AMAZING WHAT YOU FIND HIDDEN AWAY IN CUPBOARDS There is total upheaval in the Tank Museum at present, tanks are being dragged around everywhere and many of the old displays and showcases are being removed. Hidden away in the back of one of them, a wooden showcase with a cupboard beneath, was this amazing object which we did not even know we had! So what is it? Tank Museum photo No. IMG_2204 The colour, what is left of it, is a bit of a giveaway, it is obviously German and this becomes even more evident when you study its identity plate. It is the telescope part of an F. G. 1250 infra-red night fighting device as fitted to the commander’s cupola of a Pz Kpfw V Panther Ausf G. Twenty of these tanks were adapted to carry this equipment starting in September 1944. Tank Museum photo No. IMG_2205 According to Thomas L Jentz the equipment has a range of about 600 metres on a clear night but as weapons go it was a mixed blessing. If both sides on a battlefield have an infra-red capability they effectively cancel each other out because they can detect one another’s tanks and there is no advantage. One thing puzzles us. Attached to the barrel of the sight is a metal plate on which is written: Vor Sonne Schutze! We can translate the words, but can anyone tell us what it means in this context? The search continues for the rest of this equipment. Numbered photos can be bought from the Tank Museum Shop (please note down the number of the photos you are interested in) To view previous article(s) in this series, click here.	Previous articles from this section