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| outcastrc | Aug 21 2006, 09:26 AM |
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Found some great info from this site: http://www.crisscross.com/jp/forum/German_...m_708052/tm.htm This is quoted from the site:  Classification: Medium Tank Manufacturer: Daimler Benz Start of Produciton: December 1941 End of Produciton: July 1942 Prod. Quantity: 1067 Crewstrength: 5 Length: 6,41 m Width: 2,95 m Height: 2,50 m Engine: Maybach HL120 Power: 224 kW Type of Fuel: Gasoline Fuel Consumption: 183 l @ 100 km Weight: 22,00 t Power/Weigt ratio: 10,18 kw/t Ground Pressure: 0,97 kg/cm² max. Speed onroad: 40 km/h max. Speed offroad: 19 km/h max. Range onroad: 165 km Suspensiontype: Torsion Bar Turning Radius: 5,80 m Armoring as following: Turret Front: 71 mm Turret Sides: 33 mm Turret Rear: 31 mm Hull Front upper: 51 mm Hull Front lower: 54 mm Hull Sides upper: 30 mm Hull Sides lower: 30 mm Hull Rear upper: 51 mm Hull Rear lower: 52 mm Turret Top: 10 mm Hull Top: 17 mm Hull Bottom: 16 mm Armament & Ammo as following: 1x 50mm KwK39 L/60 in Turret w. 84 Rounds 1x 7,92mm MG34 coaxial 1x 7,92mm MG34 right frontside hull (overall MG Ammo 2000 Rounds) Turret Traverse: manual When then Wehrmacht invaded the Soviet Union in June 1941 at first they had an easy task due to massive support by luftwaffe and opposing rather light soviet designs as T-26 or BT-7. However, this changed with ongoing operations when the Red Army came up with two recent designs. First one was the infamous T-34 which featured sloped armoring and a powerfull 76,20mm Gun. Second was the heavy KV-1 tank who also fought in Winterwar against Finnland and was protected by thick armor plates but had a weaker cannon then T-34. Practical every tank gun the germans had proved to be ineffective against these tanks, the 37mm Anti Tank Gun then was nicknamen "Panzerklopfgeraet" which means "tank knocking tool". Not only these two resisted german tankguns, but also the british Matilda II and Valentine tanks. This developement lead to the decision to mount the same 50mm L/60 antitank-gun, that has been developed since 1938 and got into service in 1940 on new Panzer III versions. Now it payed off that in earlier times decision was made to keep turret ring diameter large enough to mount a larger gun. Though it also showed that if 50mm guns would have been mounted from beginning on, tank superiority could have been achieved allready in 1939. Anyways, the new vehicles now received the designation SdKfz 141/1 and proved to be superior in firepower to most british and american designs used in northern Africa, it was similar in performance to the american 75mm M2 L/31 gun mounted in medium M3 Lee tanks. It could knock out T-34s turret from all sides on 500m, and it's side and rear hull as well. Against T-34s front as well as all sides of KV-1 it was ineffective without special APCR tungsten ammunition. These shells however became quite rare during WW2 on german sides, and only Anti Tank Guns were still replenished with them. |
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| Panzer 3 J Info · Heng Long | |
11:47 AM Nov 26
