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This is the turret front of the Tiger converted by s.Pz.Abt.508 for "charge laying". It offers clues to the workings of this undocumented vehicle. The main gun has been removed, as well as the coaxial MG34. The opening left by the main gun has been covered with a custom-made blanking plate, bolted into the existing threaded holes. It appears very strongly that the coaxial MG has been reinstalled in the middle of this plate. Perhaps the MG was moved here so that the gunner could manage it, in the absence of a loader.
Whatever the reason for moving the MG here, it suggests that this tank's turret could still rotate after it suffered battle damage. A fixed-direction MG would be of little use.
The blanking plate has a welded bracket that is obviously intended to support the crane arm added to the turret roof. It seems that the crane could be elevated along with the mantlet. Unfortunately the part that connected the crane arm to this bracket has not been identified in any photo.
At the lower left of the photo there is a white area on the mantlet. This was caused by fire.
At bottom center we can see one of the air filters from the tank's HL 230 P45 engine.
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