Post by ww2pictures on Jul 15, 2007 14:23:26 GMT 1
(1940, 42 converted): A "diving tank". Ausf. D converted in anticipation of Operation Sealion. All openings were sealed, commander's cupola, gun mantlet and machine gun mount covered with rubber sheeting, turret ring protected by inflatable rubber ring. Exhausts were fitted with non-return valves. Air was supplied via a flexible 18-meter hose held on the surface by a buoy. Maximum safe depth was about 15 meters, maximum underwater speed about 3 mph (5 km/h). Some were used by the 18th Panzer Regiment during River Bug crossing in Operation Barbarossa.