When Was Cologne Again as Many Inhabitants as Before the War?

The following graph shows the positions of the Panther crew in the second, the Pershing shell had hit the Panther. The gun and the turret pointed toward the Pershing and the intersection An den Dominikanern / Marzellenstrasse

This and post-obit graph created from ii graphs by F. Gruber, from the volume "Panzer V Panther" by Spielberger/Doyle, with friendly permission by Motorbuch Verlag, Stuttgart 2010

- Position ane: commander
- Position ii: gunner
- Position iii: loader
- Position four: radio operator
- Position 5: driver

The nearest or the fastest achievable emergency exits of the crew are visible on the graph below

Driver: commuter's hatch (blood-red)
Radio operator: radio operators'south hatch (green)
Commander / gunner: upper turret hatch (blueish)
Loader: rear turret hatch / loader'due south hatch (yellowish)

Another crush is on the way to the German tank

The shell a curt time before the hit

The shell hits the tank

A German language crew member is running abroad.

And a third shell appears

Once more a hit.

The German Panther tank is on fire
Following the film made past Jim Bates four coiffure members are able to escape, one of them dies in a infirmary a short fourth dimension after. According the records another soldier was found dead in the Panther the next twenty-four hour period.

Pershing gunner Clarence Smoyer described the event several times. The following clarification is based on a meantime outdated thesis from cameraman Jim Bates, that no German soldier survived the tank duel:

... our driver drove into the middle of the intersection so we wouldn't exist a sitting target. As we were moving, I fired once. Then we stopped and I fired 2 more than shells to brand sure they wouldn't fire at our side. All three of our shells penetrated, ane under the gun shield and two on the side. The ii side hits went completely through and out the other side.
As for the High german tank coiffure, I spent many years wondering if they survived. Only recently, did I detect the answer. A documentary movie about the life of Jim Bates, the Army lensman who took the famous Cologne footage, revealed that three of the crew died outside of the tank. A letter I received from another soldier who looked through one of the beat out holes said he saw one burned to death inside the tank. Obviously none of them survived the ordeal. The T26 tank was the all-time tank nosotros had during the war.
Source: third Armored Division Website - www.3ad.com

The three hits caused past the Pershing - (1), (ii) and (iii). Number (four) is the Panther'southward optic, not a hit (one can come across the optic in the little picture top right showing another Panther - cherry-red arrow). So you come across the burn inside the Panther through this optic. Hit number (ii) is hidden behind the gun.
On this picture 1 tin run into hitting (2) much better.
The called-for German tank. The Sherman which was hit by the Panther is located in the route going to the right side.

Photo: NARA.
The called-for Panther. Photograph was taken past Signal Corps photographer John Himes.

Curt blitheness of the colorized photo higher up ...

The same view, about 70 years later, year 2013.

Photo: NARA, published on footnote.com
Another picture showing the burning Panther and the theater.

The description of the tank duel Pershing / Panther in a higher place is only a curt summary of the events. A more than detailed description of this tank duel and especially the bale out of the German tank coiffure with 37 and more photos and detail pictures can be found on my webpage tank duel blow-past-accident. In addition there are 5 digital worked motion-picture show sequences close up and not that blurred as the original.

The next days US soldiers examine the destroyed German tank, it becomes a pop photo subject field
Once more the destroyed German tank in front of the cathedral The days and weeks later on the tank duel many people took pictures of the Panther. Start when he still stood at the identify where he was shot (they turned the gun to the side after) and then when he was moved to the square in front of the central station

The crew of the US tank which fired at the German tank, left to right:

Photograph by Jim Bates. Courtesy of Special Collections, Pikes Pinnacle Library Commune, 161-3307, photos.ppld.org
Once once again the Panther tank at the cathedral. This and the following three other pictures were taken by Jim Bates on March 07, 1945, when Bates and other reporters were taking pictures around the cathedral. At the right side of the picture ane can see the destroyed Sherman on street Komoedienstrasse (red arrow).

Excerpt from moving-picture show above, the destroyed Sherman on the street.

Photographs by Jim Bates. Courtesy of Special Collections, Pikes Top Library District, 161-3311 and 161-3314, photos.ppld.org
Left: Asst. Driver Homer Davis and Asst. Gunner John Deriggi in front end of the destroyed Panther tank. Right: Davis and Deriggi with a third soldier on top of the Panther.

Photo: Bryan Allen. Courtesy of his son Dave Allen
Davis and Deriggi with a third soldier on peak of the Panther. At this time there were several photographers that took photos from this scene.

