Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    The Panzer III: Hitler's Beast of Burden
    The Panzer III: Hitler's Beast of Burden
    The Panzer III: Hitler's Beast of Burden
    Ebook152 pages1 hour

    The Panzer III: Hitler's Beast of Burden

    By Anthony Tucker-Jones

    ()

    Read preview

    About this ebook

    The Panzerkampfwagen III Panzer III was one of the German army's principal tanks of the Second World War, yet its history is often overlooked in comparison to its more famous successors the Panzer IV, Panther and Tiger. Anthony Tucker-Jones, in this volume in the Images of War series, provides a visual account of the tank in over 150 wartime photographs and describes in a concise text its development and operational history. The Panzer III was designed as part of Hitler's re-armarment program in the mid-1930's and played a key role in the German blitzkrieg offensives in Poland, France and the Soviet Union. Although it lacked adequate firepower and could not match more advanced Allied tanks like the T-34, it stayed in service in North Africa and on the Eastern Front and it was still encountered in action in Normandy towards the end of the war. Its reliable chassis was also adapted for assault gun production. In this form, as the Sturmgeschtz III, it took part in the defensive battles fought by the Wehrmacht as it retreated in Italy, France and eastern Europe. Anthony Tucker-Jones's selection of photographs show the Panzer III in every theater of the war and at every stage, and his text gives an insight into the design history and fighting performance of this historic armored vehicle.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherOpen Road Integrated Media
    Release dateMay 31, 2017
    ISBN9781473891074
    The Panzer III: Hitler's Beast of Burden
    Author

    Anthony Tucker-Jones

    Anthony Tucker-Jones, a former intelligence officer, is a highly prolific writer and military historian with well over 50 books to his name. His work has also been published in an array of magazines and online. He regularly appears on television and radio commenting on current and historical military matters.

    Read more from Anthony Tucker Jones

    Related to The Panzer III

    Titles in the series (100)

    View More
    View More

    Related ebooks

    Wars & Military For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Panzer Invasion

      May 14, 2020

      Panzer Invasion
      12 min read

    • Article

      Germany

      Apr 18, 2019

      Germany
      7 min read

    • Article

      Russia

      Apr 18, 2019

      Russia
      8 min read

    • Article

      Rest Of The World

      Apr 18, 2019

      Rest Of The World
      7 min read

    • Article

      Is-3 Heavy Tank

      Dec 29, 2020

      Is-3 Heavy Tank
      3 min read

    • Article

      Hardware M4A3E8 Sherman

      Dec 22, 2020

      Hardware M4A3E8 Sherman
      1 min read

    • Article

      Panzerkampfwagen V Panther

      Jul 12, 2018

      Panzerkampfwagen V Panther
      3 min read

    • Article

      Ursula And Elna

      May 7, 2021

      Ursula And Elna
      5 min read

    • Article

      Sturmpanzerwagen A7v

      Apr 19, 2018

      Sturmpanzerwagen A7v
      4 min read

    • Article

      M10 & M10A1 TANK DESTROYER

      Mar 18, 2021

      M10 & M10A1 TANK DESTROYER
      1 min read

    • Article

      M10 & M10A1 TANK DESTROYER

      Mar 18, 2021

      M10 & M10A1 TANK DESTROYER
      3 min read

    • Article

      Jagdpanz er 38

      Aug 5, 2021

      Jagdpanz er 38
      3 min read

    • Article

      Stridsvagn M/38 Tank

      Jan 23, 2020

      Stridsvagn M/38 Tank
      3 min read

    • Article

      Spearhead To The Meuse

      Feb 26, 2020

      Spearhead To The Meuse
      2 min read

    • Article

      Tiger vs T-34

      Jul 12, 2018

      Tiger vs T-34
      9 min read

    • Article

      Hardware Merkava Mk II

      Mar 5, 2019

      Hardware Merkava Mk II
      2 min read

    • Article

      Restoring A Panther

      Aug 8, 2019

      Restoring A Panther
      3 min read

    • Article

      Build an NFFX Flat Wagon

      Jul 18, 2018

      Build an NFFX Flat Wagon
      9 min read

    • Article

      Cool Cats!

      May 7, 2021

      Cool Cats!
      3 min read

    • Article

      Panzerartillerie Firepower For The Panzer Divisions

      Apr 18, 2019

      Author Thomas Anderson Publisher Osprey Publishing Price £30 As the German Army formed their new doctrine of mobile warfare based around fast moving armoured columns (Blitzkrieg) in the 1930s, it became clear that artillery was going to be a major p

      1 min read

    • Article

      Comet A34

      Apr 15, 2021

      Comet A34
      3 min read

    • Article

      United Kingdom

      Apr 18, 2019

      United Kingdom
      6 min read

    • Article

      Hardware IS-2

      Sep 3, 2019

      Hardware IS-2
      2 min read

    • Article

      5 Best Books On Waterloo

      Oct 4, 2018

      Many books were released for the bicentennial of Waterloo, but few were as clearly written and as challenging as Glover’s monograph. Highlighting many myths about the battle, the author provides convincing evidence to support his version of the event

      1 min read

    • Article

      Battle For Kharkiv

      Apr 14, 2022

      Battle For Kharkiv
      1 min read

    • Article

      WWII PANZERFAUSTS & PIATs

      Sep 1, 2022

      WWII PANZERFAUSTS & PIATs
      3 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for The Panzer III

    0 ratings

    0 ratings0 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

      Book preview

      The Panzer III - Anthony Tucker-Jones

      Introduction

      This title is designed to provide a brief visual history, as well as offer some analysis of the development, of the German Panzer III as part of the author’s well-established Images of War tank series. This type of panzer has long been overshadowed by its vastly more famous and glamourous stablemates the Panzer IV, Panther and Tiger. In particular much has been written about the latter two, which has been disproportionate to their contribution to the Panzerwaffe. Yet the Panzer III played a crucial but nonetheless very neglected role with Hitler’s panzer divisions and indeed his entire war effort.

