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"Weird question on German tank turret numbers" Topic


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109 hits since 20 Aug 2026
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Comments or corrections?

Korvessa20 Aug 2026 3:48 p.m. PST

I am familiar with how the system worked in general.
However, I am curious how they dealt with casualties and replacements. Did they ever renumber them, or did they just leave it as is?
Some examples:
• Suppose I am a platoon leader and the company commander's tank is destroyed and he is killed. The battalion commander appoints me to be the new company commander.
Do I keep my same tank? If so, how long before I renumber my turret? (I know they wouldn't do it in the middle of a battle, but I know enough about tanks that they pretty much have daily down time for maintenance).
In US tank platoons, there is something of a hierarchy. So, in order we have: Platoon leader, platoon sergeant, platoon leader's wingman, platoon sergeant's wingman. Did the Germans follow a similar hierarchy? I
So what happens when the inevitable casualty occurs?
For example, suppose my platoon sergeant's tank is knocked out and both he and his tank must be replaced. I promote my wingman (#3 tank in platoon) to sergeant and take the #4 tank as my new wingman. A week later we get a replacement tank.
How would they deal with the numbers? Would they change them, or just assign the new tank to whatever number is vacant – and everyone just knows what tank number has what position and they don't bother to keep any kind of order?

mkenny20 Aug 2026 4:32 p.m. PST

These things are only important to modellers. At the time there were more important matters to deal with BUT there are plenty of pics of turret numbers being painted over/altered.
It is particularly noticeable in Tiger tanks in Normandy as 2 units had a complete company sent back to Germany to refit with TIIs and the Tiger Is they had left were given to the remaining 2 companies. Those tanks were renumbered and there was a lot of Pz IV 'swapping' in early June (tanks from one Unit given to another)so there are 'odd' number styles on some of those transfers. There was the use of 'turret-swapping' where 2 damaged tanks would be made into 1 working tank with the original numbers sometimes painted over/altered.

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