in the footage at 1:26 of this they show Richard Von Rosen inspecting the Tanks not one of them had side fender skirts where they added on later models they kind of look cool without them Your thoughts on this

https://youtu.be/ayHgpfX9C-M

In that video most if not all of those tanks still had their transport tracks on. the battle tracks are much wider. The side skirts are removed for train trans port also.

i thought the tracks looked smaller in width

Yea, that was the 503 going to Hungry...watch closely and you can see the barrel holder blocks hung on the tanks for transport.

I've seen the blocks in other photos; curious to me why the Germans never implemented an external
travel lock similar to the JagdTiger. I don't believe there is sufficient space over the drivers/ radio operator's
position as the mantlet is in the way

Jerry

I think the block is extra support as all German tanks had an internal travel lock, I have never found a reason why these wooden blocks were used on trains.

I think they look meanier without the skirts. I Removed the skirts on both my Tiger and KT.

do you have pics ?

Yea +1 on that one. Skirts off always look better.... wait... that didnt sound right

Tanks look Great

The skirts were extra armor and there to protect the thin side plates.

Sounded right to me!!

Scott, there is a difference between the fenders "skirts" and schurzen. Fenders added no protection while schuzen did from anti-tank rifles and small munitons shaped charge, which i'm sure you know. Think we may have a nomenclature thingy on this though, are you thinking they are asking about schurzen when referencing "skirts?" Think OP and others are referring to fenders as skirts and not literal translation of schurzen.

This is not quite right for tanks such as PzIII & IV and Panther yes Schurzen did help protect this sides from Anti-tank rifles and latter shaped charges but on Tiger I and more so Tiger II this is not the case the lower sides were 80mm thick this is thicker than the front plate of a Sherman plus this area is between the sponson and top of the tracks so is only a small area, the side skirts on Tiger II are designed primarily as mudguards the shape also hinders soldiers climbing on the tank from the sides as the mud guards protrude over the tracks.

Teehee

On the contrary, it sounded exactly right.