      Although it went into production in the late 1930s, the Panzer III lacked adequate firepower from the start and was supplemented by the slightly heavier Panzer IV. The latter, originally armed with a short 75mm gun, packed greater short-range punch than the initially more numerous Mk IIIs armed either with a 37mm or 50mm gun. The Mk III stayed in service in North Africa and Russia until the highly-versatile chassis was given over to assault-gun production in 1943. Nonetheless, it was encountered right up until the end of the war and fought at Kursk and in Normandy.

      There is a popular perception that Hitler’s panzers emerged fully-formed in 1939 to sweep all before them in Western and Eastern Europe and the Balkans. This is far from the truth, as Hitler’s first two tanks, the Panzer I and Panzer II, were little more than lightly-armed training vehicles designed to get round the military restrictions of the Versailles treaty.

      Attempts at providing a battle tank with the subsequent Panzer III went far from smoothly. It was initially armed with a 37mm gun, whereas British tanks had a 40mm, the heavier French tanks a 47mm or even a 75mm gun and Soviet tanks a 45mm gun. To make matters worse, the Soviets were in the process of developing the KV-1 and the T-34 which were both armed with a much more powerful 76.2mm anti-tank gun. Likewise, the early Panzer IVs with a short-barrelled 75mm gun were really designed as support weapons due to the lower muzzle velocity (good for firing high explosive but not anti-tank rounds).

      The upshot was that Hitler’s panzers were in imminent danger of losing the tank arms race almost from the very beginning. Fortunately, as an interim solution the later versions of the Panzer III were upgunned with 50mm guns. This enable the Panzer III to remain Hitler’s beast of burden for another two years while his tank designers sought a winning combination of armour and firepower with the Panzer IV, Tiger and Panther.

      It was during the mid-1930s Hitler’s fledgling Panzerwaffe envisaged a15-ton panzer, armed with a 37mm or 50mm armour-piercing gun, as the basic tank for the developing panzer divisions. It was proposed that this ‘light’ tank be supplemented by a medium 18-ton tank armed with a 75mm gun and this developed into the Panzer IV. From the start, General Heinz Guderian wanted a 50mm gun installed in the Panzer III, but in an effort to get production underway without interdepartmental disagreement the smaller 37mm gun, which was the standard infantry anti-tank gun, was accepted. It would not be until after the French campaign that the 50mm gun began to be fitted to the Panzer III.

      Guderian wrote afterwards:

      We had differences of opinion on the subject of gun calibre with the Chief of the Ordnance Office and with the Inspector of Artillery. Both of these gentlemen were of the opinion that a 37mm gun would suffice for the light tanks, while I was anxious that they be equipped with a 50mm weapon since this would give them the advantage over the heavier armour plate which we expected soon to be incorporated in the construction of foreign tanks. Since, however, the infantry was already equipped with 37mm anti-tank guns, and for reasons of productive simplicity it was not considered desirable to produce more than one type of light anti-tank gun and shell. General Lutz and I had to give in.

      During the 1920s Guderian had joined the staff of the Inspector of Motorized Troops, working with Major Lutz. Once Hitler was in power the Führer set up an Armoured Troops Command under now General Lutz with Guderian as his chief of staff. Both were avid enthusiasts of the panzer concept and the need for hard-hitting armoured divisions. They enjoyed Hitler’s full support. Guderian was then given command of the newly-established 2nd Panzer Division in 1935 but he continued to work closely with Lutz over the development of the Panzerwaffe. Guderian did not get the chance to impress upon Hitler the need for the 50mm gun again until after the Polish campaign.

      The Panzer III and IV were given entirely different guns which performed very different tasks. A small-bore weapon with a high muzzle velocity has a long range, accuracy and penetrating power. In addition, the greater speed of its projectile makes it easier to hit moving targets. Such penetrating power is only useful against other tanks and concrete emplacements. A larger-bore gun is less effective except at short range. The stubby 75mm KwK37 L/24 gun fitted to the early Panzer IV had a low velocity, which made it ideal for firing high-explosive shells capable of destroying soft targets, but its short range made it unsuited for tank-versus-tank combat.

      The small bore of the 37mm KwK L/45.6 fitted to the Panzer III had all the characteristics of a high-velocity gun, but was less effective against infantry and towed anti-tank guns. This was why Guderian really wanted the bigger, high-velocity 50mm gun as it would be able to fire a HE shell big enough to the same job as the L/24. Such guns were effectively dual-purpose weapons and they gave a tank commander an advantage over his opponents.

      The earlier Panzer I and II light tanks, armed with nothing heavier than machine guns or a 20mm gun respectively, were considered no more than stop-gaps. The prototypes for the new 15-ton tank were codenamed Zugführerwagen (platoon commanders vehicle – abbreviated as ZW) and tested in 1936–7. The Panzer III became a medium tank as the Panzer I and II weighed about 5 tons and 9 tons respectively.

      Whilst the Panzer IV proved to be Hitler’s rock throughout the Second World War, during the opening stages of the conflict the more numerous Panzer III acted as his beast of burden. It was in the service of Rommel’s tough Afrika

      Enjoying the preview?
      Page 1 of 1