UBB.threads Forums General Militaria Flags, Field Gear, and Miscellaneous Militaria and Regalia Forum A walk in the forest, and what more?

This story started some 2,5 years ago when I received a phone-call from a colleague at work.
"Tor-Helge, hi, I have bought property for building a cottage/cabin. But I have a gun at the property I dont know what is...."

Needless to say, within a few hours I was there. To my surprise it was a complete main-gun from a tank!!!!
This is what it looked like:

The condition surprised me, lots of original "Panzer Grey" remains.

It has taken a lot of beating...
It was blown away from the lafette by an explosive charge in 1945, when the Brits "cleaned" up remains of german fortifications.

My colleague gave me the number to the guy who sold the land, I wanted to find out his intentions for this gun.
My colleague was clear, he wanted it removed from his new property!!

When I called, the man said that his initial plans were to drop this gun into the ocean and use it as an anchoring point for a boat!!!!
Towards the end of our conversation he expressed more interest in the gun and said he would recover it and restore it.
Great, I thought, it would be taken care of then.

And here the story could have ended...

Just that this man did never get around to pick it up...

So last week, on tuesday I got a new call from my colleague:
"Hi Tor-Helge, the land-owner has finally given up!!! Just come and get it if you are interested."

A few quick phone-calls, and I had mobilized a couple of my friends, agreeing to have a go at this on saturday.
Meanwhile, I was planning how to get this "monster" home...

Yesterday, the great day arrived

Thankfully, my colleague had had the sense to get this gun moved closer to a road when he had machines there, digging on the land.
So it was really just a walk in the park..
We manhandled it to the road.

Lifted it onto a pallet, and winched it onbord the trailer :-)

2

Finally onbord, starting to secure the load.
This monster is heavy, I am guessing the weight to be around 500Kg, 1000lbs.

Its temporary resting place, my garage

It is a 5cm KWK 38, L42.
These guns were used in Pz III and IV until rendered obsolete, and later put into coastal defense positions all along the coast of europe.

Trigger,

Now that is cool! Here in the U.S., when I was very small, my Dad and I found a Brass Cannon out in the swamp. I don't know what happen to the cannon but I heard stories over the years that my Dad and friends removed it but I never saw it again.

I wish you well in your restoration project, a very nice piece of history. Congratulations!!

In another place rests a lafette for this gun, this will be restored hopefully, as the army some years ago removed the shield and the gun for restoration.

This is "impossible" to see if you dont happen to know the whereabouts of it..

Here are some pictures of this:

1

2..

And finally, a picture of a gun in situ in France, just to show you what it was like "complete".

Hope you enjoyed my walk in the forest
I'll be walking a bit more later...

You didnt need a metaldetector to find that ..... Right?
Great find!!

No Rob, and neither did I need it to find 3 of these..

Wow! You are the "Indiana Jones" of T.R. & WW(?) artifacts. And I thought finding an arrow head was cool! Thanks for sharing your finds.

Hello Trigger! A great historical find, pics and story! Thanks for sharing! Regards, Leipzig

lOVE THIS STUFF are there more pics of the tanks coming out of hibernation and what happened to them.

PAUL

Holy ****!

I was just hanging around in the GDC forum and landed by accident in this section.

What a super picture of the tank, which you digged out of the mud!!!

How long did you need for digging out this one? That´s an awesome pic! Congrats!

For more on the PzIII's:
http://daggers.infopop.cc/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/97573/m/9750072505/p/1

Tor-Helge,

GOOD GOING MAN!!!

You have a real appreciation for History...
& your preservation efforts are to be Admired...

Set them ALL up in a Great Museum......

Thanks for Sharing in the Adventure..... Dave/dblmed

incredible pics, the one you show complete is at pegasus bridge in which corporal wally parr of the oxs and bucks rgt captured in the early hours of d,day, its just across the river from the famous pegasus bridge cafe, run by my friend madame arlette gondree.