The
Panzerkampfwagen IV (Pz.Kpfw. IV), commonly known as the
Panzer IV, was a medium tank developed in
Nazi GermanyNazi Germany and the Third Reich are the common English names for Germany between 1933 and 1945, while it was led by Adolf Hitler and the National Socialist German Worker's Party . The name Third Reich refers to the state as the successor to the Holy Roman Empire of the Middle Ages and the German...
in the late 1930s and used extensively during the
Second World WarWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including all great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. Its ordnance inventory designation was
Sd.Kfz.Sonderkraftfahrzeug is German for "special purpose vehicle" . The designation was used by Nazi Germany during World War II for armoured fighting vehicles, i.e. for example Sd.Kfz. 101 for the Panzer I....
161.
Designed as an infantry-support tank, the Panzer IV was not originally intended to engage enemy armor—that function was performed by the lighter
Panzer IIIPanzer III is the common name of a medium tank that was developed in the 1930s by Germany and used extensively in World War II. The official German designation was Panzerkampfwagen III translating as "armoured battle vehicle". It was intended to fight other armoured fighting vehicles and serve...
. However, with the flaws of pre-war doctrine becoming apparent and in the face of Soviet T-34 tanks, the Panzer IV soon assumed the tank-fighting role of its increasingly obsolescent cousin. The most widely manufactured and deployed German tank of the Second World War, the Panzer IV was used as the base for many other fighting vehicles, including tank destroyers and
self-propelled anti-aircraft gunsA self-propelled anti-aircraft weapon is an anti-aircraft gun or surface-to-air missile launcher mounted on a mobile vehicle chassis...
. Robust and reliable, it saw service in all combat theaters, and has the distinction of being the only German tank to remain in continuous production throughout the war, with over 8,500 produced between 1936 and 1945. Upgrades and design modifications, often made in response to the appearance of new
AlliedThe Allies of World War II were the countries that opposed the Axis powers during the Second World War . The involvement of the Allies in World War II was either natural and inevitable they were invaded or under the direct threat of invasion by the Axis or compelled by concerns that the Axis powers...
tanks, extended its service life. Generally these involved increasing the Panzer IV's armor protection or upgrading its weapons, although during the last months of the war and with Germany's pressing need for rapid replacement of losses, design changes also included retrograde measures to simplify and speed manufacture.
The Panzer IV was the most widely exported tank in German service, with around 300 sold to partners such as
FinlandFinland , officially the Republic of Finland
, is a Nordic country and democracy situated in the Fennoscandian region of northern Europe. It borders Sweden on the west, Russia on the east, and Norway on the north, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland...
,
SpainSpain , officially the Kingdom of Spain , is a country located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula.
[The Spanish constitution does not establish any official denomination of the country, even though España , Estado español and Nación española are used interchangeably...]
and
BulgariaBulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a country in the Balkans in south-eastern Europe. Bulgaria borders five other countries: Romania to the north , Serbia and the Republic of Macedonia to the west, and Greece and Turkey to the south...
. After the war, the
FrenchFrance , officially the French Republic , is a country located in Western Europe, with several overseas islands and territories located on other continents. Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean...
and Spanish sold dozens of Panzer IVs to
SyriaSyria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south and Israel to the southwest....
, where they saw combat in the 1967
Six-Day WarThe Six-Day War of June 5-10, 1967 was a war between the Israel army and the armies of the neighboring states of Egypt, Jordan, and Syria. The Arab states of Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Tunisia, Morocco and Algeria also contributed troops and arms. At the war's end, Israel had gained control of the...
.
Development history
The Panzer IV was the brainchild of German general and innovative armored warfare theorist
Heinz GuderianHeinz Wilhelm Guderian was a military theorist and innovative General of the German Army during the Second World War. Germany's panzer forces were raised and fought according to his works, best-known among them Achtung - Panzer!...
. In concept, it was intended to be a support tank for use against enemy anti-tank guns and
fortificationFortifications are military constructions and buildings designed for defense in warfare and military bases. Humans have constructed defensive works for many thousands of years, in a variety of increasingly complex designs...
s. Ideally, the tank battalions of a
panzer divisionA panzer division is an armored division in the German Army .Panzer divisions are combined arms formations having both armor and infantry as organic components, along with the usual assets of artillery, anti-aircraft, signals, etc. that are common to most military divisions of the industrial era...
were each to have three medium companies of
Panzer IIIPanzer III is the common name of a medium tank that was developed in the 1930s by Germany and used extensively in World War II. The official German designation was Panzerkampfwagen III translating as "armoured battle vehicle". It was intended to fight other armoured fighting vehicles and serve...
s and one heavy company of Panzer IVs. On 11 January, 1934, the German army wrote the specifications for a "medium tractor", and issued them to a number of defense companies. To support the Panzer III, which was to be armed with a anti-tank gun, the new vehicle was to mount a short-barrelled
main gunA tank gun is the main armament of a tank. Modern tank guns are large-caliber high-velocity guns, capable of firing kinetic energy penetrators, high explosive anti-tank rounds, and in some cases guided missiles.-Overview:...
, and was allotted a weight limit of . Development was carried out under the name
Begleitswagen (accompanying vehicle) , or BW, to disguise its actual purpose, given that Germany was still theoretically bound by the
Treaty of VersaillesThe Treaty of Versailles was one of the peace treaties at the end of World War I. It ended the state of war between Germany and the Allied Powers. It was signed on 28 June 1919, exactly five years after the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. The other Central Powers on the German side of...
. MAN,
KruppThe Krupp family, a prominent 400-year-old German dynasty from Essen, have become famous for their steel production and for their manufacture of ammunition and armaments. The family business, known as Friedrich Krupp AG Hoesch-Krupp, was the largest company in Europe at the beginning of the 20th...
, and
Rheinmetall-BorsigRheinmetall AG is a German automotive and defense company with factories in Düsseldorf, Kassel and Unterlüß.-History:It was founded on 13 April 1889 by Heinrich Ehrhardt, with help from a consortium of banks, as Rheinische Metallwaren- und Maschinenfabrik Aktiengesellschaft.It has a long tradition...
each developed prototypes, with Krupp's being selected for further development.
