Panzer Quizz

[Bing]

Voriax - That turret certainly carries the feel and style of Russian design. Since lots of Soviet/Russian armor found its way to the Middle East, it is possible a T-34 turret was adapted to the chassis/hull.

One way to narrow the possibilities is if you can get a look at the top of the turret. The hatch configuration and placement are identifiers. Then go to: http://www.battlefield.ru/ and start going through the T-34 material, of which there is a ton, also the site includes detailed material every tank that went into production in Russia during WW2. Plus armored cars and artillery.

Possibly the turret is a very early T-34 or a T-34 predecessor - hard for me to tell , however I am pretty sure the real Soviet armor buffs here can verify or refute my guesswork.

Bing

[Voriax]

Bing, that site is a familiar one. But I'd still say that the turret is an original one, though heavily modified. In original R35 there would be a coax mg left of the gun, and in this museum pic it's place has been faired over. I haven't identified the gun..that would give further ideas about the origin of this vehicle.

If this was a Syrian vehicle it could be that they got surplus R35's from Turkey or got them from war surplus sales. Then made a local modification by upgunning the tank and for some reason removing the commander cupola. Perhaps the new gun took so much space that it was impossible to use the cupola. That could also explain the lack of Mg

Voriax

[Bing]

Yes, does appear to be a turret that would be crowded, just a guess on my part, the general profile of the turret resembles an early T-34. I suppose a lot of turrets made in different nations about the same time in history look somewhat similar.

I'm just getting into the WW2 armor stuff in any depth; after years being around it I started digging. So far as the Russians/Soviets are concerned I have excellent sources in my library for post-WW2.

For WW2 I have some of the Osprey (Zaloga), the Hogg of course and the Bird for WW2. Pus the overall Bishop encyclopedia, which really is quite good. I want if possible to stay away from Schiffer Publishing, so for now I won't be buying their Soviet WW2 armor book.

Does anyone know of a truly comprehensive text on Soviet WW2 armor, along the lines of the Darlington book on post-WW2 development(Zaloga again and two other authors)? Don't mind paying a reasonable price, a truly comprehensive study such as the above actually saves money in the long run. I also don't want the speculative type of writing, the sources ought to be as much from the design bureaus as is humanly possible.

Strictly WW2 and confined to Russian/Soviet.

Thanking all in advance for their suggestions,

Bing