"German Sdkfz 251/20 Owl" Topic

5 Posts

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green beanie	22 Jul 2016 4:22 p.m. PST
Was this vehicle used to help other IR equipped tanks or was it used to help none IR equipped tanks? I have not found much info on its use but I know some IR equipped vehicles were used in the Battle of the Bulge. What ever info you can share would be helpful.
Mako11	22 Jul 2016 4:59 p.m. PST
Tanks with IR detectors, since they didn't have their own I/R searchlights, excepting for the really small, short-ranged ones for the driver/commander. I think the ranges for those is only about 300 – 350 meters, even during the Cold War. Some believe they were used during the Bulge, but I'm not sure if that has been proven, or not. I have read that there was a lot of searchlight illumination used in some sectors during the opening stages of the attack.
Cold Steel	22 Jul 2016 7:48 p.m. PST
In "A Time For Trumpets," the author talks about the German use of indirect lighting during the initial attack by bouncing search lights off the low cloud cover.
Mako11	22 Jul 2016 7:57 p.m. PST
Yea, I think I recall reading it there, and in the official, US government, green books on the battle/campaign as well.
Lion in the Stars	25 Jul 2016 3:29 a.m. PST
It was intended to spot targets for the tanks, as they couldn't mount a big enough IR searchlight at the time. The smaller IR lights the Panthers had were pretty short-ranged, ~300m or so. Hell, even today, active IR illumination has crappy range. IIRC, it was one 251/20 per platoon of tanks.

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