The chassis had originally been designed with a six-wheeled interleaved suspension, but the German Army amended this to a
torsion barthumb|250px|A front [[VW beetle]] suspension crossectionA torsion bar suspension, also known as a torsion spring suspension or incorrectly torsion beam, is a general term for any vehicle suspension that uses a torsion bar as its main weight bearing spring...
system. Permitting greater vertical deflection of the roadwheels, this was intended to improve performance and crew comfort both on- and off-road. However, due to the urgent requirement for the new tank, neither proposal was adopted, and Krupp instead equipped it with a
leaf springOriginally called laminated or carriage spring, a leaf spring is a simple form of spring, commonly used for the suspension in wheeled vehicles. It is also one of the oldest forms of springing, dating back to medieval times....
double-bogie suspension.
The prototype required a crew of five; the hull contained the engine bay to the rear, with the driver and radio operator, who doubled as the hull gunner, seated at the front-left and front-right, respectively. In the turret, the tank commander sat beneath his roof hatch, while the gunner was situated to the left of the gun breech and the loader to the right. The turret was offset to the left of the chassis center line, while the engine was moved to the right. This allowed the torque shaft to clear the rotary base junction, which provided electrical power to turn the turret, while connecting to the
transmissionA transmission or gearbox provides speed and torque conversions from a rotating power source to another device using gear ratios, including for a motor vehicle partly because of the limitations of internal combustion engines...
box mounted in the hull between the driver and radio operator. Due to the asymmetric layout, the right side of the tank contained the bulk of its stowage volume, which was taken up by ready-use ammunition lockers.
Accepted into service as the
Versuchskraftfahrzeug 622 (Vs.Kfz. 622), production began in 1936 at Krupp-Grusonwerke AG's factory at
MagdeburgMagdeburg , the capital city of the Bundesland of Saxony-Anhalt, Germany, is situated at the Elbe River and was one of the most important medieval cities of Europe. Emperor Otto I, the first Holy Roman Emperor, lived during most of his reign in the town and was buried in the cathedral after his death...
.
Ausf. A to Ausf. F
The first mass-produced version of the Panzer IV was the
Ausführung, A (Ausf. A or Batch A), in 1936. It was powered by
MaybachMaybach-Motorenbau GmbH is a German luxury car manufacturer. It was founded in 1909 by Wilhelm Maybach with his son Karl Maybach as director. The company was originally a subsidiary of Luftschiffbau Zeppelin GmbH and was itself known as "Luftfahrzeug-Motoreinbau GmbH" until 1918...
's HL 108TR, producing , and used the SGR 75 transmission with five forward gears and one reverse, achieving a maximum road speed of . As main armament, the vehicle mounted the
Kampfwagenkanone 37 L/24 (KwK 37 L/24) tank gun, which was a low-velocity gun designed mainly to fire high-explosive shells. Against armored targets, firing the
Panzergranate (
armor-piercing shellAn armor-piercing shell is a type of ammunition designed to penetrate armor. From the 1860s to 1950s, a major application of armor-piercing projectiles was to defeat the thick armor carried on many warships. From the 1920s onwards, armor-piercing weapons were required for anti-tank missions.An...
) at the KwK 37 could penetrate , inclined at 30 degrees, at ranges of up to . A MG 34 machine gun was mounted
coaxiallyA coaxial weapon is a weapon system that is mounted side-by-side with the main weapon system, usually on a tank. Despite the name, a coaxial weapon is not coaxial; a better term might be paraxial....
with the main gun in the turret, while a second machine gun of the same type was mounted in the front plate of the hull. The Ausf. A was protected by of steel armor on the front plate of the chassis, and on the turret. This was capable only of stopping
artillery fragmentsFragmentation is the process by which the casing of an artillery shell, bomb, grenade, etc. is shattered by the detonating high explosive filling. The correct technical terminology for these casing pieces is fragments , although shards or splinters can be used for non-preformed fragments...
, small-arms fire, and light anti-tank projectiles.
After manufacturing 35 tanks of the A version, in 1937 production moved to the Ausf. B. Improvements included the replacement of the original engine with the more powerful Maybach HL 120TR, and the transmission with the new SSG 75 transmission, with six forward gears and one reverse gear. Despite a weight increase to , this improved the tank's speed to . The
glacisA glacis in military engineering is an artificial slope of earth used in late European fortresses so constructed as to keep any potential assailant under the fire of the defenders until the last possible moment...
plate was augmented to a maximum thickness of , and the hull-mounted machine gun was replaced by a covered pistol port. Forty-two Panzer IV Ausf. Bs were manufactured before the introduction of the Ausf. C in 1938. This saw the turret armor increased to , which brought the tank's weight to . After assembling 40 Ausf. Cs, starting with chassis number 80341 the engine was replaced with the improved HL 120TRM. The last of the 140 Ausf. Cs was produced in August 1939, and production changed to the Ausf. D; this variant, totaling 248 vehicles, reintroduced the hull machine gun and changed the turret's internal gun
mantletA mantlet was a large shield or portable shelter used for stopping arrows or bullets, in medieval warfare. A mantlet could be mounted on a wheeled carriage, and protected one or several soldiers....
to an external one. Again protection was upgraded, this time by increasing side armor to . As the German
invasion of PolandThe Invasion of Poland, also known as the September Campaign or 1939 Defensive War in Poland and the Poland Campaign in Germany, was an invasion of Poland by Nazi Germany, the Soviet Union, and a small Slovak contingent that marked the start of World War II...
in September 1939 came to an end, it was decided to scale up production of the Panzer IV, which was adopted for general use on 27 September 1939 as the
Sonderkraftfahrzeug 161 (Sd.Kfz. 161).
In September 1940 the Ausf. E was introduced. This had of armor on the bow plate, while a appliqué steel plate was added to the glacis as an interim measure. Finally, the commander's cupola was moved forward into the turret. Older model Panzer IV tanks were retrofitted with these features when returned to the manufacturer for servicing. Two hundred and twenty-three Ausf. Es were produced between September 1940 and April 1941.
In April 1941 production of the Panzer IV Ausf. F started. It featured 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 . The weight of the vehicle was now , which required a corresponding modification of track width from to reduce ground pressure. The wider tracks also facilitated the fitting of ice
spragA sprag is a one-way freewheel clutch used in a number of applications. It resembles a roller bearing with rollers shaped like a figure eight and cocked with a spring...
s, and the rear idler wheel and front sprocket were modified. A total of 464 Ausf. Fs were produced from April 1941 to March 1942. On May 26 1941, during a conference with Hitler, it was decided to improve the Panzer IV's main armament. Krupp was awarded the contract to integrate a L/60 gun into the turret and to deliver the first prototype by November 15 1941.
