Until September 2003 locals near the Czarna Nida river in Poland could see a Panther lying under it. It had belonged to the 17th Panzer Division and was lost during the crossing of the river in 1945. The operation to recover the lost Panther began early on 3rd September 2003, an historic date for Poland. The diving team from the White Eagle Museum at Skarzysko - Kamienna, (a town about 100km South of Warsaw), set about inspecting the Panther prior to attaching the first cables. A fire hose was used to blast out decades of sediment from inside the hull of the Panther. By 10am a large crowd had gathered to see the recovery operation.
Above: And a large crowd has now gathered to see the Panther as the team battle to get it to dry land once more. The White Eagle recovery team had not perhaps realised that the German tank still had some fight left in it. They had not come fully prepared for this long struggle. As the crowd waited steel cables were attached to the hull and a large truck started to drag the German behemoth to the shore, but she was having none of it. The cables parted and the tank refused to come out of the Czarna Nida.
Above: The result of the broken cables had not been a total loss. This large piece of armoured plate was wrenched from the hull and brought to the shore. It is seen being inspected by one of the team. The steel shows clear signs of the damage caused by fire and explosion, either during the war, or by subsequent destruction by the Polish military after the war. What you are looking at is the tail plate. The large hole by the mans left hand being the main access plate, the other holes would be for the left & right hand idler adjusting shafts. The first day ends and the team regroup to rethink their strategy. The tank had one the first day, but it's time in the river was coming to an end. The next day, Thursday 4th September 2003 the Panther was dragged from it's resting place and a large crowd were there to witness a unique event. Below: The recovery vehicle takes the strain and with a 3-1 ratio pull the Panther comes out of the river. The assembled people look on, somewhat spellbound by the whole event.
Below: You can see clearly here for the first time the moment when a WW2 veteran is pulled, out of the Czarna Nida. The photograph clearly shows not only the large amount of sediment still inside the hull, the reason why it broke two steel hawsers, but also it appears to show the red primer on the sides of the hull.
Bottom: The hull as it appears now in the White Eagle collection. There is very little left to see of the Panther. The rear panel, which became separated during the recovery operation can be seen piled unceremoniously inside the hull. We are indebted to Krzysztof Jastrzebski for his assistance in this article.
