Nahverteidigungswaffe
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Nahverteidigungswaffe was a close defense weapon for German panzers to combat close assaulting infantry. Rather than actually being a weapon it was a rotating hatch in the roof of the turret or superstructure that allowed the occupants to fire a flare pistol through it. The flare pistol could fire flares, smoke rounds or small calibre fragmentation grenades.
Other methods of close defense involved attaching electrically fired s-mine launchers at the four corners of the tank, or pistol ports.
