Warspot Digest: June 2021
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OMUA S35 in Second Hand [READ MORE] The SOMUA S35 tank was well regarded not only in the French army, but in the army of its greatest enemy. Unlike the Pz38(t), the tank did not serve in first echelon divisions, but the Pz.Kpfw.35 S (f) ended up being the only French tank that was not converted into SPGs en masse and was used by the Germans and their allies as a tank. It actively fought as a part of independent tank battalions and in armoured trains. Individual tanks lasted until the end of the war. |
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Front Line Prime Minister [READ MORE] In 1941 it became clear to British tankers the Churchill I armed with a 40 mm 2-pounder and 3” howitzer won’t remain competitive for long. Due to difficulties with developing a new weapon, the Churchill III armed with the more powerful 57 mm 6-pounder only entered production in March of 1942. These tanks gradually forced out the Churchill II, but some units kept the Churchill I as close support tanks. The low reliability of new tanks did not allow the British to test them in the desert, but an opportunity for a trial by fire soon arose. |
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The Last of the Threes [READ MORE] The issues the German Pz.Kpfw. III medium tank encountered can be tracked by the rate of its production. Only 896 vehicles of this type, including command tanks, were built in 1940. This is a small number, especially considering that German manufacturing shifted to a wartime schedule and up to 7 factories were building this tank simultaneously. To compare, Krupp alone built 290 Pz.Kpfw. IVs in 1940, and BMM built 370 Pz.Kpfw. 38 (t)s. It was only in the spring of 1941 that the Pz. III rose to first place, becoming the most numerous tank built in Germany, a position it held until the end of 1942. The tank remained the most numerous in the German army until mid-1943. Today let us talk about the last variants of this tank: the Pz.Kpfw. III Ausf. J through N. |
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From Medium Assault Gun to Medium Tank Destroyer [READ MORE] Development of armoured vehicles in many nations proceeds in parallel. A clear example of this is the creation of German and Soviet medium SPGs. Initially, Soviet SPGs were built as tank destroyers. Later, under the influence of the German StuG III Ausf. B, the medium assault gun program was launched, which gave birth to the SU-122. By this time, the Germans had modernized the StuG III and transformed it into primarily a tank destroyer. This SPG was known as the StuG 40. In the USSR this process took longer, as there was no gun to combat German heavy tanks until the spring of 1943. That is when the SU-85 appeared, the most numerous Soviet medium SPG used in the war. |
