Hello fellow 251 buffs
Before I say anything, I must apologise to those that may need to scroll across to read this post- I had real trouble with one pic refusing to stay @#$%! small enough!
Here are some pics which follow on from a recent thread on the 2.SS Hummel "Clauswitz". In the pics posted earlier one could see beside it an abandoned Sdkfz 251 ausf D, also clearly marked with the yellow 2.SS logo and Artillery Regiment tac sign on its rear.
The shot below is another less familiar one, which appears on p.135 of Mark Bando's excellent 'Breakout at Normandy', published by MBI (USA), 1999. In this view a little more of the relatively rarely seen internally mounted star antenna installation can be seen sticking out on the left of the 251.
The proceeding shot is a blow up from an IWM photo revealing a little more of the antenna instalation (the triangular structure in the rear LH corner of the crew compartment). Even more interestingly is the evidence of a vehicle name in a similar Gothic-style script on the side of the 251/3.
This close up is scanned to a higher resolution. My question to you guys is what name could it be? Unfortunately there seems to have been some slight camera shudder when the image was taken, which makes an I.D. difficult. The eagle eyes amongst you must surely have some goood guesses (Mirko?)
My first suggestion was "Franke", who was a contemporary of Clauswitz in the Prussian army. The problem is, there looks like there might be seven letters in the vehicle's name. The first letter may be an "F" or a "G" (they look similar in Gothic- as do several other letters!). The last three letters look very much like "nke" to me...or maybe "oke"(?) Another guess was "Goethe", but I thought the Nazis banned all reference to him during WW II (maybe they changed their minds when they realised things weren't going to plan).
Anyway, here are some other refs of internal-mount star antenna 251/3. The following one is on p229 of Panzer Grenadiere...der Panzerdivision "Wiking" im Bild, published by Munin Verlag GMBH Osnabuck, 1984.
This final shot is very helpful as it affords a rare peek at the antenna base from within a 251/3 captured by the bloody gutsy Polish resistance, during the Warsaw uprising in August/Septmber 1944. The radio the Poles are removing is resting on the antenna base. This particular e.g. lacks the lip around the top edge of the triangular side plates. The vehicle was apparently nick-named "Jas" by the Poles.
The picture comes from yet another excellent title in the Wydawnictwo Militaria series, No. 148, Warszawa 1944, by Janusz Ledwoch, p.49.
I would encourage everyone to buy all the titles listed above if you come across them- they have much to offer picture-wise for German MV modelers.
Any help in identifying the name on the 2.SS 251/3 would be much appreciated. If anyone has any other pics of these internal-star antenna mount 251/3's, love to hear from you.
Actually Jimmy, I recall you have a scan of another Wiking 251/3, numbered "302" which I've seen...Its a LHS view with two officers manning the MG 42...
Cheers
Baz
PS Thanks James and Chris Leeman for coaching me thru image posting, the neue way!
