I declare not guilty, the photo was just like that .
Panzerbeobachtungswagen III
In november 1942 the German High Command attempted to obtain Panthers for the devoted task of forward artillery observation. The proposed vehicle was a very special variant of the Panzer V, with a turret designed by Rheinmetall in collaboration with Krupp and Anschütz. The Panzerbeobachstung Panther could provide precise observation up to 12000 meters, accurate range reading up to 7000 meters and could even to draw useful topographic maps when there were not artillery charts available.
Despite the pleas the production the Pzbcht Panther was not allowed to continue , mainly because the refusal of Guderian, appointed inspector of the armored corps in early 1943, to "waste" precious panther Chassis for the artillery branch. The Artilley High Command had to content with a cheaper vehicle based on the trusty pz III.
The Sd.Kfz.143 had a crew of five and was equipped with powerful Fu 3 and Fu 8 radio equipment. The Fu 8 withthe characteristic star antenna had an 20 km range. It could be used for liason with observation aircrafts like the Hs 126, Fi-156 and FW-189 in order to obtain a better panorama of the battlefield.
Panzerbeobachtungswagen III had a dummy gun mounted and in the place of original gun, Kugelblende (ballmount) for a 7.92mm MG34 machine gun was installed. The armament was only an MG 34 pzl 2 MP 40s and some grenades. 2 observation periscopes, TSR 1 and TBF 1 with 6x magnification and a "mules deer" rangefinder were provided for the crew. Both the TSR and TBF could be used with the turret fully "buttoned up".
From February of 1942 to April of 1944 some 262 Panzerkampfwagen III Ausf E/F/Gs were up-armored and converted into Artillerie Panzerbeobachtungswagen III (Sd.Kfz.143) - observation vehicles which served with Wespe and Hummel batteries until the end of the war. The main contractor of this special panzer was Deutsche Eisenwerke of Duisberg.