Pzkpfw IV (Kleinerpanzer befehlswagen)
The PzKpfw IV used was a close-support medium tank with a short-barreled 75-millimeter KwK37 main gun, had a maximum speed of 25 miles per hour, and weighed 17 tons. The main gun could penetrate 43-millimeter of armor out to 500 yards with high-explosive ammunition and was effective against a soft target out to 2,000 yards.
The design of the future PzKpfw IV tank was developed within the requirements of the 18-tonne machine. Since the development of the tank began back in the time of the Reichswehr, its original name for masking sounded like BW - Bataillonsfuh-rerwagen, that is, the battalion commander's car. BW's design was carried out by Rheinmetall-Borsig AG in Düsseldorf and Friedrich Krupp AG in Essen. Later they were joined by Daimler-Benz and MAN Tank, developed at Rheinmetall, had the chess layout of the rinks inherited from the experienced heavy tank Nd.Fz.
Having attacked Poland on September 1, 1939, the German army already had 211 PzKpfw IV vehicles , during the fighting the command estimated the tank, and it was approved along with PzKpfw III as the main one. Since December 1939, its mass production began. By the beginning of the French campaign in May 1940, in parts of the German army stationed on the western borders of the Reich, there were only 278 PzKpfw IV . Operation Crusader was the desert clash between the German task force led by General Rommel and the Allied task force led by British General Auchinleck in November of 1941. The type of Panzer IV used in Operation Crusader had 50-millimeter of frontal armor plus extra 20-millimeter plate bolted to the hull and sides.
In April 1941, production of the Panzer IV Ausf. F started. It featured 50 mm (1.97 in) single-plate armor on the turret and hull, as opposed to the appliqué armor added to the Ausf. E, and a further increase in side armor to 30 mm (1.18 in). The weight of the vehicle was now 22.3 tonnes (24.6 short tons), which required a corresponding modification of track width from 380 to 400 mm (14.96 to 15.75 in) to reduce ground pressure. The wider tracks also facilitated the fitting of ice sprags, and the rear idler wheel and front sprocket were modified. The designation Ausf. F was changed in the meantime to Ausf. F1, after the distinct new model, the Ausf. F2, appeared. A total of 471 Ausf. F (later temporary called F1) tanks were produced from April 1941 to March 1942.
Before the Soviet T-34, the PzKpfw IV was completely powerless, so the Germans decided to immediately install a long-barreled gun on it and strengthen the armor, thereby somehow leveling PzKpfw IV with the T-34. In the spring of 1942 PzKpfw IV was armed with a new 75-mm KwK 40 L / 43 gun with a barrel length of 43 caliber. The sub-caliber projectile had an initial velociyof 990 m / s and punched through 108-mm armor. This tank received the designation PzKpfw IV F2. In 1942, tanks were manufactured in the modification Pz.IV Ausf G , in 1943 - Pz.IV Ausf H and from June 1944 until the end of the war - Pz.IV Ausf I.
From 1943 the tanks began to have 5-mm shields installed, protecting the sides and the tower side and back from shells and bullets. Welded, of simple design and without a rational angle of inclination of armored plates, the tank body had many hatches, which, in turn, facilitated access to various mechanisms, but at the same time reduced its strength.
PzKpfw IV proved to be a reliable and easily operated machine. However, its design was insufficient, especially the heavily weighted tanks of the latest modifications. Well armed and with excellent armor, they surpassed all the Allied tanks, except for some modifications of the American M4 and the English "Comet". However, PzKpfw IV was inferior to the Soviet T-34 in all characteristics, except, perhaps, the thickness of the frontal armor.
PzKpfw IV's well-developed and well-developed industry base was used to create a number of combat and auxiliary vehicles. From April 1943 until the end of the war, the factories of the Reich and the enslaved countries released about 300 Grizli assault tanks. These, in essence, self-propelled units armed with a 150-mm short-barreled gun were first tested in battles on the Kursk Bulge in July 1943.
The Sturmpanzer IV (also known as Sturmpanzer 43 or Sd.Kfz. 166) was a German armored infantry support gun based on the Panzer IV chassis used in the Second World War. It was used at the Battles of Kursk, Anzio, Normandy, and helped to put down the Warsaw Uprising. It was known by the nickname Brummbär (German: "Grouch") by Allied intelligence, a name which was not used by the Germans. Just over 300 vehicles were built and they were assigned to four independent battalions.
