't some Buffalos have shielded 0.5s like that in WWII?

I know that sounds crazy coming from me, who knows NOTHING about armour, but the only 'tank' I've ever built for myself was a converted Airfix Buffalo with a small turret on top and a couple of those shielded 0.5s. The whole thing was done from an Airfix mag article in the 70s some time.

There's certainly images on line where they have them, although most I've found are of British/Canadian ones. The Italeri kit, or one of the boxings anyway, certainly offers them.

[PR19_Kit]

Ah, thanks Chris, I'm glad it wasn't just my warped brain coming up with that.

[kerick]

I think I would discard the shield on the .50 cal as I've never seen that until the ACAV mod on the M113 in Vietnam.

Didn't some Buffalos have shielded 0.5s like that in WWII?

I know that sounds crazy coming from me, who knows NOTHING about armour, but the only 'tank' I've ever built for myself was a converted Airfix Buffalo with a small turret on top and a couple of those shielded 0.5s. The whole thing was done from an Airfix mag article in the 70s some time.

There's certainly images on line where they have them, although most I've found are of British/Canadian ones. The Italeri kit, or one of the boxings anyway, certainly offers them.

There seems to be several different shields. Some were more cone shape, some very box like and others just flat. Plus we're talking Marines vs Army vehicles mixed with plenty of whiffology. So go with what you feel works best. That's the thing I like best about whiffing!

[RAFF-35]

Diary of Günther Braun
Ardennes, Belgium — 18th December, 1944.

It is bitterly cold tonight. The snow lies thick and heavy over everything.... the trees, the wrecks, the men. I can still see my breath hanging in the air even inside the tank, where the steel is so cold it burns to touch. My stomach still cramps from the damned diarrhoea that had me laid up for a week, but there was no arguing when the call came. We are short of men, short of machines. Even this... thing I command now is proof enough of that.
They call it a JagdSherman. Though I'm not sure whether that's meant as pride or mockery. An American M4 hull with its turret hacked off, fitted instead with a salvaged 7.5 cm Pak 42. The gun came off a destroyed Panther, or so they tell me. The welds look rough, the armour seams uneven, but the gun, Mein Gott!! The gun shoots straight and hard. The Americans built a sturdy engine too. It starts even in this cold, which is more than can be said for some of our own beasts.
My crew is new to me.
Ernst, my driver, is barely twenty and handles the Sherman's controls like he's driving a tractor. Keller, the gunner, was with the infantry before being transferred here, so already knows the Pak well. His aim is steady, if a bit slow. Otto, our loader, is a farmer's son with hands like shovels. Which is a good thing too, since the shells for this gun are nearly as big as his forearm. We've been fighting together for only two days, but in this chaos that already feels like a lifetime.
This morning, we set up along a wooded ridge near Stavelot. The fog clung low, muffling sound and hiding movement. At around nine, Ernst spotted movement through the snow. Three Shermans coming up the road, engines growling like distant thunder. I ordered us into ambush position, hull down behind a fallen pine. Keller lined up the first shot at two hundred meters.
"Feuer!"
The gun cracked, the whole tank shuddered. The shell struck the lead Sherman just below the turret ring — a perfect hit. Fire blossomed from its hatches, black smoke rolling skyward..... There's a good reason for calling them Tommy Cookers. The second tank tried to reverse, but Ernst already had us repositioned. Keller's second shot tore through its side plate; we could see the crew bailing out, shadows stumbling into the snow.
The third Sherman turned its gun toward us. For a heartbeat, I thought we were finished. The flash from its muzzle lit the trees, but the shell went high, exploding harmlessly behind us. Keller answered a moment later. Another hit, another burning wreck.
Three enemy tanks in less than five minutes. Not bad for a machine built out of scrap.
Later, we were ordered to support an infantry advance near Trois Ponts. We rolled through the forest, branches scraping our hull, the snow falling thicker by the hour.
Keller knocked out an M8 armored car trying to flank us, then an anti-tank gun hidden behind a stone wall. Otto must've been sweating despite the cold, hands raw from loading.
By dusk, we had accounted for six enemy vehicles...  maybe more?
Still, the fear never leaves. Every sound. A crack of ice, the groan of a tree makes me think of incoming shells. This "JagdSherman" fights well enough, and is quite fast, but its armour is thin, and we are like sardines cramped together in our makeshift fightingcompartment. I tell the men to stay sharp, but inside I know luck has carried us as much as skill.
Tomorrow, they say, we push deeper toward the Meuse. I pray this machine holds together long enough to see us through. I pray my stomach settles. And I pray, above all, that I can bring these boys home... though none of us truly believe in "home" anymore.
— Gefr. Günther Braun
18.12.44


