German Panther Tank Pulled From Underground Pit After More Than 60 Years in Russia
A German Panzerkampfwagen V Panther tank has been recovered from a four-meter-deep underground pit at Kazan National Research Technological University in Kazan, Russia, more than six decades after it was buried.
The tank was discovered in August during demolition work on an old university building. It had been placed in a specially constructed brick-lined pit, with steps leading down toward the turret.
After World War II, the captured Panther was repurposed by the university as an armored structure for laboratory experiments involving high-energy materials, including research related to propellants, explosives and pyrotechnic compounds.
The underground facility was abandoned in the early 1950s after a new testing station was built, and the exact location of the tank was gradually forgotten.
The Panther was lifted from the ground on September 22 and will now undergo conservation and restoration before potentially being displayed as a historical museum piece.
