Check out the track on this PzIV, has anyone ever seen this type of track before? it’s new to me…
Steve
I saw that earlier too Steve. I think they’re mud clogged normal tracks in motion. That could explain the unusual appearance. The guy astride the driver’s hatch is just a buddy and not the driver, I think.
It is VERY intresting, don’t know about the mud theory, could be but looks kinda smooth and even to be mud…yet another photo that we may never know the true answer to! Cool stuff!
don’t think the mud theory is correct… the serface is verry smooth even if he is on the move.
and there are clearly three squares next to each other the normal tracks don’t have that i believe
and i think the space between each tracklink is to big for a regular track
this is a regular pz4 track but with snow… i think mud would look almost the same but a different collor[:-^]
but i don’t know what it is either
Hi all
just havin a look at the photo, im not saying its not mud but it looks to uniform could it be some kind of a spare? like we have a spare could it be like that just to get it to a workshop?
Mind you looking at it again forget that idea looking at the other track that looks the same or am i wrong is it just that that side is moving???
Just a thought may be Alan.
WW2 photos of vehicles in motion can produce some strange effects…particularly with b/w snapshots. Given that the spare links on the front are the standard type and that the vehicle is passing down a road (whether muddy or snowy is up for debate I guess…the riders look a little too comfy for it to be winter, but who really knows?), I 'd chalk it up to the blur caused by the track faces moving at speed at the right angle to the camera to produce the “square” effect. This isn’t too far fetched considering that the tracks themselves already represent an automatic spacing/geometric arrangement and they would be moving at a uniform speed to produce this result. Think about how spinning wheels on a car look like going down the road at speed to your eye vs. what a video or still camera sees and it’s the same optical result.
Just a guess, but the track pattern looks a lot like the type used on the Centurion tank. Perhaps this is a Syrian tank that was upgraded with Centurion track after it was captured by Israel during the 1967 Arab-Israeli War. Again, just a guess based on the looks of the track, and the British-looking truck behind the tank.
It’s definitely a WW2 photo Robin. It first came to my attn from a l link that Ed Chung over on ML’s Axis DG posted. It was from an eBay auction. Also you see the balkenkreuz on the tank side and the typical German uniforms.
It’s got a Balkankruez? on the hull, and the crew doesnt look Syrian. But that track does look like it has track pads similar to some on some Cent’s. wish there was more info on where this pic was from.
Here’s the link to the eBay listing:
Look at the track as it wraps around the idler. You can see the open ends of the links, which are not visible at the drive sprocket end. To me this strongly points to a trick of the camera and parts in motion looking different than they actually are. Otherwise I’d say the Germans invented the British “Hushpuppy” track later seen on the Centurion AVRE…
The turret still has the armored visor to the right of the gun so it’s made before April of '42 which means it’s an early G, or an F2. The tracks are probably early model 40cm or mid model A in motion like others have suggested. That looks like a British truck behind the IV so maybe it’s Tunisia.
I don’t think it’s a Syrian IV in the pic but the only ways I can think that the Syrians would get a IV earlier than a J model is if they got it from the Spanish or some other nation that traded with Germany during the war or if it was captured by the Allies and eventually passed on.
Not mud, but clay clogging the tracks. Not some exotic, experimental track design, but something easily found elsewhere;
Pull out your books and look, you’ll find this is not that rare. I found this example in the second book I pulled off the shelf. The pattern of three squares is the result of the two cut-out portions in the track’s cleat, which allows the material to be worn away directly inline with this low spot in the track. Clays can be extremely sticky, viscous and tenacious materials. Once it has become embedded into the tracks, it can remain stuck to them for quite a while before finally being thrown off.
still don’t think it’s mud, in fact he second photo, looks less like mud!
Bill your idea of motion would be plausable, however the tank is moving at the same speed as the tracks so the entire picture would be a blur.
Maybe not if the camera is “panning”. The vehicle is in focus and sharp but the tracks are moving in a “different” direction. Look at pics of race cars on the track for a good example. Unless an extemely fast shutter speed is used, the car is sharp and the spinning wheels are blurred.
I like clay.
Gentlemen, you are looking in the wrong spot. Look at the track as it goes around the rear idler wheel. Does the pattern look more familure? Greg.
I’m not sure what you mean? What pattern? It’s very hard to see…
gjek wrote the following post at 14-02-2007 3:52 AM:
Gentlemen, you are looking in the wrong spot. Look at the track as it goes around the rear idler wheel. Does the pattern look more familure? Greg.
gjek i see wot you mean you can see that the rear part of the track is open just the same as on my photos looking by the idler. Alan[#oops][bow][bow][bow]
The spare tracks on the hull look pretty familiar too. I think the mud theory is the one. The sprae tracks look like standard ones and if I were them, I would like to have spare tracks that matches the one installed on the tank.
Just my 2 cents.
look at these pictures, while the mud is not clay, it does show that the build-up pattern is not the same…