The snow did not stop through the night. By morning it had blanketed everything. The tanks, the trees, even the dead. It is beautiful, in a cruel way. I could almost forget there's a war, until I see the dark shapes of burnt-out Shermans poking through the white like tombstones.
We moved at first light, following a narrow forest road east of Stavelot. The Americans are pressing hard now. We hear their artillery day and night, the rumble of their tanks somewhere beyond the hills. The fog hides them, hides us too, but I no longer trust the fog. It swallows sound until an enemy is nearly upon you.
Ernst cursed constantly, the track on our left side had started to freeze, the wheels slipping on the ice. The JagdSherman feels clumsy on these roads. The Americans built it for wide spaces, not these twisting forest trails. Still, the engine pulls strong, and the gun.... Ah, that gun.... It remains our only comfort.
We reached a small clearing where a Panzergrenadier unit had been ambushed. Wrecked half-tracks, bodies frozen where they fell. The lieutenant there begged us to cover their withdrawal, so we set up behind a low ridge. An hour later, two enemy tanks appeared. More Shermans, painted with whitewash for winter.
Keller hit the first at three hundred meters. The shell went clean through. The second one turned to fire. Otto had a fresh round ready before I even shouted. Another hit!! Fire spurted through the turret roof.
The grenadiers cheered.
By nightfall, we pulled back toward La Gleize. The roads were choked with our own vehicles, some abandoned for lack of fuel. We bivouacked in a ruined farmhouse. Otto found some tinned beans, Keller somehow had a bottle of schnapps. We shared both, though none of us laughed much.
I dreamed of home again, of Mother's kitchen in Bremen, the smell of bread, the warmth of the stove. Then I woke to the sound of artillery and remembered where I was.
— Gefr. Günther Braun
19.12.44

It all ended today.
We were ordered to hold a crossroads near Cheneux. "At all costs," the officer said. Always at all costs. We arrived just before dawn. Snow still fell, heavy and wet, muffling the world. I positioned the JagdSherman behind a small embankment overlooking the road. It was a good spot, or so I thought.
By mid-morning, we heard them: engines, many of them. American Shermans, maybe six or seven, with infantry following in half-tracks. They advanced cautiously, stopping often to fire. Their shells tore the trees apart above us. We held fire until the lead tank showed its side.
"Feuer!"
Keller's shot struck true. One Sherman burning instantly. Otto reloaded faster than I thought possible, and the second round crippled another. For a moment, it felt like the 18th of December all over again. We had them.
Then our luck broke.
An enemy round slammed into our right side. Not a full penetration, but enough to jar the whole tank. Ernst shouted that oil pressure was dropping. I told him to keep her steady, but then another hit came, through the thin plating. The world turned to flame and smoke.
Otto screamed. shrapnel caught him in the arm. The heat was unbearable. I ordered everyone out. "Raus! Raus!"
Then we scrambled through whichever hatch into the snow. Keller stayed just long enough to fire one last round before the gun jammed solid.
We ran for the treeline as the JagdSherman burned behind us, ammunition cooking off one by one.  Whump, whump, whump. I turned once and saw the American tanks pushing forward. One stopped to put another shell through it, just to be sure. Our machine had been ugly, improvised. But it was ours. Seeing it die hurt more than I expected.
We hid in the woods through the night. Otto was pale, losing blood, but still conscious. Keller and I tried to make a fire, but the smoke would have given us away. We had no food, no direction. I could hear American voices sometimes, moving through the forest.
— Gefr. Günther Braun
20.12.44


Captured.
At first light, we tried to move east, hoping to reach our lines. Instead, we walked straight into an American patrol. Infantry with white camouflaged capes and M1s at the ready. They shouted for us to drop our weapons. I raised my hands. Keller hesitated, and one of them fired a warning shot into the snow at his feet. Otto fainted soon after. Probably from the wound, exhaustion, fear, all of it.
They searched us, took my pistol, my watch. One of them looked at me strangely when he saw the badge on my tunic. "Tank commander?" he said. I nodded. He spat in my face! There was no fight left in me, so I just took it.
Now we are prisoners. I write this on a scrap of paper I found, littered by the roadside. I now find it strange that I thought they would treat us decently. I was shocked when they let a medic tend to Otto.
I don't know what will become of us, or the war. The JagdSherman is gone, the offensive already faltering. But we are alive, and for now, that feels like enough.
— Gefr. Günther Braun
21.12.44

[PR19_Kit]

What a wonderful write up!   

Oh yes, the model's excellent  too. 

[Old Wombat]

What a wonderful write up!   

Oh yes, the model's excellent  too. 

+1   

[RAFF-35]

What a wonderful write up!   

Oh yes, the model's excellent  too. 

You're too kind! I'm glad you enjoyed it 

[Rick Lowe]

What a wonderful write up!   

Oh yes, the model's excellent  too. 

+1   

+2 

[buzzbomb]

Nice trip and great ending.

 

[kerick]

Great job on the model and a better story than I could write!