Barry Geipel

You are correct - It is the 7.5 cm Pak 41 which is a 75mm to 55mm Taper bore ( I was using the muzzle dimension which I also had off by 5mm. Otto's unit had great success with this gun while they had ammo for it. The tungsten core ammo was in short supply. Otto related to me that someone in the division had good contacts with the arms industry which accounted for some of thier better than average equipment. For example, they had the Somua Halftracks to tow their guns while most infantry divisions relied on Krupp Protzes (sp?) They had the Pak 41 while most other div had the 5.0 cm Pak 38 or the 7.5 cm Pak 40. The StuG IV is a relatively rare vehicle - although it is arguably not much better then the StuG III Barry

There are many errors in the text and in the memories of all veterans. The text on the web site is a direct translation of Otto's captions from his album. Soldiers on the front have a much different perspective that we have. They don't always know the reasons for what is happening around them or even everything about their equipment. I was once talking with Otto about the distance interval keeping lights on the back of his StuG - he had no idea that is what it was for Other examples of that are in any account of Americans being shot at by a German gun - which amazingly was always an 88 - and any tank encountered was always a Tiger As for the existance of StuG Abtielung 1007 - It did exist. It is mentioned in the division history for the 7th Infantry Div and is clearly typed on the document for Otto's Iron Cross 1st Class. Iron Cross 1st Class Document Barry

Actually, I was told about this discussion offline. I am a miniature wargammer - not much of a computer gamer. You can see my kind of games at http://www.command-decision.com. I have heard of battlefront, but have never played. Perhaps I will give it a try. Barry

Here is some more info based on some of your comments. The Panzer III photos are not from thier unit. These pictures were probably taken in December of 1941 as "Guderian's panzers advanced through our lines". The KV-I photos are of a machine that broke down. This is not a killed tank. Otto clearly recalled his first encounter with a KV-I - they lost. The KV-I literally ran over his gun crushing it. He also recounted the first encounters with T34's - also, not much success with the 37mm. All of the captions are direct translations of Otto's original captions. There are some errors he made, and some of the photos are clearly not in historical order (The picture of the downed lend lease hurricane for example). I have elected to keep them in his original order. I have many more photos, plus all of his decorations and documents which I will open the site with all of the new photos some day. Barry Geipel

Hi all, You are all chatting about my web site First off, I host the pages on one of my home computers off of a DSL line. That probably explains why the pages are loading slowly and why I am having trouble accessing my server from work! I normally do not have a large group of people hitting it all at once. The speed should get better once things slow down. I can answer your questions about the photos. Over the years, I spent hours with Otto talking about his experiences. Unfortunatly, Otto died early this year due to complications with the German socialized medical system. Some background on Otto first. Otto joined the german Arbietsdients (sp?) work group right after France '40. He worked on fortifications and clean up in France. He then enlisted in the 7th Bavarian Infantry Division as a Panzerjaeger. Equiped with the 37mm AT gun, they began the Barbarossa campaign on June 21, 1941. They fought thier way across Belorussia, Russia and to Moscow. They then held off the counter attacks during the winter slowly giving ground. The rest of '42 was quiet. The unit received the very rare 50mm Taperbore gun which fired Tungten cored ammo. This gun should not be confused with the standard 50mm which was not nearly as lethal. During 1943, they participated in the battle of Kursk as the extream right of the northen pincer. Right afterwards, the panzerJaegers were withdrawn to Holland for training on the Sturmgechutze IV. They did not have the vehicles to train on so they walked around the training ground, standing in there positions pretending to be in a tank. Otto said it was quite silly and no one took it seriously. They were then rushed back to the front to help stem the tide of the Soviet attack on Armie group center. They met up with thier Stug IV's and drivers and immediatlty went into action in the Pripet marshed. The unit perfomed very well and were the hero's for the rest of the division. During the next year, they slowly lost thier vehciles - mostly due to mechanical breakdown. Otto's tank was strafed by the Soviet airforce and the driver was killed. While waiting for new vehicles (Hetzers which never arrived), they continued fighting tanks on foot with Panzerfausts. Ultimatly, the unit provided read guard for the retreat of Gross Deutchland off the Kourland Penisula. They remained there holding until three days after the Germans surrendered - not having heard of the end of the War. They finally were informed and surrendered. because they were post capitulation surrenders, they revieved particularly brutal treatment in the gulags. The commander of Otto's Stug, Felix, told me how he was beated repeately with a steel pipe. He fiened death and a Russian guard took pity on him. Felix showed me the undentations on his head where he was beaten. Felix is still alive today. Otto and his group was finally repatriated in 1951. Otto spend a total of 10 years either fighting or in prision camps. During that time, he was only off the front for two weeks for training. Barry L. Geipel