| |
Update on Bill Heflin's Panthers -
Geoff Walden
They were all located NE of Steinach, on
the road toward Unterebersbach and Niederlauer - all pretty close to
Unterebersbach, actually (this is a road I did not hunt before, thinking from
the US accounts that this was too far east). (I say "all," although I only found
the three locations below - his other two pics were impossible to pin down - and
I'm not 100% certain about #2).
#2 - This location is 50deg 17' 52" N, 10deg 07' 08" E (you can plug these
coords into MapQuest and get a decent map, although no topo). This one, I'm not
entirely certain of. Actually, there are three sites along this road that
generally look like this, and none of them seems to match his pic exactly,
although this one comes closest. This is looking SW toward Steinach. I was
standing on the southern edge of the road. The hull points toward Steinach
(toward the enemy), although this tank was presumably pushed off the road into
this position. The book from Norbert has a couple pics of this same tank, so
that proves this is the general location of Heflin's tanks.
#3 - This one, I *am* sure of - 100%. That little road running through the view
nails this location down (it is actually a closer match than what it looks in
the pic ... plus the hills in the background match). This is 50deg 17' 53" N,
10deg 06' 31" E ... looking SSE, toward Nickersfelden. Standing again on the
southern edge of the road (I don't know if this one actually stopped here, or
was later pushed off the road ... I suspect the latter). The hull points toward
Unterebersbach, the gun tube toward Steinach (which may or may not mean
anything).
#4 - I'm pretty much certain of this one too, although maybe not 100%. But
everything looks right. This is 50deg 17' 50"N, 10deg 07' 24" E ... looking WNW
down the road toward Steinach. Assuming this tank actually stopped here, it was
going toward Unterebersbach, and was in fact just on the outskirts of that
village.
Here's a topo, with the locations marked:
|
|
