Panzerjager I   4.7cm Panzer I Ausf B

Panzerjager I (SD KFZ 101) 4.7cm on Panzer I Ausf B review by Brian Bocchino

History: 

     Panzerjager means 'Tank Hunter' or more commonly, an anti-tank unit.  After lessons learned during the invasion of Poland, Germany of was in need of a more powerful anti-tank gun.  Anti-tank units were using 3.7cm PAK 36 guns, which lacked penetration power and were not motorized.  The Germans first looked towards the new 5cm PAK 38, but these were not available for mass production.  They turned to the 4.7cm PAK 36(t) guns, which had been obtained from the annexation of Czechoslovakia. 

     This gun was mounted on the Panzer I Ausf B chassis to provide greater mobility.  The Alkett company developed the plans for the vehicle conversions.  The turret from the Panzer I Ausf B was removed and also a portion of superstructure roof.  The gun with new shields for protection was then mounted on top of the superstructure.  Some internal modifications were made, primarily, the addition of 5 ammunition lockers.  The vehicle carried 76 APC round and 10 HE rounds for a total of 86 rounds of ammunition.  One locker each was mounted under the gunners and loader's seat.   Each of these lockers contained 12 APC rounds.  Another locker of 16 APC rounds was located under the mount for the gun.  On the right side of the driving compartment, the main ammunition locker was located.  The main locker held 34 APC rounds.  To the right of the loader's seat, a small locker held the 10 HE rounds.  The vehicle was equipped with a Fu 2 Radio Receiver for communication.  Later, other installations were used.

     Between March to May 1940, the first 132 vehicles were converted at the Alkett factory.  202 were converted by February 1941.  It was crewed by 3 personnel, weighed 6.4 tons, had a speed of 40 km/hr, and a range of 140 km.  Each company was organized into 3 platoons.  Each platoon had 3 Panzerjagers, 1 SD KFZ 10 with trailer for ammunition, 2 motorcycles, and 1 motorcycle with side.

     This vehicle was not used in the invasions of Denmark and Norway.  The first use of this vehicle was during the invasions of the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, and France.  This vehicle would also see service in Afrika and Russia.  The vehicle was phased out of service by late 1943.

Reference:

Nuts & Bolts #7, Panzerjager I by Heiner F. Duske, Tony Greenland, October 1997.

Panzerjager, by Horst Scheibert, Schiffer Military History, 1998, ISBN: 0-7643-0395-3

Encyclopedia of German Tanks of World War Two, by Chamberlain, Doyle, Jentz, Arms and Armour Press, 1993, ISBN: 1-85409-214-6

     In 1/35 scale ADV/Azimuth and Commanders produce Resin kits/conversions.  In plastic, Italeri/Zvezda have just released this vehicle.  Also Eduard makes a comprehensive photo-etch set #35224, and Jordi Rubio is scheduled to release a turned barrel, #49.


Model:

Zvezda Kit #3537 and Italeri Kit #358

     You basically get the Italeri Panzer I Ausf B kit with an additional sprue.  When comparing a Panzer I Ausf B kit with the Panzerjager kit, the 2 main sprues are identical with the exception of the upper hull.  The upper hull has been slightly modified.  In other words, the section where the turret would normally sit on a Panzer I Ausf B, has already been cut out/away for the new 4.7cm gun compartment too sit on.

     The new sprue, Sprue D, contains the parts need to make the Panzerjager variant.  It includes parts for an interior, which is visible through the openings in the gun compartment.  The interior consists of a transmission, drive train, firewall, drivers compartment, including seat and levers, and on ammunition box.  The rest of the new parts are for the 4.7cm gun, shield, and mount.

     Since the Panzer I Ausf B is a very old kit, expect to need to remove excess flash and seam lines.  The detail is good, but soft in many areas.  Photo-etch will benefit this kit immensely.  Also, I would recommend replacing the Italeri tracks (my kit definitely had Italeri tracks, Zvezda tracks are more of a rubbery goo) with ModelKasten or Fru Tracks.

     All in all, this will build into a nice little kit or an extremely important vehicle of WWII.  I say extremely important because it was a start of a line of a new vehicle concept that would eventually produce Hetzers and Jagdpanthers.