The shock of encountering the
SovietThe Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. The name is a translation of the , tr. Soyuz Sovetskikh Sotsialisticheskikh Respublik, abbreviated СССР, SSSR. The common short name is Soviet Union, from , Sovetskiy Soyuz...
T-34The T-34 was a Soviet medium tank produced from 1940 to 1958. Although its armour and armament were surpassed by later tanks of the era, it has been often credited as the most effective, efficient and influential design of World War II...
medium and
KV-1The Kliment Voroshilov tanks were a series of Soviet heavy tanks, named after the Soviet defense commissar and politician Kliment Voroshilov...
heavy tanks during the first months of
Operation BarbarossaOperation Barbarossa was the code name for Nazi Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union during World War II that began on 22 June 1941. Over 4.5 million troops of the Axis powers invaded the USSR along a 2,900 km front...
in the summer of 1941 necessitated a new tank gun to meet these threats. In response to the difficulty of penetrating
BritishThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of Ireland, and many small islands...
MatildaThe Infantry Tank Mark II known as the Matilda II was a British Infantry tank of the Second World War. It was also identified from its General Staff Specification A12....
s during the
Battle of FranceIn World War II, the Battle of France, also known as the Fall of France, was the German invasion of France and the Low Countries, executed from 10 May 1940, which ended the Phoney War. The battle consisted of two main operations...
, the Germans had earlier installed a L/60 gun—based on the 5 cm PaK 38 anti-tank gun—on a Panzer IV Ausf. D. However, with the rapid German victory in Russia, the original order of 80 tanks was cancelled before they entered production. In November 1941, the decision to up-gun the Panzer IV to the L/60 gun was dropped, and instead Krupp was contracted in a joint development to modify
RheinmetallRheinmetall AG is a German automotive and defense company with factories in Düsseldorf, Kassel and Unterlüß.-History:It was founded on 13 April 1889 by Heinrich Ehrhardt, with help from a consortium of banks, as Rheinische Metallwaren- und Maschinenfabrik Aktiengesellschaft.It has a long tradition...
's pending anti-tank gun design (later known as 7.5 cm PaK 40 L/46). Because the recoil length of the PaK 40 was too long for the tank's turret, the recoil mechanism and chamber were shortened. This resulted in the KwK 40 L/43.
The KwK 40 L/43 was mounted on the Panzer IV Ausf. F, and those tanks which received the new, longer gun were renamed Ausf. F2 (with the designation Sd.Kfz. 161/1), while tanks with the shorter gun received the designation Ausf. F1. The F2 increased in weight to , but firing an armor-piercing shot, the gun's muzzle velocity was increased from to . Initially, the gun was mounted with a single-chamber, ball-shaped
muzzle brakeMuzzle brakes and recoil compensators are devices that are fitted to the muzzle of a firearm or cannon to redirect propellant gases with the effect of countering both recoil of the gun and unwanted rising of the barrel during rapid fire...
which provided just under 50% of the recoil system's braking ability. Firing the
Panzergranate 39, the KwK 40 L/43 could penetrate of steel armor at a range of . Three months after beginning production, the Panzer IV. Ausf. F2 was renamed Ausf. G. Four hundred and sixty-two Ausf. F (later F1) tanks were produced from April 1941 to March 1942, of which 25 were converted to the F2 on the production line. One hundred and seventy-five Ausf. F2s were produced from March 1942 to July 1942.
Ausf. G to Ausf. J
During its production run from May 1942 to June 1943, the Panzer IV Ausf. G went through further modifications, including another armor upgrade. Given that the tank was reaching its viable limit, to avoid a corresponding weight increase, the appliqué steel plates were removed from its side armor, which instead had its base thickness increased to . The weight saved was transferred to the front, which saw a face-hardened appliqué steel plate welded (later bolted) to the glacis—in total, frontal armor was now thick. To simplify production, the vision ports on either side of the turret and on the left turret front were removed, while a rack for two spare roadwheels was installed on the track guard on the left side of the hull. Complementing this, brackets for seven spare track links were added to the glacis plate. For operation in high temperatures, the engine's ventilation was improved by creating slits over the engine deck to the rear of the chassis, and cold weather performance was boosted by adding a device to heat the engine's coolant, as well as a starter fluid injector. A new light replaced the original headlight, and the signal port on the turret was removed. In April 1943, the KwK 40 L/43 was replaced by the longer KwK 40 L/48 gun, with a redesigned multi-baffle muzzle brake with improved recoil efficiency.
The next version, the Ausf. H, began production in April 1943 and received the designation Sd. Kfz. 161/2. This variant saw the integrity of the glacis armor improved by manufacturing it as a single plate. To prevent adhesion of magnetic anti-tank mines, which the Germans feared would be used in large numbers by the Allies,
ZimmeritZimmerit was a coating produced for German armored fighting vehicles during World War II for the purpose of combating magnetically attached anti-tank mines, although Germany was the only country to use magnetic mines against tanks in great numbers...
paste was added to all the vertical surfaces of the tank's armor. The vehicle's side and turret were further protected by the addition of side-skirts and a turret skirt. During the Ausf. H's production run its rubber-tired return rollers were replaced with cast steel; the hull was fitted with triangular supports for the easily-damaged side-skirts. A hole in the roof, designed for a new close-support weapon, was plugged by an armored plate due to the shortage of machine guns. These modifications meant that the tank's weight jumped to , reducing its speed, a situation not improved by the decision to adopt the Panzer III's six-speed SSG 77 transmission, which was inferior to that of earlier-model Panzer IVs.
Despite addressing the mobility problems introduced by the previous model, the final production version of the Panzer IV—the Ausf. J—was considered a retrograde from the Ausf. H. Born of German necessity to replace heavy losses, it was greatly simplified to speed production. The electric generator that powered the tank's turret traverse was removed to allow the installation of an auxiliary fuel tank; road range was thereby increased to , but the turret had to be rotated manually. The pistol and vision ports in the turret were removed, and the engine's radiator housing was simplified by changing the slanted sides to straight sides. In addition, the cylindrical
mufflerA muffler is a device for reducing the amount of noise emitted by a machine. On internal combustion engines, the engine exhaust blows out through the muffler....
was replaced by two flame-suppressing mufflers. By late 1944,
Zimmerit was no longer being applied to German armored vehicles, and the Panzer IV's side-skirts had been replaced by wire mesh, while to further speed production the number of return rollers was reduced from four to three.
