35mm color slide from October 1959 showing Panther Ausf. G of the Free French. You can see some of the original block zimmerit remaining. Still has a C-Hook, tow shackle, Bosch light and spare tracks which havent 'walked off' yet. I am not sure the restoration got the colors right or if it was resprayed post-war in German ordinance tan however it is an interesting snapshot taken only 14 years from wars end.
And as it looks today
Details from shadock.free.fr
Panther Ausf. G – Musée des Blindés, Saumur (France) Fahrgestell number 120790, built by MAN factory at the end of July, 1944 (“gibsonfndr”). The French 2e Division Blindee captured several intact Panther from I./Pz.Rgt.29 of Panzer Brigade.112 during the fighting at Dompaire on 13 September 1944.
Two were sent back to Paris as presents to De Gaulle to commemorate the victory. Panther 332 sat outside Les Invalides in Paris for some years (along with a Panther Ausf. A abandoned in the Jardin du Sénat, Paris, in August 1944) and then sent to Saumur in 1976 (Steve Zaloga). This tank currently shows the markings it had at the time of the capture by the 2ème DB.
And as it looks today
Details from shadock.free.fr
Panther Ausf. G – Musée des Blindés, Saumur (France) Fahrgestell number 120790, built by MAN factory at the end of July, 1944 (“gibsonfndr”). The French 2e Division Blindee captured several intact Panther from I./Pz.Rgt.29 of Panzer Brigade.112 during the fighting at Dompaire on 13 September 1944.
Two were sent back to Paris as presents to De Gaulle to commemorate the victory. Panther 332 sat outside Les Invalides in Paris for some years (along with a Panther Ausf. A abandoned in the Jardin du Sénat, Paris, in August 1944) and then sent to Saumur in 1976 (Steve Zaloga). This tank currently shows the markings it had at the time of the capture by the 2ème DB.
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