German Tank Development

And,even at kursk,there were still PzII (some 130)

 

1067 in July 1941

 

The improvements offered by the Stug IV may very well be valid, but they did not seem to impress those who decided what was to be built and the Stug IV never really replaced the Stug III in production. Below is a chart of German AFV production for 1943-45 with reguard to Assault Gun, Panzerjaeger, JagdPanzer, and SturmPanzer. The source is Wikipedia (not ideal, but good enough for this). This is New Construction only.

Type 1943 1944 1945 Chassis

Marder III (H) 243 0 0 Pzkw 38t
Marder III (M) 975 0 0 "
Hetzer 0 1,687 1,335 "

Stug III 3,011 3,849 1,038 Pzkw III (173 more were converted from Pzkw III)
StuH 42 204 903 98 " (105mm gun)

Stug IV 30 1,006 105 Pzkw IV
Jagdpanzer IV 0 769 0 "
Jagdpanzer IV/70 0 767 441 "
Sturmpanzer IV 66 215 17 "
Hornisse/Nashorn 345 133 16 "

Jagdpanther 1 226 198 Pzkw V

Jagdtiger 0 51 25 Pzkw VI (Porsche and Henschel)

Ferdinand/Elephant 91 0 0 Porsche

A few points,

Germany produced 4 times as many Stug III in 1944 as they did Stug IV, and 10 times as many in 1945. Hefty numbers for a vehicle being replaced.

Germany produced over 2 and 1/2 years 11 distinct types (counting the Marder III H/M as one) of assault gun/tank destroyer-hunter on 6 different chassis.
If we include the Marder I and II converted in 1942/43 we must add at least 2 more chassis types to the mix. Any way you cut it this must have been a logistical and maintenence nightmare for a nation with ever dwindling resources.

These types may have been 'defensive", but a major tenet of German defensive tactic's called for the imeadiate counter-attack of any breach in their lines with any operational weapon or manpower available. This would include these types of AFV's. There is also clear records of the these 'defensive' weapons being used in traditional offensive attack's such as Kursk/Mortain/Ardennes.

By my count there were

4,240 units built on the Pzkw 38t chassis

3,910 units built on Pzkw IV chassis

592 on the Panther/Tiger/Porsche chassis.

for a total of 8,742 AFV's

I am guessing here, but if you factor in a retooling of 38t production lines in mid-late 1940 you would come to around 2/3rds to 3/4 conversion if these units were built as conventional turreted tanks. This would come to between 5,800 to 6,500 tanks. Considering that a turreted tank could be used effectively both defensively as well as offensively, I personally would prefer fewer but more versital AFV's.

Germany's greatest strength was not the quality of its weapons, but rather the men who manned them. That they got good results out of such a hodge-podge collection of mis-matched equipment is a testement to the men, rather than the weapons they fought with.

 

I have found this on a German Heavy Tank Battalions

Heavy Tank Battalion 1942/43 Battalion HQ
2 x Tigers
2 x Tank Companies each:
Company HQ
2 x Tigers
4 x Tank Platoons each:
2 x Tigers + 2 x Pz Mk IIIs (either Ausf J, K, L, or N depending on availability)

HQ & Supply Company
Light Tank Platoon
10 x Pz Mk IIIs Ausf N
Signal Platoon
AA Platoon
Motorcycle Platoon
Engineer Platoon
Transport Platoon
Medical Staff

Workshop Company
Recovery Platoon
8 x Sd.Kfz 9s


Heavy Tank Battalion 1943/44

Battalion HQ
2 x Tigers
3 x Tank Companies each:
Company HQ
2 x Tigers
4 x Tank Platoons each:
2 x Tigers + 2 x Pz Mk IIIs or Pz Mk IVs

HQ & Supply Company
Light Tank Platoon
10 x Pz Mk IIIs or Pz Mk IVs
Signal Platoon
AA Platoon
Motorcycle Platoon
Engineer Platoon
Transport Platoon
Medical Staff

Workshop Company
Recovery Platoon
8 x Sd.Kfz 9s (Replaced by 2 x Pz Berge Wg Panthers in 1944)


Heavy Tank Battalion 1944/45

Battalion HQ
3 x Tigers
3 x Tank Companies each:
Company HQ
2 x Tigers
4 x Tank Platoons each:
4 x Tigers

HQ Company

Supply Company
Light Tank Platoon
10 x Pz Mk VIs
Signal Platoon
AA Platoon
Motorcycle Platoon
Engineer Platoon
Transport Platoon
Medical Staff

Workshop Company
Recovery Platoon
[FONT=&quot]2 x Pz Berge Wg Panthers

Regards Yan.

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