In a bid to augment the Panzer IV's firepower, an attempt was made to mate a
PantherThe Panther was a tank fielded by Nazi Germany in World War II that served from mid-1943 to the end of the European war in 1945. It was intended as a counter to the T-34, and to replace the Panzer III and IV, though it served along with them as well as the heavier Tiger tanks until the end of the...
turret—carrying the longer L/70 tank gun—to a Panzer IV hull. This was unsuccessful, and confirmed that the chassis had, by this time, reached the limits of its adaptability in both weight and available volume.
Production
Panzer IV production by year
| Date |
Number of Vehicles |
Additional Information |
| 1937–1939 |
262 |
Ausf. A – D |
| 1940 |
386 |
Ausf. E |
| 1941 |
769 |
|
| 1942 |
est. 880 |
Ausf. E – G |
| 1943 |
3,013 |
Ausf. H |
| 1944 |
3,125 |
Ausf. J |
| 1945 |
est. 435 |
|
| Total |
8,870 |
|
The Panzer IV was originally intended to be used only on a limited scale, so initially Krupp was its sole manufacturer. Prior to the Polish campaign, only 262 Panzer IVs were produced: 35 Ausf. A; 42 Ausf. B; 140 Ausf. C; and 45 Ausf. D. After the invasion of Poland, and with the decision to adopt the tank as the mainstay of Germany's armored divisions, production was extended to the
NibelungenwerkeEisenwerke Oberdonau was a large steel and iron producing company, a holding of several steel works in southern Germany and Austria. Created after the Anschluss of Austria, it formed the part of the so-called Reichswerke Hermann Göring AG cartel, the main supplier of steel and iron for the German...
factory (managed by
Steyr-Daimler-PuchSteyr-Daimler-Puch was a large manufacturing conglomerate based in Steyr, Austria which was broken up in 1990. The component parts and operations continued to exist under separate ownership and new names.- History :...
) in the Austrian city of St. Valentin. Production increased as the Ausf. E was introduced, with 223 tanks delivered to the German army. By 1941, 462 Panzer IV Ausf. Fs had been assembled, and the up-gunned Ausf. F2 was entering production. The yearly production total had more than quadrupled since the start of the war.
As the later Panzer IV models emerged, a third factory, Vomag (located in the city of
PlauenPlauen is a city in the Free State of Saxony, east-central Germany.It is the capital of the Vogtlandkreis. The city is situated near the border of Bavaria and the Czech Republic.Plauen's slogan is Plauen - echt Spitze.-History:...
), began assembly. In 1941 an average of 39 tanks per month were built, and this rose to 83 in 1942, 252 in 1943, and 300 in 1944. However, in December 1943, Krupp's factory was diverted to manufacture the
Sturmgeschütz IVThe Sturmgeschütz IV , was a German assault gun of the Second World War.-Development:The Sturmgeschütz IV resulted from Krupp's effort to supply an assault gun. As Krupp did not build Panzerkampfwagen IIIs, they used the Panzerkampfwagen IV chassis in combination with a slightly modified...
, and in the spring of 1944 the Vomag factory began production of the
Jagdpanzer IVThe Jagdpanzer IV, Sd.Kfz. 162, was a tank destroyer based on the Panzer IV chassis built in three main variants. It was developed against the wishes of Heinz Guderian, the inspector general of the Panzertruppen, as a replacement for the Stug III...
, leaving the Nibelungenwerke as the only plant still assembling the Panzer IV. With the slow collapse of German industry under pressure from Allied air and ground offensives — in October 1944 the Nibelungenwerke factory was severely damaged during a bombing raid — by March and April 1945 production had fallen to pre-1942 levels, with only around 55 tanks per month coming off the assembly lines.
Export
The Panzer IV was the most exported German tank of the Second World War. In 1942 Germany delivered 11 tanks to
RomaniaRomania is a country located in Southeastern and Central Europe, North of the Balkan Peninsula, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea. Almost all of the Danube Delta is located within its territory...
and 32 to
HungaryHungary , in English officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in the Carpathian Basin of Central Europe, bordered by Austria, Slovakia, Ukraine, Romania, Serbia, Croatia, and Slovenia. Its capital is Budapest. Hungary is a member of OECD, NATO, EU, V4 and is a Schengen state...
, many of which were lost on the
Eastern FrontThe Eastern Front of World War II was a theatre of war between the European Axis powers, Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy, Hungary, Romania, Slovakia, Croatia and Finland , and the Soviet Union which encompassed central and eastern Europe from 22 June 1941 to 9...
between the final months of 1942 and the beginning of 1943. To arm
BulgariaBulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a country in the Balkans in south-eastern Europe. Bulgaria borders five other countries: Romania to the north , Serbia and the Republic of Macedonia to the west, and Greece and Turkey to the south...
, Germany supplied 46 or 91 Panzer IVs, and offered
ItalyItaly , officially the Italian Republic , is a country located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe and on the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia. Italy shares its northern, Alpine boundary with France, Switzerland, Austria and Slovenia...
12 tanks to form the nucleus of a new armored division. These were used to train Italian crews while Italian dictator
Benito MussoliniBenito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini,
KSMOM GCTE was an Italian politician who led the National Fascist Party and is credited with being one of the key figures in the creation of Fascism. He became the Prime Minister of Italy in 1922 and began using the title Il Duce by...
was deposed, but were retaken by Germany during its occupation of Italy in mid-1943. The
SpanishSpain , officially the Kingdom of Spain , is a country located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula.
[The Spanish constitution does not establish any official denomination of the country, even though España , Estado español and Nación española are used interchangeably...]
government petitioned for 100 Panzer IVs in March 1943, but only 20 were ever delivered, by December.
FinlandFinland , officially the Republic of Finland
, is a Nordic country and democracy situated in the Fennoscandian region of northern Europe. It borders Sweden on the west, Russia on the east, and Norway on the north, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland...
received 20 Panzer IVs in 1944, and the same year a second batch of 62 or 72 were sent to Hungary (although 20 of these were diverted to replace German losses). In total some 297 Panzer IVs of all models were delivered to Germany's allies.
