Rudolf Gundlach (1892–1957 His father was a pastor.

In interwar Poland, he worked in the Engineering Department of the Ministry of Military Affairs, as a clerk in the Institute of Engineering Research, and from 1931, was the head of the Armored Weapons Construction Bureau in the Army Research Institute for Engineering. In December 1934, he became the head of the Design and Construction Department in the Armoured Weapons Technical Research Bureau. He remained at this position until the outbreak of World War II. He was decorated with the Silver Cross of Merit. The periscope enabled an observer (e.g., the tank commander) to look forward (upper panel of the picture) or backward (lower panel) without moving his seat. Since it greatly increased the comfort of observer and widened the field of view, the new periscope design was used in virtually every tank built after 1940.

It was first implemented in TKS and 7TP Polish tanks. As a part of Polish-British pre-war military cooperation, the patent was sold to Vickers-Armstrong for one Polish Zloty. It was produced as Vickers Tank Periscope MK.IV (pictured), and built into all British tanks (such as Crusader, Churchill, Valentine, Cromwell). After the fall of Poland, Germany, the USSR and Romania captured equipment, allowing them to copy the invention. In the USSR, the Gundlach periscope was known as MK-4 and implemented in all tanks (including the T-34 and T-70). All Axis tanks and APC (including tanks of Italy, Romania, Hungary, Finland and Japan) were equipped or retro-fitted with this periscope until 1941. The technology was later transferred to the USA and implemented as the M6 periscope in all US tanks (M3/M5 Stuart, M4 Sherman and others). After the Second World War the technology was adopted thorough the whole world. Even today, original Gundlach periscopes are used in some tanks and APCs.

References

Bibliography

  • Grzegorz Łukomski and Rafał E. Stolarski, Nie tylko Enigma... Mjr Rudolf Gundlach (1892-1957) i jego wynalazek (Not Only Enigma... Major Rudolf Gundlach (1892-1957) and His Invention), Warsaw-London, 1999.

See also

  • Polish contribution to WWII
  • List of Poles