8 replies to this topic

[Anjian]

In the wealthy suburb neighorhood of the German city of Kiel, a collecting pensioner hid a nearly mint condition Panther tank and a 88mm Flak gun in his basement. Authorities came and confiscated his stuff, but his lawyers argue they have been demilitarized (the authorities are not completely sure about that). The tank and the gun gets towed to a Bundeswehr training base and stored there until all legal matters are resolved. Lets hope the tank and the gun goes to a deserving museum, a vintage Panther tank in this condition is a very rare find. The mayor said that in the snowstorm of 1978, he saw the owner chugging along with his tank.

http://www.telegraph...in-Germany.html

http://www.bbc.com/n...ewhere-33381772

http://www.dw.com/en...tion/a-18559383

Edited by Anjian, 04 July 2015 - 07:41 PM.

[bad arcade kitty]

sounds as the house of minobu tetsuhara

[Egomane]

He didn't hide it.

It was well known that he had that tank with the local public and politicians alike. He possesed them for forty years and even presented them from time to time on local fairs and things like that. The tank and the 88 are, by testimony of its now former owner, demilitarized.

For some reason a state's attorny, in the search of lost WW2 treasures, stumbled upon him. Connected 1 and 1 and came up with 5 and opened a case against the old man for a violation of the german weapons of war trade law, immediatly going into action and confiscating the items found (which is his duty, so I don't blame him). He did call in the german Bundeswehr to assist in the removal of the hardware, which can be interpreted as a national deployment of the military, which is prohibited by the german law. They are meant to be a defensive force against external threads only, and are not allowed to act against the german civil population in any form.

The next days will show how those claims hold up. They will show if the weapons were truly demilitarized and therefore legal and they will show if the Bundeswehr was allowed to assist the police with heavy machinery in this case.

[Kalimaster]

I would love to see his basement. So cool, big enough to hide a tank.

[The Mech behind you]

Because having a stash of Assault Rifles, Grenades or Bazookas is so mainstream. Real hipsters have a tank in their basement

On a serious note I don't see any problems when the tank is demilitarized like it is. Historical weapon systems seems to be his hobby. Why take away a mans hobby if no one is going to be harmed.

Considering the costs for maintenance and fuel that guy is punished enough.

[XxXAbsolutZeroXxX]

bad arcade kitty, on 04 July 2015 - 08:53 PM, said:

sounds as the house of minobu tetsuhara

You've read Wolves on the Border?

I think I read "I Jade Falcon" or something like that. And one other book by Stackpole that was centered around Justin Xiang. Those are the only 3 BT books I've read.

What other books are good?

Egomane, on 05 July 2015 - 10:44 AM, said:

For some reason a state's attorny, in the search of lost WW2 treasures, stumbled upon him. Connected 1 and 1 and came up with 5 and opened a case against the old man for a violation of the german weapons of war trade law, immediatly going into action and confiscating the items found (which is his duty, so I don't blame him). He did call in the german Bundeswehr to assist in the removal of the hardware, which can be interpreted as a national deployment of the military, which is prohibited by the german law. They are meant to be a defensive force against external threads only, and are not allowed to act against the german civil population in any form.

Its a natural progression of the "we must disarm citizens and deprive them of the right to own firearms, to give them more freedom" mentality that is prevalent in this post modern age. Demilitarized tanks can be re-armed and re-militarized. This poses a potential future threat to the state, and so must be eradicated.

[Anjian]

It would be extremely difficult, if not impossible to find that parts to restore them into military condition. Even if you are trying to custom machine the parts, you would require some rare blueprints.

This today, is a very rare tank. Only six are known to exist in running condition, probably about another dozen or two in static museum condition. A tank like this would fetch a fortune in an auction.

[XxXAbsolutZeroXxX]

Anjian, on 07 July 2015 - 02:24 AM, said:

It would be extremely difficult, if not impossible to find that parts to restore them into military condition. Even if you are trying to custom machine the parts, you would require some rare blueprints.

This today, is a very rare tank. Only six are known to exist in running condition, probably about another dozen or two in static museum condition. A tank like this would fetch a fortune in an auction.

Rebels have a knack of making things work under circumstances where others wouldn't ordinarily expect them to.

Eg.

[Elizander]

He took care of it for this long. Let the man keep it.