About

Panzer of the Lake is an image macro series featuring a photograph of a soldier who receives wisdom from a Panzer tank that is submerged in a lake. The images are typically captioned with variations of a phrasal template that begins with the soldier asking, "O panzer of the lake, what is your wisdom?" to which the panzer replies with a variety of humorous statements.

Origin

On February 22nd, 2017, military history website Feldgrau^[6] posted a collection of archive tank photographs, including a photograph of a man looking down at a semi-sunken tank (photograph shown below, left).

On March 21st, 2018, an anonymous 4chan^[7] user posted the photograph to /k/ board, with another user replying "O panzer of the lake, what is your wisdom?" (screenshot shown below, right). On the same day, Tumblr^[8] user condor-blues posted a screenshot of the 4chan thread, with the post gaining over 1,000 likes and reblogs in five months.

On July 30th, 2018, Redditor Leakyz-Beakyz posted an image to the /r/animemes subreddit. The image features a soldier asking the submerged Panzer "O Panzer of the lake, what is your wisdom?" to which it replied, "Traps are gay."^[1] The post gained 2,000 points (96% upvoted) within four days.

Spread

On the same day, other variants of the image spread to other subreddits. Redditor SpaceMun posted an image to the /r/DayOfInfamy^[2] subreddit with the caption "throw smoke grenades," gaining 108 upvotes in four days (shown below, left). On July 31st, 2018, Redditor WastlandPioneer posted the image to the /r/HalfLife^[3] subreddit in which the tank answers "There will never be half-life 3. Move on with your life" (shown below, right). The posted gained 779 points (97% upvoted) within three days.

On July 30th, 2018, Twitter user @VickMenon_MK^[4] posted a variant to twitter with "communism will win" as the tank's reply. (shown below, left). On July 31st, @sonicsledge^[5] posted another variant with "paint the models you already have before buying new ones" as the tank's reply (shown below, right).

Tank Location

On March 19th, 2021, YouTuber ConeOfArc published the video "WE FOUND Panzer of the Lake!" In the video, the narrator states that the tank's location was discovered. According to a report, the Panzer of the Lake's location is likely in the Meuse River. The post received more than 356,000 views in less than one week.

Related Memes

Senpai of the Pool

Senpai of the Pool or Sempai of the Pool refers to a two-panel format featuring the main character of the Magical Sempai anime series submerged in a swimming pool, with her assistant asking her for her wisdom. The format is a reference to Panzer of the Lake format and gained popularity in August 2019.

Impostor of the Vent

Impostor of the Vent refers to a series of memes based on a two-panel image between a Red crewmate and a Black impostor of the multiplayer game Among Us. Identical in its premise to Panzer of the Lake, the format gained popularity on Reddit in September 2020.

Various Examples

Templates

Search Interest

External References