Panzer III

By second half of thirties the German army's Panzer I and Panzer II tanks were obsolete, so the German designers started working on Panzer III and Panzer IV in order to replace the obsolete versions.  General Guderian envisioned two basic types to act as the most numerous equipment for the future German army. PanzerIII was intended for deep breakthroughs and equipped with a turret gun and machine gun for use against light armored vehicles and infantry.  The Panzer IV was designed to suppress heavy enemy defences and deal with Pill boxes and anti tank guns and was armed with a short 75mm gun firing powerful high explosive shells. This division of duties proved to be fatal mistake and tanks should be able to deal with multiple types of battlefield situations. Attempts to signiffacantly increase the Panzer III firepower didn't yield serious result due to the small size of turret, but Panzer IV's firepower was increased by using long barrelled 75mm gun and it became a sifficient tank destroyer. In 1935 Waffeamt ordered Rheinemtall Borsig , MAN,  Daimler Benz and Krupp to supply their designs for the specified 15 ton vehicle. To keep the secrecy of the project it was called Zugfuhrerwagen- Platoon Commander's Vehicle.  It was designated as Versuchkraftfahrzeug 619 Mitterer Traktor. After tests Daimler Benz's design was chosen for production. Guderian wanted 5cm gun to be mounted on the gun but waffenamt wanted 3.7cm gun. 3.7cm gun was finally chosen because the German infantry was using 37mm Pak35/36L/45 anti Tank gun so only one kind of ammunition was needed. In the final design Guderian managed to convince the Waffenamt to use a turret which could carry a more powerful and heavier gun. the tank had the top speed of 40km/h and was operated by 5 men. Communication in the tank itself was through intecom system. Panzer III was the first German tank to be equipped with the Intecom system and all later German tanks used the same system for in tank communication. Intercom proved to be very effective during combat. After several modifications first series was produced in May 1937. total 10 units were produced by Daimler Benz.  8 of them were used during the Anschluss ( Conquering Austria-1938) while 2 of them were used without turret for further testing. In the same year 2nd series was produced. Only 15 units were manufactured and was designated as Panzer III Ausf B. Ausf B was used during the Polish Campaign. In October 1940 , 5 Ausf Bs were used by Daimler Benz to produce prototypes of StuG III. Ausf C was produced in June of 1937. Again only 15 units were manufactured by Daimler Benz and saw action during the Polish Campaign. Ausf D was produced in January 1938. This was the Frist Panzer III to be produced in large number (55units).  30 units were issued in to 2 groups and saw action during the Polish Campaign while the remainig units were used for further testing and after that for training.  Ausf A,B,C and D were all armed with 37mm KWK 35/36 L.46.5 gun and three 7.92mm MG34s.  Ausf E was produced in Decmber of 1938. 96 units were produced. ausf E had increased armor protection (12mm-30mm)  Earlier models didn't have adequate armor because the weight of the vehicle was not suppose to go over 16 tons. Ausf E was weighted 19.5tons and was armed with 50mmKwK38 L/42 gun. when the War Started in September of 1939, Ausf F was produced , 435 units were manufactured until July 1940 bt Daimler Benz, Henschel , MAN, Alkett and FAMO. First 100 units were armed with 37mm guns while the rest were armed with 50mm guns. StuG III was mounted on Ausf F chassis and remained in service until 1944. In April 1940 Ausf  G was produced (600units ) followed by Ausf  H ( 308 units ) . In 1940 -41 attemps were made to standardize the production of Panzer III and Panzer IV based on Panzer III Ausf G/H.  Some Ausf Gs were send to africa and were equipped with additional air filters and were designated as Panzer III Ausf G (Tp)- Tropisch ( Tropical) Ausf G and H had increased armor and were the series of SdKfz 141. Sdkfz 141/1 was called Ausf J. The only difference between these two variants was the main armament and the ammunition used for the main gn. Ausf J was armed with 50mm KwK 39L/60 gun. 1067 units were manufactured and some them were send to africa and were called by the British " Mark III special" because of its powerful gun and thick armor. the new gun added significantly to the Panzer III's firepower but still it was not enough to counter M4 shermans and Soviet T. 34/85s. Unsuccessful attemp was made to mount Panzer IV's turret on Panzer III chassis. 185 of the Ausf Js were converted into command vehicles by installing additional radio equipment. In June 1942 Ausf L (653 units ) was produced followed by Ausf M in October 1942 (250 units). Ausf L and Ausf J were almost Identical . ausf L was the first PanzerIII to be armed with anti aircraft gun mounted on the Commander's Cupola.  Most of the ausf Ms were converted to Ausf N or StuG IIIs.  100 ausf Ms were converted to flammethrowers which could burst 120 one second burts at range of 60 m. in June 1942 the final series was produced , Ausf N. 663 units were manufactured until August 1943 and 37 Ausf Ns were made from older versions.

Left : Panzer III Ausf J "Mark special " Right : Panzer III Ausf N Final Variant

Panzer III saw small action during the invasion of Poland , but saw extensive action during 1940-1944 on all fronts. its production was very slow and even was halted in favor of Panzer 38(t) which possessed similar combat abilities.  Panzer III was designed as Platoon Commander's Vehicle and was the first German meduim tank. It was a great step in German tank development and a great help in production of its bigger brother Panzer IV . it was in combat until late 1944 ( when only 79 remianed in service ) and then it was completely replaced by Panzer IV. U-Panzer was one of the most intresting convesions of Panzer III. During the preparations of operation SeeLowe ( sealion - invasion of England ) some Panzer III and IVs were converted to submersible tank in water depth of 6m to 15m. U Panzers were not used in the invasion of england because the invasion never took place , instead they were used during operation Barbarossa in summer of 1941 on the crossing of Bug river. It was planned to use these units for the invasion of Malta , but since the opration was cancelled they were never used.