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| This shot looks down onto the forward glacis and engine compartment. Working from the front, you can see the immensely thick bolted on armor plate, the vehicle jack being mounted between the two of these, The forward machine gun can be clearly seen. This is a distinguishing feature of the Elefant that is missing from the original Ferdinand, retrofitted after the bitter experience of Kursk where Russian infantry teams ran riot around the "defenseless" assault guns as they penetrated deep into the Russian lines without thier infantry support. Behind the MG, you can see the open hatches for the driver and radio operator/ machine gunner and behind these, the large engine ventilation grilles for the engine compartment. Finally you can see the thick metal shield at the base of the L71 cannon, providing protection to the ball mount of the weapon as it enters the fighting compartment. |