Combat History
The Panzer IV was the only German tank to remain in both production and combat throughout World War II, and measured over the entire war it comprised 30% of the
WehrmachtWehrmacht was the name of the unified armed forces of Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the Heer , the Kriegsmarine and the Luftwaffe ....
's total tank strength. Although in service by early 1939, in time for the
occupation of CzechoslovakiaFollowing the Anschluss of Nazi Germany and Austria in March 1938, Nazi leader Adolf Hitler's next target for annexation was Czechoslovakia. His pretext was the alleged privations suffered by ethnic German populations living in Czechoslovakia's northern and western border regions, known...
, at the start of the war the majority of German armor was made up of obsolete
Panzer IThe Panzer I is a light tank which was produced in Germany in the 1930s. The name is short for the German , abbreviated . The tank's official German ordnance inventory designation was SdKfz 101 .Design of the Panzer I began in 1932 and mass production in 1934...
s and
Panzer IIPanzer II is the common name of a German tank used in World War II. The official German designation was Panzerkampfwagen II . Designed as a stopgap while other tanks were developed, it played an important role in the early years of World War II, during the Polish and French campaigns...
s. The Panzer I in particular had already proved inferior to Soviet tanks, such as the
T-26It was produced in greater numbers than any 1930s tank, with around 12,000 produced. A large number of different modifications and armoured combat vehicles based on the T-26 chassis were developed in the USSR in the 1930s, 23 of them were series-produced.The T-26 saw a long history in the armies...
, during the
Spanish Civil WarThe Spanish Civil War was a major conflict that devastated Spain from 17 July 1936 to 1 April 1939. It began after an attempted coup d'état by a group of Spanish Army generals against the government of the Second Spanish Republic, then under the leadership of president Manuel Azaña...
.
Western Front and North Africa (1939–1942)
When
Germany invaded PolandThe Invasion of Poland, also known as the September Campaign or 1939 Defensive War in Poland and the Poland Campaign in Germany, was an invasion of Poland by Nazi Germany, the Soviet Union, and a small Slovak contingent that marked the start of World War II...
on 1 September 1939, its armored corps was composed of 1,445 Panzer Is, 1,223 Panzer IIs, 98 Panzer IIIs and 211 Panzer IVs; the more modern vehicles amounted to less than 10% of Germany's armored strength. The 1st Panzer Division had a roughly equal balance of types, with 17 Panzer Is, 18 Panzer IIs, 28 Panzer IIIs, and 14 Panzer IVs per battalion. The remaining panzer divisions were heavy with obsolete models, equipped as they were with 34 Panzer Is, 33 Panzer IIs, 5 Panzer IIIs, and 6 Panzer IVs per battalion. Although the Polish army possessed less than 200 tanks capable of penetrating the German light tanks, Polish anti-tank guns proved more of a threat, reinforcing German faith in the value of the close-support Panzer IV.
Despite increasing production of the medium Panzer IIIs and IVs prior to the
German invasion of FranceIn World War II, the Battle of France, also known as the Fall of France, was the German invasion of France and the Low Countries, executed from 10 May 1940, which ended the Phoney War. The battle consisted of two main operations...
on 10 May 1940, the majority of German tanks were still light types. According to Heinz Guderian, the Wehrmacht invaded France with 523 Panzer Is, 955 Panzer IIs, 349 Panzer IIIs, 278 Panzer IVs, 106
Panzer 35(t)The Panzerkampfwagen 35, commonly shortened to Panzer 35 or abbreviated as Pz.Kpfw. 35, was a Czech-designed light tank used mainly by Nazi Germany during World War II. The letter stood for tschechisch . In Czech service it had the formal designation Lehký Tank vzor 35, but was commonly referred...
s and 228
Panzer 38(t)The Panzerkampfwagen 38 was a Czech tank used by Germany during World War II. The stands for tschechisch, the German word for Czech. . The special vehicle designation for the tank in Germany was Sd.Kfz...
s. Through the use of tactical radios and superior tactics, the Germans were able to outmaneuver and defeat French and British armor. However, Panzer IVs armed with the KwK 37 L/24 tank gun found it difficult to engage French tanks such as Somua S35 and
Char B1The Char B1 was a French heavy tank manufactured before the Second World War.The Char B1 was a specialised heavy break-through vehicle, originally conceived as a self-propelled gun with a 75 mm howitzer in the hull; later a 47 mm gun in a turret was added, to allow it to function also as a Char de...
. The Somua S35 had a maximum armor thickness of ,, while the KwK 37 L/24 could only penetrate at a range of . Likewise, the British
Matilda Mk IIThe Infantry Tank Mark II known as the Matilda II was a British Infantry tank of the Second World War. It was also identified from its General Staff Specification A12....
was heavily armored, with up to of steel on the turret.
Although the Panzer IV was deployed to
North AfricaNorth Africa or Northern Africa is the northernmost region of the African continent, linked by the Sahara to Sub-Saharan Africa.Geopolitically, the UN definition of Northern Africa includes the following seven countries or territories; Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, Sudan, Tunisia,Mauritania, and...
with the German
Afrika KorpsThe German Afrika Korps was the German expeditionary force in Libya and Tunisia during the North African Campaign of World War II...
, until the longer gun variant began production, the tank was outperformed by the Panzer III with respect to armor penetration. Both the Panzer III and IV had difficulty in penetrating the British
Matilda IIThe Infantry Tank Mark II known as the Matilda II was a British Infantry tank of the Second World War. It was also identified from its General Staff Specification A12....
's thick armor, while the Matilda's
40 mm QF 2 pdr gunThe Ordnance QF 2-pounder was a 40 mm British anti-tank and vehicle-mounted gun, employed in the Second World War. It was actively used in the Battle of France, and during the North Africa campaign...
could knock out either German tank; its major disadvantage was its low speed. By August 1942, Rommel had only received 27 Panzer IV Ausf. F2s, armed with the L/43 gun, which he deployed to spearhead his armored offensives. The longer gun could penetrate all American and British tanks in theater at ranges of up to . Although more of these tanks arrived in North Africa between August and October 1942, their numbers were insignificant compared to the amount of matériel shipped to British forces.
