Modern Warfare: 1944 Edition
Here, we see a PzKpfw. V Panther equipped with the FG1215 infra-red optics. It was designed to work alongside the Uhu IR searchlight mounted onboard a half-track. The Uhu had a range of 600 meters. It would illuminate targets (in the infra-red spectrum) and nearby Panther gunners would see said targets on a small TV monitor linked to their own IR optics.
Panzergrenadier and StG44 Assault Rifle
On the third picture is a panzergrenadier equipped with a StG44 assault rifle mounting a Zielgerät (ZG) 1229 Vampir IR vision device. The sight and searchlight combination weighed 2.25kg on top of the 5kg from the StG44 rifle. The bulky battery backpack came in weighing 15 kilograms.
Development and Deployment of IR Systems
The Germans started working on IR systems in the mid-1930s but never gave them priority.
Sixty-three IR Panthers were apparently deployed in late 1944 and early 1945, and exclusively on the Eastern Front. First in Hungary and then at the Seelow Heights. Those systems arrived on the frontline in very small numbers and too late to make a difference. InfraRed use by the Germans was short-lived, because Soviet strength was so overwhelming that minor tactical success from IR assaults yielded no operational gains:
–RBM
