r/TankPorn

One of the two Panther turrets installed by the Germans to protect the Miramare airfield near Rimini. The turret was knocked out by Lieutenant Collins of 18th NZ Armoured Regiment in the fighting for the Gothic Line in September 1944, and he is pictured next to it with the shell holes visible in the side.

Pantherturm installed on the airfield were dominating:

"On 17 September the Seaforths of Canada supported by a squadron of 145th Regiment RAC put in an attack on San Martino. The attack started well, but soon six of the supporting tanks were knocked out. These it was believed were the victims of the second Panther turret located at the northern end of the airfield. This was engaged by artillery and ground attack aircraft but neither succeeded in silencing the turret. The only alternative was a direct attack by the tanks of 18th NZ Armoured Regiment. But so complete was the turret's command of the terrain that it was decided that the best way of silencing the menace was an attack by a single tank. Covered by smoke the tank, commanded by Lieutenant Collins, advanced to within range of the turret and with its fourth shot knocked it out before escaping under another smoke screen. For his bravery in the battle for Rimini airfield Collins was awarded the Military Cross."

You can read the Seaforth's War Diary here: https://map.project44.ca/

17th of Sept:

"During the night the companies and BHQ came under fairly heavy enemy shellfire, but casualties were not high.

0830 The CO Lt-Col S.W. Thomson DSO MC held an "O" group at "D" coy HQ at FOXBOROUGH. He ordered "A" and "C" Coys to prepare for an attack on KESTREL that afternoon. It appeared that the enemy were reinforcing this strongpoint as,during the morning,Tiger tanks were observed approaching it.

1000 The CO Lt-Col S.W. Thomson DSO MC,accompanied by the IO Lieut. F.R. Perrett,went to 2nd Cdn. Inf. Bde. HQ to discuss the fire plan for the impending attack on KESTREL.

1200 "A" Coy,u/c Major H.W.J. Paterson,and "C" coy u/c H.L. Glendenning were teed up for an attack on KESTREL.

During this period all coys came under extremely heavy shellfire and the casualties were evacuated through the RAP at GLENCOE.

1330 Forward BHQ moved to a large house at FOXBOROUGH. The area and road near there were evidently an enemy DF task as heavy and incessant shellfire was experienced there during the ensuing few days.

1355 "A" and "C" coys moved off for the assault on KESTREL after a 25 minute artillery barrage.Forward troops of these coys reached the village after running the gauntlet of enemy crossfire from both tanks and dug-in positions. Our supporting armour suffered heavy casualties and was unable to keep up with the infantry. Our own casualties were heavy and the OC "A" coy Major H.W.J. Paterson was killed. It was learned that 1 Bn 1 Para Regt,plus some supporting tanks,had been given the task of defending this important feature.

1600 The situation at KESTREL had deteriorated considerably and "A" and "C" coys started to withdraw. Our tanks were no longer a fighting force and "D" and "B" coys,who had taken over the positions of the assaulting coys,came under heavy fire. A coy of the PPCLI had moved up to FOXBOROUGH with their tanks. These tanks the CO Lt-Col S.W. Thomson DSO MC moved slightly forward around the feature in order to firm up our own position against the possibility of an enemy counter attack which was reported developing.

1700 "B","C" and "D" coys were dug in on the crest of the feature with "A" coy in its original position below FOXBOROUGH.

1800 The CO Lt-Col S.W. Thomson DSO MC left to visit the brigade commander. On his return he said that "B" and "D" coys would make a further attempt to take KESTREL that night.

1930 Stretcher parties went out to search the ground above KESTREL. All wounded from this sector were evacuated through the 48th Highlanders RAP.Our own RAP,which was then located at FOXBOROUGH,were accepting casualties from all neighbouring units.

Enemy shellfire was still heavy and continued so throughout the night. The BHQ's of the Seaf of C and PPCLI were both located in the same building at FOXBOROUGH. This was a huge three storey building with walls so thick that they were able to withstand very many direct hits from the enemy's artillery."

Pragmatically, it seems like they were suffering from artillery fire and infiltrating fire, maybe from this Pantherturm, while trying to assault a feature referred to as Point Kestrel, an elevated observation point which was a cast iron prick to attack. Its to the point that Thompson, the CO of the Seaforth commented that they shouldn't have been directly attacking it. Frankly, I'm currently working on producing something for a lecture:

I have been focusing on the battle due to a family connection, and came across this photo hidden in a PDF on German defences in Italy, I thought it was worth sharing on its own. There isn't a ton of open-source photos of the battle, and it's novel to see a TC standing with a target his tank knocked out personally that was incredibly dangerous to the Allied Forces facing it.

https://88thinfantrydivisionarchive.com/germany/germandefencesinitaly-osprey-68pgs.pdf

Original video; https://youtu.be/rb1YYWX125Y?si=tlJqJmKp0JB12oTK

Nice video of the Panzerjäger Kolonne at Militracks on Saturday. You can see me on top of the Nashorn on the right side of the main gun (Brown Rocksteady shirt). I also have a 10 minute long video of the entire ride.
This video shows:
1 = Nashorn Sd.Kfz. 164
2 = Befehlspanzer 38(t) Sd.Kfz. 138/2
3 = Bergepanzer 38(t) Sd.Kfz. 136