Nashorn -Panzerjäger excellente

After the fighting in Russia hade shown the Wehrmacht that the russians also could build heavy tanks, the need for å better and heavier tankdestroyer became clear.

The solution-take an excellent ant-tank gun like the 88cm PAK 43/1 L/71  and place it on a tank chassis. Of course. So the Nashorn (also called Hornet- the 8,8cm Pak43 (L/71) auf Geschützwagen III/IV (Sd. Kfz. 164) was made by a chassis Alkett made  using their recently developed Geschützwagen III/IV which as its name indicated used components of both the Panzer III and Panzer IV tank and a well known 8,8 cm Panzerabwehrkanone 43/1 L/71. (Same gun that was used on the King Tiger later in the war by the way).

1943-1945 almost 500 were built. The Nashorn was a great tool for its job- taking out enemy armoured vehicles from a distance. Due to its weak armour, it was useless in close combat, but with that gun it didnt need to get in close either.... As a mobile version of the 88mm Anti tank gun it was very effective.

 The Hornisse/Nashorn was issued to the heavy antitank battalions (schwere Panzerjäger-Abteilungen), with which six would eventually be equipped: schwere Panzerjäger Abteilung 560, 655, 525, 93, 519 and 88. Each battalion was equipped with 45 Nashorns.
 

It is reported that in early March of 1945, Lieutenant Beckmann from sPzJagAbt 88 destroyed Soviet IS-2 at the range of 4600 meters near Marzdorf.

 The most notable Nashorn ace was platoon commander of 1st company of sPzJagAbt 519, Junior Lieutenant Albert Ernst. On December 23rd of 1943, he destroyed  14 Soviet tanks in a single day using only 21 round of ammunition. The engagement took place near Vitebsk and Albert Ernst received a nickname "Tiger of Vitebsk". In December of 1943, Ernst destroyed total of 19 enemy tanks and on January 22nd of 1944, he was awarded the Knight’s Cross.




Mainsources:
 Wikipedia , achtungpanzer.com

Soldier of 3 armies -WW2 amazing story

It wasnt unusual in WW2 to recruit soldiers from captures forces, this was especially done by the Japanese, the Russians and to some degree Germany. Usually these were used behind the front, or given poor equipment and used as cannonfodder. They were often send to other fronts to avoid them fighting their own. And this is was happened to Yang Kyoungjong - twice after he was first conscripted! Yang was born in 1920 in Korea and was conscripted by the japanese army to fight against the Soviet Union in 1938 when he was 18 years old.  In 1939, during the Battles of Khalkhin Gol he was captured by the red army and send to a labour camp.  As the war on the European Eastern front was weighing heavy on the Soviet forces, thousans of prisoners was send west and forced to fight the germans- and Yang was one of them.

Photo: Yang  in German uniform after being captured by the Americans.

We dont know anything about Yangs skills as a soldier, but we do know he was good at being captured and not killed. In the Battle of Kharkov in Ucraine in 1943 he was caught by the Wehrmacht. He was then send to France as part of a the "Eastern Battalion" - a battalion of Soviet POW`s.

Not surprisingly- Yang was captured again, this time by American paratroppers in June 1944. he was then send to Britain, belived to be a japanese in German uniform. He ended up in a camp in the USA and was released after the war ended.

He settled in Illinois and lived there until his death in 1992. He fought in 3 armies in WW2, on 3 different battlefields and was captured 3 times. He survived.