German tank c1953 Paderborn

[Roo]

I ave attached a picture of myself  aged about 4 , somewhere on the north germman plains near  Padderborn The car in the distance is a Wanderer W24 (I think) that my father resprayed to cover up the military insignia

[jmehner]

Looks like a Panther Ausf G with the chin mantlet, experts can probably provide you with more minute details. Was this out on the shooting range, as I do not think there were still military vehicles littering the countryside?

[Roo]

As far as I can remember there wherestill quite a few wrecks around in 1953-54 .This one was in Senelager

[jmehner]

Yes, on the military "reservation" like Sennelager or Stapel, but rarely out in "civilization", where they would have been picked up for scrapping (after the farmers removed whatever wheels were useful for farmcarts).

 

Shooting ranges and training areas are still good for finding old equipment, although not quite the treasure troves they were until the early nineties. Baumholder alone yielded at least 8 M7 Priests and the same number of M16 halftracks, well perforated, but salvageable. Aaah, memories...