T-34

That's a lot of destroyed Pz III's & IV's!

Production: 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945

Pz III 57 396
Pz III (50) - 466 1673 251
Pz III (50L) - - - 64 1906
Pz III (75) - - - 450 213
Pz III (f) - - - - 100
StuG III - 184 540 90
StuG III (l) - - - 702 3011 3850

Pz IV (short) 45 268 467 124
Pz IV (long) - - - 870 3013 3126 385
StuG IV - - - - 30 1006 105


Not disputing what you said, don't know off hand, but that's a bunch of scrap metal!

:smok:

 

I hate HTML!!!!!!!!!!!

:angry:

 

Well the last short barreled Pz IVs (ausf F) were produced in March 1942. Even some of this last batch were converted to F2s with the L/43 shortly after. Some older ausf Ds and Es were also converted to the L/48 gun.

The Panzer III production was stopped in August 1943. Very few new numbers of Panzer IIIs reached the front after the summer 1943 battles and the Panzer IIIs and short barreled Panzer IVs from 1941, 1942 and early 1943 productions that were still in action on the eastern front were mostly consumed in the early 1943 winter battles, the summer 1943 battles and the battles around the river Dnieper in autumn 1943. Yes, there was a lot of scrap metal in 1943 (on both sides). By late 1943 long barreled Panzer IV and the Stug IIIs were the common sight as these were the main AFVs coming out of German factories at this time, as well as more Panthers and other types.

Let me give you another analogy. Most of the earlier T34s with the smaller turret and single large turret hatch (up to 1942 production) were lost in attrition by 1943. Very few made it to 1944. Even the early T34 1943 model (with the 'Mickey Mouse' turret hatches) was not exactly a common sight in 1944 (looking at hundreds of pictures) because most had been destroyed in 1943 when the last of these were made. The late T34 1943 with the new commander's cuppola, which was produced from mid 1943 until mid 1944, were far more prevalent in 1944. It seems that the life span for these medium tanks was not very long! Even Tigers were lucky if they survived a year. Not many did. For example, none of the Tiger Is that were produced in late 1942/ early 1943 were left after the summer 1944 (apart from training school vehicles).

 

There was indeed a lot of scrap metal on the Eastern Front. The Germans lost more tanks than they produced in 1943, despite the increased production that year. But the PzKpfw III was the German MBT until replaced by the PzKpfw IV Ausf G and H. And I have the impression, without being able to refer to any specific sources, that a significant number of PzKpfw IIIs were still around well into 1944.