Does anyone know if that is a panzer iv stowage? And the cables seems to be special, are they standard？
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Yes, it’s an off-the-shelf Panzer 4 stowage bin.
David
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I believe it was a PzKpfw III storage bin, not a PzKpfw IV storage bin. And if I remember the pictures I’ve seen of the earliest Tigers, the storage bin was on mounts that made it stand off the back of the turret by a couple of inches, because the curvature of the storage bin, designed for the rear of the PzKpfw III turret, didn’t match the curvature of the Tiger turret. In an additional bit of ‘whack something together’ confusion, the first custom-designed storage bins for the Tiger were too wide, overlapping the two pistol ports (and later the pistol port and the escape hatch after the right pistol port was replaced with the hatch), so standoff brackets were added to give clearance for these to function, and the various units that received the new storage bin came up with different methods of mounting the bins to minimize interference with these parts of the tank. See Tiger ausf. E: Wide turret storage bin
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We’re looking at a Tiger (P), not a Tiger (H). It has a different history and was accessorised by different people. The bin in the photo is for a Panzer 4.
David
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I had to check that out, too. Although the Pz. lll, and Pz. lV turret bins were similar, they also had some distinctive shape differences. Some early Tiger l’s which were issued without bins, were field-fittted with Pz. lll bins, presumably from destroyed tanks (Tiger battalions had Pz. lll’s assigned to them). But that is definitely a Pz. lV bin on the Tiger P.
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The real story is this: the first 50 or so Tigers were fitted with Panzer 3 bins before they reached the troops. Either at the factory or while waiting to be shipped.
Even the unique version of Tiger that equipped the 501st battalion, arrived at the training school with Panzer 3 bins fitted. The unit swapped those out for the large wide bin before going to Africa. So that’s twenty Tigers that originally had Panzer 3 turret bins. Another nineteen went to the 503 battalion, and they left the Panzer 3 bins on those Tigers permanently.
I’ve not seen any evidence of Tigers being field-fitted with any new type of bin, except for the famous “100” of s.Pz.Abt.502 which got side bins, and a number of Tigers that got additional boxes or baskets added to their bin.
David
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Thanks for the clarification. 
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Hmmm…there’s this tank of 502 Abt. in action, apparently without any turret bin of any kind ever having been installed in factory.
Also no side fenders or cable brackets fitted.
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The 502’s batch of nine Tigers preceded the side skirting and the side cable brackets.
We have photos of one such Tiger arriving from Germany to the unit; it has a Panzer III turret bin.
And here is Tiger “111”, the same Tiger from the photo you posted, but at an earlier date.
It still has its turret bin at this time.
David
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So Tiger lll was issued with Pz lll turret bin, and exhaust shields, and both were removed for some reason? The pic I posted of lll was allegedly taken late summer/early fall 1942; your pic appears to be later - there’s snow on the ground. Is it possible that lll was delivered without bin or exhaust shields (in haste) and they were installed later?
“ s.Pz.Jg.Abt. 653 requested and received only ONE Porsche Tiger VK 4501 (P) Fgst. Nr. 150013 Panzerbefehlswagen VI(P) in April 1944 which was commanded by Hauptmann Grillenberg.” Have to scroll WAAY down to get to this section…. Ferdinands/Elefants on the Eastern Front – Mike’s Research
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