The Panzer IV also took part in the
invasion of YugoslaviaThe Invasion of Yugoslavia , also known as the April War , was the Axis Powers' attack on Kingdom of Yugoslavia on April 6, 1941 during World War II...
and the
invasion of GreeceThe Battle of Greece was a World War II battle that occurred on the Greek mainland and in southern Albania. The battle was fought between the Allied and Axis forces...
in early 1941.
Eastern Front (1941–1945)
With the launching of
Operation BarbarossaOperation Barbarossa was the code name for Nazi Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union during World War II that began on 22 June 1941. Over 4.5 million troops of the Axis powers invaded the USSR along a 2,900 km front...
on 22 June 1941, the unanticipated appearance of the KV-1 and
T-34The T-34 was a Soviet medium tank produced from 1940 to 1958. Although its armour and armament were surpassed by later tanks of the era, it has been often credited as the most effective, efficient and influential design of World War II...
tanks prompted an upgrade of the Panzer IV's gun. The decision was made to give the Panzer IV's a longer, high-velocity gun suitable for antitank use. The up-gunning of the Panzer IV meant that it could now penetrate the T-34 tank at ranges of up to at any angle. The KwK 40 L/43 gun on the Panzer IV could penetrate a T-34 at a variety of impact angles beyond range and up to . Shipment of the first model to mount the new gun, the Ausf. F2, began in spring 1942, and by the summer offensive there were around 135 Panzer IVs with the L/43 tank gun available. At the time, these were the only German tank that could defeat the Soviet T-34 or KV-1. They played a crucial role in the events which unfolded between June 1942 and March 1943, and the Panzer IV became the mainstay of the German panzer divisions. Although in service by late September 1942, the Tiger I was not yet numerous enough to make an impact, and was suffering from serious teething problems, while the Panther would not be delivered to German units in the Soviet Union until May 1943. The extent of German reliance on the Panzer IV during this period is reflected by their losses; 502 were destroyed on the Eastern Front in 1942.
The Panzer IV continued to play an important role during operations in 1943, including at the
Battle of KurskThe Battle of Kursk refers to German and Soviet operations on the Eastern Front of World War II in the vicinity of the city of Kursk in July and August 1943. It remains both the largest series of armoured clashes, including the Battle of Prokhorovka, and the costliest single day of aerial warfare...
. Newer types such as the Panther were still experiencing crippling reliability problems which restricted their combat efficiency, so much of the effort fell to the 841 Panzer IVs which took part in the battle. Throughout 1943, the German army lost 2,352 Panzer IVs on the Eastern Front; some divisions were reduced to 12–18 tanks by the end of the year. In 1944, a further 2,643 Panzer IVs were destroyed, and such losses were becoming increasingly difficult to replace. The elimination of Army Group Center in mid-1944, during Operation Bagration, crippled the Wehrmacht. By the last year of the war, the Panzer IV was definitively outclassed by the upgraded
T-34-85The T-34 was a Soviet medium tank produced from 1940 to 1958. Although its armour and armament were surpassed by later tanks of the era, it has been often credited as the most effective, efficient and influential design of World War II...
, mounting an gun, and other late-model Soviet tanks such as the -armed
IS-2The Iosif Stalin tank , was a heavy tank developed by the Soviet Union during World War II...
heavy tank. Nevertheless, due to a shortage of replacement Panther tanks, the Panzer IV continued to form the core of Germany's armored divisions, including elite units such as the
II SS Panzer CorpsThe II.SS-Panzerkorps was a German Waffen-SS armoured corps which saw action on both the Eastern and Western Fronts during World War II.- Formation - Kharkov :...
, through 1944.
In January 1945, 287 Panzer IVs were lost on the Eastern Front. It is estimated that combat against Soviet forces accounted for 6,153 Panzer IVs, or about 75% of all Panzer IV losses during the war.
Western Front (1944–1945)
Panzer IVs comprised around half of the available German tank strength on the
Western FrontThe Western Front of the European Theatre of World War II encompassed, Denmark, Norway, Luxembourg, Belgium, the Netherlands, France, and west Germany. The Western Front was marked by two phases of large-scale ground combat operations...
prior to the Allied invasion of Normandy on June 6 1944. Most of the 11 panzer divisions that saw action in Normandy initially contained an armored regiment of one battalion of Panzer IVs and another of Panthers, for a total of around 160 tanks, although
Waffen-SSThe Waffen-SS was the combat arm of the Schutzstaffel or SS, an organ of the Nazi Party. The Waffen-SS saw action throughout World War II and grew from three regiments to over 38 divisions, and served alongside the Wehrmacht Heer regular army, but was never formally part of it...
panzer divisions were generally larger and better-equipped than their
HeerThe Heer was the Army land forces component of the German armed forces from 1935 to 1945, the latter also included the Navy and the Air Force...
counterparts. Regular upgrades to the Panzer IV had helped to maintain its reputation as a formidable opponent. Despite overwhelming Allied air superiority, the Norman
bocageBocage is a Norman word which has entered both the French and English languages. It may refer to a small forest, a decorative element of leaves, a terrain of mixed woodland and pasture, or a type of rubble-work, comparable with the English use of 'rustic' in relation to garden...
countryside in the US sector heavily favored defense, and German tanks and anti-tank guns inflicted horrendous casualties on Allied armor during the
Normandy campaignOperation Overlord was the code name for the invasion of western Europe during World War II by Allied forces. The operation began on 6 June 1944 with the Normandy Landings when an airborne assault preceded an amphibious assault...
. On the offensive, however, the Panzer IVs, Panthers and other armored vehicles proved equally vulnerable in the bocage, and counter-attacks rapidly stalled in the face of infantry-held anti-tank weapons, tank destroyers and anti-tank guns, as well as the ubiquitous fighter bomber aircraft. That the terrain was highly unsuitable for tanks was illustrated by the constant damage suffered to the side-skirts of the Ausf. H's; essential for defence against
shaped chargeA shaped charge is an explosive charge shaped to focus the effect of the explosive's energy. Various types are used to cut and form metal, initiate nuclear weapons, and penetrate armor...
anti-tank weapons such as the British
PIATThe Projector, Infantry, Anti Tank was a British anti-tank weapon developed during the Second World War. The PIAT was designed in response to the British Army's need for a hand-held infantry anti-tank weapon that was more effective than the current weapons it possessed...