Photograph extract: Bryan Allen. Courtesy of Dave Allen
Bulldozers remove the droppings on the street Komödienstraße. On the right side the Sherman, the Panther had destroyed the mean solar day before. The Sherman driver Julian Patrick, who was killed during the duel, was still sitting on the driver chair at this moment.

And finally a photo where 1 tin can see the fashion the US-troops made through the Cologne centre.

Xanthous line the mode of Company 'F' with the Sherman tanks coming from Friesenstrasse, passing Zeughausstrasse and ending in Komödienstrasse next to the cathedral. Red line the mode of Visitor 'Eastward' with the Pershing tank, coming from Gereonstrasse catastrophe in street An den Dominikanern. Blue point the location where the Panther was located finally - at crossing Komödienstrasse / Marzellenstrasse.
This picture in large resolution here - 535 KB.

Resumee

The German Panther tank at the cathedral was ane of the last German language tanks in the city center at this fourth dimension. The other German language units had already left this side of the metropolis and had withdrawn across the Rhine. During the senseless tank duel at to the lowest degree two crew members (ane inside the tank, one afterward in a hospital) of the German tank and iii crew members of the US tank die. From two German language soldiers we know they survived WWII. The German language crew:
Clarence Smoyer today lives in the U.s.. The other German language and US tank soldiers died in the meanwhile.
Tank Commander Early and cameraman Bates received the Bronze Star for their action soon afterwards the boxing. Smoyer and posthumously recognized McVey, DeRiggi and Davis received the Bronze Star during a ceremony in Washington on September xix, 2019. Externat link to the MSN commodity

Video

Video Battle for Cologne - tank duel

Youtube Video tank duel at the cathedral, March 06, 1945. Chronic and belittling presentation of the famous tank duel at the Cologne cathedral. Run into the fascinating original film with descriptions. 10 minutes of interesting motion-picture show scenes testify the destruction of a Sherman tank, the destruction of a Panther tank and the escaping crew members. v presentation parts show different analyses. Original film scenes show injured persons.

tank duel sightseeing tour In case you lot plan to visit Cologne and look for the places the tank duel took place, this page could be a footling help for you. Hither I have created a piddling sightseeing tour, where you lot will visit the most relevant places of the tank duel. Even without a scheduled visit this page is certainly very interesting considering of the many pictures and descriptions.
Then and At present in 1 photograph, aforementioned position
More And then and Now ?
Y'all like this And then and At present pictures ? Sentry my page Cologne So and At present with more than than xl interesting Then and Now pictures.

More Weblinks:

Full general links: Corbis photo: Panther and Cathedral - Corbis server
Corbis photo: Sherman before hit (Ramage)
3AD Panther photo sequence (with partially wrong descriptions) - 3ad Server
youtube Video, 3AD during capture of Cologne - youtube server
k bomber raid May thirty/31, 1942 - youtube server
Bates interview with movie sequences - youtube server
Smoyer interview, History channel - youtube server
Smoyer memoirs on 3ad.com - 3ad server
Once again capture of Cologne, tank duel - youtube server
Gainsay Mission scenario "Duel in Cologne" - server scenario-depot

Please visit and support this fantastic project: Donald Becker from New Jersey, US, is working his second big area 1/35th scale recreation and tribute to the soldiers who bravely fought in World War two. This project volition represent March 06 1945 in Cologne, the tank duel at the cathedral:

And another swell project, already finished. Christian van der Sanden created a model of the destroyed Panther in ane:35 calibration. He worked six months, every twenty-four hour period iv hours, at this project. The finished model:

More pictures here

And hither's a russian page about the tank duel:

From the New York Times bestselling author of A Higher Call, Adam Makos, comes the riveting World War II story of Clarence Smoyer, the Pershing gunner Battling through the ruins, Clarence will engage the fearsome Panther in the Cologne tank duel immortalized by an army cameraman. And a few hours earlier he will square off with Gustav Schaefer, a teenager backside the trigger in a Panzer Four tank, whose coiffure has been sent on a suicide mission to stop the Americans. Every bit Clarence and Gustav trade fire down a long boulevard, they are taken by surprise by a tragic error of war. What happens side by side volition haunt Clarence to the modern twenty-four hours, cartoon him dorsum to Cologne to practise the unthinkable: to face his enemy, one last fourth dimension. Well, I had the honor to attend this meeting. Photo link leads to Amazon website, where Adam's book can exist ordered.

daltonmonertafte.blogspot.com

Source: https://www.anicursor.com/colpicwar2b.html

Share this post