Moore’s Manoeuvres
Craig Moore investigates the use of one unusual piece of German tank equipment
Quite often you will see something attached to a military vehicle and ponder what its function even is, especially if it seems out of place.
For years people have been asking me: “What is the bucket that hangs from the back of German tanks used for?” They can often be seen in World War Two photographs, dangling from the rear of Panther and Tiger tanks. Single buckets were often attached by putting the large rear towing bracket pin through the pail handle. Rope and wire cables were then used to strap two buckets to the back of the tank. The metal bucket must have made a loud noise as it banged away against the rear armour of the tank as it drove over rough ground, but that would have been drowned out by the roaring of the Maybach engine and the clanking of the tracks. The buckets were often dented and worn, and it was common during the war for tank crewmen to use them as makeshift showers if they had holes in them.
The German military printed a wartime instructional pamphlet to dictate what the bucket was officially intended for. That official use was as a ‘fluid receptacle’, for when the crew wer…
