Quote:
Originally Posted by cyberia
Thanks. The muzzle bag was something Pirate taught me. If the caption says battle and the bag is on, the caption is wrong.
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Thanks for the cudos Cyberia.
Obviously no sane tank crew would go into battle without readying their weapons by removing the muzzle bags.
There are other good indications of tanks "NOT" near the front. Any time the tank crew is riding outside the tank they are not in any position to do battle. Likewise, even if you see hatches that are open the tanks is probably not under threat of eminent attack. If the hatches are all open but no crew is evident, it can indicate the tank was abandoned in a hurry. If the bow mount MGs are missing the tank has probably been captured and/or abandoned. If their are troops riding on a tank, it is probably moving up to the front but it is not in battle. As soon as the bullets start flying, sitting on a tank is a dangerous proposition as it will be a prime target of the enemy.
Sometimes you will see a man cowering behind the turret or troops on the ground hiding behind the tank. That is a good indication of battle action although in some cases it will be in training. Ariel recognition flags generally aren't used unless the tanks are far out in front of the main battle line as is often seen on the Ostfront.
A lot of this is just common sense in determining cause/effect of the why's of a photo. After staring at enough tank pics you start to see patterns!