, all German armored units were "exasperated" by the way these were torn off during movement through the dense orchards and hedgerows. The Allies had also been developing lethality improvement programs of their own; the widely-used American-designed
M4 ShermanThe M4 Sherman, formally Medium Tank, M4, was the primary tank used by the United States during World War II. It was also distributed to the Allies via lend lease. Evolved from previous medium and light tanks, it was the first American medium tank with a fully traversing turret for the main gun...
medium tank, while mechanically reliable, suffered from thin armor and an inadequate gun. Against earlier-model Panzer IVs it could hold its own, but with its 75 mm M3 gun, struggled against the late-model Panzer IV (and was unable to penetrate the frontal armor of Panther and Tiger tanks at virtually any range). The late-model Panzer IV's frontal hull armor could easily withstand hits from the weapon on the Sherman at normal combat ranges, though the turret remained vulnerable. The British up-gunned the Sherman with their highly effective
QF 17 pounder anti-tank gunThe Ordnance QF 17 pounder was a 76.2 mm gun developed by the United Kingdom during World War II. It was used as an anti-tank gun on its own carriage, as well as equipping a number of British tanks. It was the most effective Allied anti-tank gun of the war. Used with the APDS shot it was capable...
, resulting in the
FireflyThe Sherman Firefly was a World War II British and Canadian variation of the American Sherman tank, fitted with the powerful British 17 pounder anti-tank gun as its main weapon...
; although this was the only Allied tank capable of dealing with all current German tanks at normal combat ranges, few (about 300) were available in time for the Normandy invasion. It was not until July 1944 that American Shermans, fitted with the
M1 tank gunThe 76 mm M1 Gun was an American Forces World War II-era tank gun, which replaced the 75 mm gun on late Medium tank M4s, and was used for all 76 mm Gun Motor Carriage M18 tank destroyers....
, began to achieve a parity in firepower with the Panzer IV. However, despite the general superiority of its armored vehicles, by August 29 1944, as the last surviving German troops of Fifth Panzer Army and Seventh Army retreated toward
ParisParis is the capital of France and the country's most populous city. It is situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, the twin cataclysms of the
Falaise PocketThe battle of the Falaise Pocket, fought during the Second World War from 12–21 August 1944, was the decisive engagement of the Battle of Normandy...
and the
SeineThe Seine is a slow-flowing major river and commercial waterway within the regions of Île-de-France and Haute-Normandie in France and famous as a romantic backdrop in photographs of Paris, France. It is also a tourist attraction, with excursion boats offering sightseeing tours of the Rive Droite...
crossing had cost the Wehrmacht dearly. Of the 2,300 tanks and assault guns it had committed to Normandy (including around 750 Panzer IVs), over 2,200 had been lost.
Field MarshalField Marshal is a military officer rank. Today, it is the highest rank in the armies in which it is used, one step above a general or colonel-general.-Usage and hierarchical position:...
Walter ModelOtto Moritz Walter Model was a German general and later field marshal during World War II. He is noted for his defensive battles in the latter half of the war, mostly on the Eastern Front but also in the west, and for his close association with Adolf Hitler and Nazism...
reported to Hitler that his panzer divisions had remaining, on average, five or six tanks each.
During the winter of 1944–45, the Panzer IV was one of the most widely used tanks in the
Ardennes offensiveThe Ardennes Offensive was a major German offensive , launched towards the end of World War II through the forested Ardennes Mountains region of Belgium , France and Luxembourg on the Western Front...
, where further heavy losses—as often due to fuel shortages as to enemy action—impaired major German armored operations in the West thereafter. The Panzer IVs which took part were those which had survived the battles in France between June and September 1944, with around 260 additional Panzer IV Ausf. Js issued as reinforcements.
Post-1945
In the 1960s
SyriaSyria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south and Israel to the southwest....
received a number of Panzer IVs from the French, replacing the turret's machine gun with a Soviet-made machine gun. These were used to shell
IsraelIsrael officially the State of Israel , is a developed state in Western Asia located on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea. It borders Lebanon in the north, Syria in the northeast, Jordan in the east, and Egypt on the southwest, and contains geographically diverse features within its...
i settlements below the
Golan HeightsThe Golan Heights is a strategic plateau and mountainous region at the southern end of the Anti-Lebanon Mountains and remains a highly contested land straddling the borders of Syria and Israel. Two-thirds of the area is currently governed by Israel...
, and were fired upon during the 1965 "Water War" by Israeli
Centurion tankThe Centurion was the primary British main battle tank of the post World War II period, and was a successful tank design, with upgrades, for many decades. The chassis was also adapted for several other roles....
s. Syria received 17 more Panzer IVs from Spain, which saw combat during the
Six-Day WarThe Six-Day War of June 5-10, 1967 was a war between the Israel army and the armies of the neighboring states of Egypt, Jordan, and Syria. The Arab states of Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Tunisia, Morocco and Algeria also contributed troops and arms. At the war's end, Israel had gained control of the...
in 1967.
The Finns bought 15 new Panzer IV Ausf J in 1944, for 5,000,000 Finnish
markkas each (about twice the production price). The tanks arrived too late to see action against the Soviets, but were instead used against the Germans in the
Lapland WarThe Lapland War were the hostilities between Finland and Nazi Germany between September 1944 and April 1945, fought in Finland's northernmost Lapland Province. While the Finns saw this as a separate conflict much like the Continuation War, German forces considered their actions to be part of the...
. After the war, they served as training tanks, and one portrayed a Soviet KV-1 tank in the movie
The Unknown SoldierThe Unknown Soldier is a Finnish film directed by Edvin Laine and premiered in December 1955. It is based on The Unknown Soldier, a novel by Väinö Linna. The story is about the Continuation War between Finland and the Soviet Union as told from the viewpoint of ordinary Finnish soldiers...
in 1955.
After 1945, Bulgaria incorporated its surviving Panzer IV tanks in defensive bunkers as gunpoints on the border with
TurkeyTurkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey
, is a Eurasian country that stretches across the Anatolian peninsula in Western Asia and Thrace in the Balkan region of southeastern Europe...
