Panzers Found in Norway

Delivery of the last 2 PzIII’s to the Troms Forsvarsmuseum 14th August07 (Troms Defence-museum). Tank with a visible number 1 on turret is an Ausf M. The other Ausf L. Both vehicle serial-numbers have been checked by Henry Blanck, and found to have been participating at the battle of Kursk July 43. The “1″ on turret is post-war norwegian markings. This tank was delivered to PzGrenDiv GrossDeutschland. he other Ausf L was delivered to SS-division Das Reich, who lost it in the soviet offensive at Kharkov in the winter of ’43 and later it was recovered during the spring-offensive at Kharkov, repaired and taken in use also by PzGrenDiv GD during battle of Kursk. When removing the concrete, the engine-decks came off.

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The uncovering of the last 2 tanks, August 2007. These were inside of a very restricted area, so not many photos were taken.

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9 Responses to “Panzers Found in Norway”

1. 1
   Billy says:

   10/8/2009 at 5:04 pm

   Excellent set of Picture’s….Good to see the mk3 Panzer being Recycled after ww2..

   Reply
2. 2
   Billy says:

   10/8/2009 at 5:06 pm

   Excellent set of Picture’s of the Panzer mk3…Good to see the Norwegian’s Recycle Them..

   Reply
3. 3
   Patrick says:

   12/10/2009 at 5:25 pm

   That’s great to know that they are being dug up and saved, it would be a shame to lose them. Though being encased in concrete may have thwarted any attempt to refurbish. Great article, I had heard that they also employed German Panzer 38(t) Hetzers but that’s not really a solid piece to bet on.

   Reply
4. 4
   pete says:

   2/1/2011 at 4:21 am

   excellent pictures however I believe that the photos are of SdKfz 161
   Mk iv

   Reply
   • 4.1
     Wilko says:

     7/28/2011 at 7:12 am

     Pete, check the number of road wheels. There are only six on each side, making it clear beyond any doubt that they are Pz III’s and not Pz IV’s (which had eight (smaller) road wheels) on each side.

     Reply
5. 5
   Terje Olsen says:

   8/19/2011 at 1:39 pm

   Hello. Nice photos and cool story. Amasing they really fought at Kursk. As a kid i lived at Gardermoen AFB. There they had one panzer III dug down and converted to a bunker. Only the top part of the chassis and the turret remained. The gun however was removed. And truly a lot more that i cant tell about because i could not know it should be there. It was quite blank inside exept for the manual turret travers wheel with two gear. (Slow and fast) I saw this tank hull several times in the 70`s and untill the late 80`s. Later the AFB at Gardermoen has been converted to the main civilian airport at Oslo. What happened to the tank Chassis i dont know. It was anyway incompleet. More interesting to know is what happened to the State of the art Panzer III with 50 mm type 1942 gun! (Kwk 60?) I saw this tank in a store building at Gardermoen around 1990. There was also a French tank, Renault or Hotchiss type there. The latter was probably used by the whermacht 25 Pz.div. as a school tank during the units initial education at Trandum training feldt to the east of Gardermoen. The whole area has been heavely garissoned before, during and after ww II and still is.

   Reply
6. 6
   nikolai says:

   11/7/2011 at 5:04 am

   русские тогда надрали фашистам зад!!!!

   YAHOO! BABEL FISH TRANSLATION FROM RUSSIAN:
   Russians then tore to fascists back!!!!

   Reply
7. 7
   alex says:

   8/17/2012 at 6:13 am

   last month lifted from the water remains in the Nassau-based m-3. and 75-mm cannon.

   Reply
8. 8
   2008: Panzers Found in Norway — War History Online says:

   4/28/2013 at 1:50 pm

   [...] have the chassis-numbers intact, so we have no history at all on the first tank we uncovered.Read more on the Arm Chair General website Share this:StumbleUponPinterestTumblrPocketRedditRelated posts: German submarine U-486 found [...]

   Reply