Strange German contraption

Ad: This forum contains affiliate links to products on Amazon and eBay. More information in Terms and rules

Snautzer01

Honourably banned
42,944
55,937
Mar 26, 2007
Left corner. what is it?

Clipboard01.jpg
 
Well you did not specify which left corner upper or lower. The UPPER left appears to be a StKfz (Sonderkraftfahrzeug) 251 with a 75mm Pak 40 anti-tank gun
Lower left is tough to make out, I suspect a type of armored (Pz. III chassis) rocket launcher like the calliope. Here mounted on a StKfz 251
8ed10ea866bd8205d5195088a30fb954.jpg
 
Certainly an Italian chassis, and very possibly a multiple rocket launcher, with what looks like a gas producer unit on the back end, so propelled by charcoal, wood or pig sh*t.
But I think my description of small, tracked, shnitzel making machine is better !
 
You Guys are the best. Finely located it under German DRIVING School Vehicles.

German Fahrschulwanne
The German Army needed vehicles to train tank crew drivers but the big problem was fuel. Diesel and gasoline were required for front line vehicles and there was a massive shortage with no solution in sight. German engineers looked for an alternative fuel source. They came up with two solutions. One was a device that burnt wood and produced combustible gas that could power an engine. The other was to use compressed gas bottles that contained gas similar to that supplied to homes in Germany for cooking.
These vehicles were called "Fahrschulwanne". This is a term used by those who were trained on these vehicles and a combination of "Fahrschule" (Driving school) and the German term "Wanne". This does not mean the lower hull of a tank but is malapropism of the term "Badewanne" (Bathtub). Thus the term 'Fahrschulpanzer' translates to 'Driving School Tank'. Fahrschulepanzerjäger would mean Tank-Destroyer-Training-school-vehicle.
Wood Gas powered tanks – Holzgas
The commercial term for a wood gas generator, or Holzkohevergaser in German, was the Imbert-holz-gas system which then was shortened to Holzgas. The gas was used to fuel vehicle engines thus saving on petrol/gasoline and diesel. The Imbert system is a closed external combustion system designed to produce gas that can be cooled and used in an internal combustion engine.
The Imbert system uses wood pellets and the gas produced needs cleaning and cooling prior to passing to the cylinders of the vehicle, otherwise it would choke up with residue. During the production process, biomass or other carbon-containing materials are gasified within the oxygen-limited closed environment of a wood gas generator to produce hydrogen and carbon monoxide.
In Germany, around 500,000 gas powered vehicles were in use at the end of the war due to the lack of petroleum.
Fahrschulpanzer-II.png
 
Those "rocket launch tubes" seem to actually be part of the cooling system and are precipitating or settling tanks. The one really clear diagram of the interlinked tubes is in Polish and "OSADNIK PYLU" seems to translate as Dust Settling. So NOT angeheiztSchweinescheiße
002.jpg
imbert_gas_generator.jpg
wq39ln31.jpg
 
Last edited:

Users who are viewing this thread

Back