, along with
T-34The T-34 was a Soviet medium tank produced from 1940 to 1958. Although its armour and armament were surpassed by later tanks of the era, it has been often credited as the most effective, efficient and influential design of World War II...
turrets. This defensive line known as the "Krali Marko Line", remained in use until the fall of
socialismSocialism refers to various theories of economic organization advocating public or direct worker ownership and administration of the means of production and allocation of resources, and a society characterized by equal access to resources for all individuals with a method of compensation based on...
in 1989.
Variants
In keeping with the wartime German design philosophy of mounting an existing anti-tank gun on a convenient chassis to give mobility, several
tank destroyerA self-propelled anti-tank gun, or tank destroyer, is a type of armored fighting vehicle designed specifically to engage enemy armored vehicles. Many have been produced as a tank-like vehicle, but with light armor and capable of higher speed, with a gun or missile launcher. Many lack turrets...
s and infantry support guns were built around the Panzer IV hull. Both the
Jagdpanzer IVThe Jagdpanzer IV, Sd.Kfz. 162, was a tank destroyer based on the Panzer IV chassis built in three main variants. It was developed against the wishes of Heinz Guderian, the inspector general of the Panzertruppen, as a replacement for the Stug III...
, initially armed with the L/48 tank gun, and the Krupp-manufactured
Sturmgeschütz IVThe Sturmgeschütz IV , was a German assault gun of the Second World War.-Development:The Sturmgeschütz IV resulted from Krupp's effort to supply an assault gun. As Krupp did not build Panzerkampfwagen IIIs, they used the Panzerkampfwagen IV chassis in combination with a slightly modified...
, which was the casemate of the
Sturmgeschütz IIIThe Sturmgeschütz III assault gun was Germany's most produced armoured fighting vehicle during World War II. It was built on the chassis of the proven Panzer III tank...
mounted on the body of the Panzer IV, proved highly effective in defense. Cheaper and faster to construct than tanks, but with the disadvantage of a very limited gun traverse, around 1,980 Jagdpanzer IV's and 1,140 Sturmgeschütz IVs were produced. The Jagdpanzer IV eventually received the same 75 millimeter L/70 gun that was mounted on the Panther.
Another variant of the Panzer IV was the
Panzerbefehlswagen IV (Pz.Bef.Wg. IV) command tank. This conversion entailed the installation of additional radio sets, mounting racks, transformers, junction boxes, wiring, antennas and an auxiliary electrical generator. To make room for the new equipment, ammunition stowage was reduced from 87 to 72 rounds. The vehicle could coordinate with nearby armor, infantry or even aircraft. Seventeen
Panzerbefehlswagen were converted from Ausf. J chassis, while another 88 were based on refurbished chassis.
The
Panzerbeobachtungswagen IV (Pz.Beob.Wg. IV) was an
artillery observationAn artillery observer is a soldier responsible for directing artillery fire and close air support onto enemy positions. Because artillery is an indirect-fire weapon system, the guns are rarely in line-of-sight of their target, often located tens of miles away...
vehicle built on the Panzer IV chassis. This, too, received new radio equipment and an electrical generator, installed in the left rear corner of the fighting compartment.
Panzerbeobachtungswagens worked in cooperation with
self-propelled artillerySelf-propelled artillery vehicles are a way of giving mobility to artillery. Within the term are covered self-propelled guns and rocket artillery...
WespeThe SdKfz 124 Wespe or was a German self-propelled artillery vehicle developed and used during the Second World War...
and
HummelThe Hummel was a self-propelled artillery gun based on the Geschützwagen III/IV chassis, armed with a 15 cm howitzer. It was used by the German Wehrmacht during the Second World War from late 1942 until the end of the war....
batteries.
Also based on the Panzer IV chassis was the
Sturmpanzer IV
BrummbärThe Sturmpanzer IV was a German armoured 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...
infantry-support self-propelled gun. These vehicles were primarily issued to four Sturmpanzer units (Numbers 216, 217, 218 and 219) and used during the battle of Kursk and in Italy in 1943. Two separate versions of the Sturmpanzer IV existed, one without a machine gun in the mantlet and one with a machine gun mounted on the mantlet of the casemate. Furthermore, a artillery gun was mounted in an experimental turret on a Panzer IV chassis. This variant was called the
Heuschrecke, or Grasshopper.
Four different self-propelled anti-aircraft vehicles were built on the Panzer IV hull. The
Flakpanzer IV MöbelwagenThe 3.7cm FlaK auf Fahrgestell Panzerkampfwagen IV , nicknamed Möbelwagen because of its boxy turret , was a self-propelled anti-aircraft gun built from the chassis of the Panzer IV tank...
was armed with a anti-aircraft cannon; 240 were built between 1944 and 1945. In late 1944 a new
Flakpanzer, the
WirbelwindThe Flakpanzer IV "Wirbelwind" was a self-propelled anti-aircraft gun based on the Panzer IV tank. It was developed in 1944 as a successor to the earlier self-propelled anti-aircraft gun Möbelwagen....
, was designed, with enough armor to protect the gun's crew and a rotating turret, armed with quadruple Flak 38 guns; at least 100 were manufactured. Sixty-five similar vehicles were built, named the
OstwindThe Flakpanzer IV "Ostwind" was a self-propelled anti-aircraft gun based on the Panzer IV tank. It was developed in 1944 as a successor to the earlier self-propelled anti-aircraft gun Wirbelwind....
, but with a single anti-aircraft cannon instead. This vehicle was designed to replace the
Wirbelwind. The final model was the
Flakpanzer IV KugelblitzThe Flakpanzer IV Kugelblitz was a German self-propelled anti-aircraft gun developed during World War II, which was still at the prototype stage at the end of the war...
, of which only five were built. This vehicle featured a covered turret armed with twin anti-aircraft cannons.
Although not a direct modification of the Panzer IV, some of its components, in conjunction with parts from the Panzer III, were utilized to make one of the most widely-used self-propelled artillery chassis of the war—the Geschützwagen III/IV. This chassis was the basis of the
Hummel artillery piece, of which 666 were built, and also the gun armed
NashornNashorn , initially known as Hornisse was a German tank destroyer of World War II. It was developed as an interim solution in 1942 and was armed with the outstanding PaK 43 anti-tank gun...
tank destroyer, with 473 manufactured. To resupply self-propelled howitzers in the field, 150 ammunition carriers were manufactured on the Geschützwagen III/IV chassis.
See also