On the back of the turret of Das Werk’s 1:16 Panzer 3, There are two large round conical things, One on each side. The storage box on the rear of the turret has a cut out on each side, seemingly to provide access to it. What is it?
It is the external cover for rear facing pistol ports?
If so can anyone point me to information about how it opens and what it looks like when opened? Thanks.
Pistol ports for close defence
BY use of a handle inside the covers swivel to expose a opening in the armour to fire through
Thanks!
The round cover is conical but with the tip of the cone offset way off to one side. Would you know if the pivot for the pistol port cover is on the side of the tip, or the side that is relatively flat?
What is the shape of the hole for pistol to shoot through when the pistol port cover is swung out of the way?
I am thinking about building the Stalingrad diarama with one port open and the crew shooting out through it at soviet soldiers attempt place satchel charges on the tank.
The same arrangement appears on the Jgpz IV front armor, except that it’s for a bow machine gun; the port can be opened to stick the MG34 out, then bring it back in and close the port when not needed.
If I interpret the pictures in the instructions in a dragon panzer iii kit correctly, it appears the actual pistol opening under the cover on the panzer iii is a short vertical slot, not a round hole like in the Jpz VI. I suspect a Mg-34 would be too unwieldily in the tight confines of a PZ III turret to shift around to the pistol,ports, so the slot might be designed for the MP-40 submachine gun or the crew’s personal pistols.
But if anyone can point me to any documentation or photos to verify this I’d appreciated it.
That’s why I specified that it was different for the JgPz IV, being for a bow machine gun.
The Tank Encyclopedia web page for the PzKpfW III ausf. A notes “For protection against any possible infantry attack, two square-shaped machine gun ports were added to the rear of the turret.” The Tank Encyclopedia website for the PzKpfW III ausf. D mentions, “In addition, the two square-shaped machine gun ports, located to the rear of the turret, were also replaced with new round-shaped covers.” while failing to note whether these continued to be intended as machine-gun ports or as pistol ports. Given that the port on the rear of each of the split turret side doors is explicitly described as a pistol port, as are the ports forward of the turret doors on the turret sides (removed in the ausf. L), and considering the field of fire from the rear ports, particularly with a turret basket attached, I don’t think using them as machine gun ports is viable.
Thank you!
