I have looked at the Italerie bergepanther and a bunch of reference photos and I have a question. Being a mechanic and looking at the open compartment on the bergepanther, the crew if not the designers whould have some sort of cover to keep the rain, snow, dirt and leaves out of the area. I have seen a new picture of the bergehetzer and ther are several rods/bars across the crew compartment housing the winch that look like they would have supported a canvas cover.

Does anyone know any veterans who might have operated or seen one of these with the cover on?

With overhead artillery bursts coming in while I'm doing a recovery I would had at least had a wooden cover like the bergepanther based on the D version.