Original Item. One-of-a-Kind. During World War Two there was a mass of teaching materials used by the armed forces to train gunners and aircrew in the identification of aircraft, ships and ground vehicles. The ability of servicemen to identify "friend or foe" in an instant was crucial to combat survival and the subject of recognition was taught in just about every World War II service school. Trained spotters were important to the war effort and to aid them 1:72 scale models were made.

The Panzerkampfwagen III (Pz.Kpfw. III), commonly known as the Panzer III, was a medium tank developed in the 1930s by Germany, and was used extensively in World War II. The official German ordnance designation was Sd.Kfz. 141. It was intended to fight other armoured fighting vehicles and serve alongside and support the similar Panzer IV, which was originally designed for infantry support.

This is a great early WWII U.S.-made recognition model of a German Panzer III tank which was taken by a soldier and built onto a custom painted wooden base for display. The tank was painted and the ground given a great camouflage of colors which show heavy wear that can only be achieved through decades of wear. The side has a brass plaque with verdigris in some of the letters, reading:

GERMAN
PZ. KW. III

The turret still moves and the tank is a tiny bit loose. The base measures 12 x 7 ¾” and the entire piece is roughly 6 ½” tall. The paint on the tank shows wear but is still very well-retained with just amazing age.

Ready for further research and display!