Posted on 07/07/2015 5:59:10 AM PDT by The_Victor
It took 20 soldiers almost nine hours to remove a World War II "Panther" tank from a pensioner's cellar in a wealthy community in northern Germany—and that's in spite of the fact that the German army sent in modern recovery tanks to help confiscate the vintage 1943 vehicle, reports the BBC.
Prosecutors in the coastal region of Kiel, tipped off by Berlin prosecutors who'd recently searched the 78-year-old man's villa for stolen Nazi art, aren't divulging much yet, but a police rep did say that a torpedo and anti-aircraft gun had been removed and other weaponry had been found as well, reports the Local.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
Hey! It was only for historical purposes or maybe a museum donation in the works. :>}
He should have sold it on Craigslist.
I love the mayor’s response about some folks loving steam trains, some love tanks. And it appears that folks around there knew he had it for a long time. Must have been some lib prosecuter that found out about it. Did they find any stolen art? I didn’t see that.
Why bother? They could have plugged the barrel and left it.
There are only about 20 of these tanks left in the world, 6 of them in working order. That tank is worth a lot of money.
Interesting...this guy was 8 when the war ended.....
There's an AP photo (which means I can't post here) at the Foxnews link. The vehicle is in gorgeous condition.
The guy was just staying prepared in case the Russians tried something back in the Soviet Union days (I believe Kiel was in the FRG correct?). After The Wall came down, he kept them for sentimental value.
“There are only about 20 of these tanks left in the world, 6 of them in working order. That tank is worth a lot of money.”
That’s why the govt will steal it, and/or use it to invade Greece.
The Sherman tank i.e. Ronson lighter, was useless against those MK V’s. The old joke was just hide in the woods and make the Panther tank run around and look for you. After four days the MV V’s transmission would give out and the crew would just walk away. No shots fired.
I’ve followed this story a good bit. So far....NO art has been recovered. Not to say that the old guy might have Nazi art, but all of this goes to an aggressive prosecutor. Now, the guy could have bought the tank with a special license and some folks think that he instead (trying to avoid paperwork)....bought it via a Czech or Slovak front office, and just hauled the tank into the warehouse that he had. The cops refused to participate in the tank recovery deal and they had to ask the local German military to step in and recover the tank.
I would speculate that when everything is said and done....he’s got paperwork for everything, and the prosecutor will have to return every single item.
Doesn’t have the zimmerit coating.
Would you have to tip it sideways?
Must have been one of more precocious "Werewolves" being able to move all that heavy equipment to hide it. He was ready for the revanchist Der Tage, any day now....
Why bother?
Where's the guy gonna get any 75×640mm shells for the KwK 42 L/70 tank gun?
Ebay?
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