Can anyone tell me if the Panzer IV H/J turret skirt brackets were welded or did they rivid them to the turret?

Hey Jody,

As far as I know, and I did some homework!!, are the turret brackets welded onto the turret, the skirts itself, however, are rivetted to the brackets....

HTH, John.

Hmm I'm not sure about that ..I think they were bolted on to the turret and not welded... It does look like rivets were used to hold the plates on though.

Rick

Two bolts per bracket to attach them to the turret roof, and three rivets or bolts to attach the skirts to the brackets. I don't have a difinitive resource to proof this, but the photo's I have seem to show bolts, rather than rivets, and bolts would make sense as it would be easier to replace the skirts if they are damaged.

Cheers
Henk

Every picture I've seen seem to show brackets as being welded onto turret and shields being bolted onto brackets

having built many Panzer IV's, I have to say that the brackets were bolted to the turret, bolted to the Hull. The brackets were added to the tank after by the crew bolting them to the tank and the turret... here is a pic for a reference

you have to look closely but you'll see the bolts!

I have to disagree - all my references show the brackets were bolted onto the turret as well - not welded.

you're absolutely right, I was half asleep when I wrote that... anyway, the pic didn't turn out, so here is the URL to see a bigger pic of it!

http://us.f3.yahoofs.com/users/417d870bzffa82f92/5969/__tn_/1179.jpg?phuiC6CB0m4yGzTL

I'll bow to the majority opinion. I have no close up pictures that clearly show the bracket attachment points