Could these be the same PzIII?

[Beattie-B]

I was going through an album I had purchased on the e-stand quite some time ago that had always plagued me in terms of the unit the soldier belonged to. One photo stuck out in particular of a line of PzIII's being repaired or worked on near the back. Almost every tank bears the mark of a white "G" for Guderian but in this case some show their turret numbers as well. On a whim I began searching the turret numbers for any possible identification and came across a very well known photo with a matching turret number and paint scheme (number) on a panzer III? on the eastern front. My question is would these two be a match and does anyone happen to know any specifics of the photo beyond the fact it was taken by the propaganda department?

[Beattie-B]

propaganda photo with tank 532

[H.W Plainview]

Hi

Very interesting the "propaganda" photo was taken on eastern front in 1941 according to several websites. Does it match with your album?

[Beattie-B]

It certainly does match the time frame, there also appears to be a G on the front mudflap of the tank in the distance of the propaganda photo as well.

[jmcm]

one is painted neat and one is sloppy

[Beattie-B]

one is painted neat and one is sloppy

Was it common place for multiple tanks to share the same numbers?

[Bcarver]

You may be reaching on this, but who knows. I clearly see the number, but they are painted completely different. So it could be one of two things, this is the exact same tank with a better paint scheme after being repaired. Or it could be a completely new tank that is numbered the same as the old one.

[jmark]

Definitely not the same tank. The colour photo shows Pz.Rgt.36 of 14.Pz.Div., which operated in southern Russia and was never part of Panzergruppe Guderian.

Jason

[Beattie-B]

Now that you mention it the 3 does appear higher in the photo album picture.

You may be reaching on this, but who knows. I clearly see the number, but they are painted completely different. So it could be one of two things, this is the exact same tank with a better paint scheme after being repaired. Or it could be a completely new tank that is numbered the same as the old one.

[Beattie-B]

Thank you ! This was the bit of information I was looking for as even doing reverse image searches of the propaganda photo turned up nothing. Case closed

Thanks again Jason!

Definitely not the same tank. The colour photo shows Pz.Rgt.36 of 14.Pz.Div., which operated in southern Russia and was never part of Panzergruppe Guderian.

Jason