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Six smoke dischargers on turret were electrically fired to provide smoke screen for quick concealment and retreat. Heavily armed recon vehicles are usually dispatched 50 to 100 miles ahead of main columns to prevent enemy surprise encounters or flanking attacks, and report to HQ on enemy movements. In 1944 Normandy static battlelines, Allied and German forces were about 5 to 10 miles apart, thus Puma was used as mobile pillboxes or anti-tank PAK fronts.
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Armor recon doctrine was not to overtly arm these recon vehicles, its purpose was to enemy locate - report - disengage, hence its armament gave just enough firepower to keep enemy forces at bay during this disengagement. BTW, American English lexicon prefer shortened term " recon " for reconnaissance, while British English prefer " recce " which reflects tendency for French phonetics.
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Rollover : ( Rollover JPG link ) | Axe, cable cutters, barrel cleaning rod stowed on fender storage box. Gasoline
spillage stains around fuel port and engine vents created by smearing dirty thinner ( paint residue left on bottom of thinner bottle after paint brush is cleaned ).
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Abandoned German armor column at burnt-out French Chateaux - Normandy 1944. Wrecks include on left Sdkfz 251 Ausf D half-track troop carrier, on right is Sdkfz 234/2 Puma armor car, foreground is 7.5cm PAK40 tow anti-tank gun.
Destroyed SdKfz 251 Ausf D, Gavray - France, August 1944 | LSC
SdKfz 251 Schutzenpanzerwagen | SFZ
7.5 cm Pak 40 | Wiki |
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Puma at battle derelict collection station, this one in very good shape given its frontline combat ( ex. it still had its rear spare wheel ).
Camouflage netting wrapped around Saukopf mantle and gun barrel. License plate WH 886905 indicates it belong to Wehrmacht Heer ( Army ) and is the 886,905th vehicle assigned.
Rear engine deck vents opened, showing access to Tatra 103 V12 diesel engine. Sdkfz 234/2 had a limited production run of 101 vehicles, from Sept 1943 to Sept 1944. Other German vehicles using Tatra 103 engine was Sd.Kfz. 9 "Famo" half-track ( by coincidence its derelicts are in photo background ).
Sd.Kfz. 9 | Wiki
Tatra is a Czech automotive company, its production facilities were seized by Germany during course of 1938 Sudetenland crisis, and subsequent bloodless conquest of Czechoslovakia.
Tatra (company) | Wiki
To offset this crisis, 1938 Munich Agreement was officially signed between United Kingdom - Germany - France - Italy, which history would subsequently dub as " Appeasement ".
Sudetenland | Wiki
Munich Agreement | Wiki
1938 - 1945 German occupation of Czechoslovakia | Wiki
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Puma derelict with Waffen-SS license plates : SS-163733, being inspected by personnel wearing British battle dress uniform ( BDU ).
BDU - Battle Dress Uniforms | FAS
Personnel could be either British, Commonwealth, or one of European Allied nations ( ex. Dutch, Polish, Czech ), don't know for sure unless closer image on service cap and shoulder national badge can be seen.
British Commonwealth | Wiki
Puma discovered among Falaise Gap battle wreckage, probably abandoned by its crew and " scuttled " ( British term for both land / sea self-destruction by crew ). Explosives placed in gun breech, blowing off entire turret assembly, thus prevent enemy from re-using vehicle.
Aug 1944 Falaise Gap Photos | WW2P
The Falaise Pocket | HHX
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American troops passing Puma burned-out hulk in French town, vehicle completed burnt down to its wheel rims. Guessing, this Puma was probably one of the victims during US Operation Cobra ( St. Lo Break-Out ).
Operation Cobra : the break-out | NMC
Not sure if Puma was knocked-out by direct US ground fire, or from aerial ground-attack aircrafts. However, it rear pointing gun barrel somewhat indicative it was engaged with ground targets before its demise.
BTW, British Pathe is UK-based photo / video archive on various subjects.
British Pathe | BPC
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View of another completed burned-out Puma derelict in French town. Probably also a victim of Operation Cobra, its upside-down wreckage indicative it was hit by aerial bombs which flipped the vehicle, such as mass Allied carpet bombing before commencement of ground offensive.
Saturation Bombing of Normandy France on D-Day | YouTubes |
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