The Jagdpanzer IV / Sd.Kfz. 162, was a German tank destroyer based on the Panzer IV chassis and built in three main variants. As one of the casemate-style turretless Jagdpanzer (tank destroyer, literally "hunting tank") designs, it was developed against the wishes of Heinz Guderian, the inspector general of the Panzertruppen, as a replacement for the (StuG III). Guderian objected to what he considered a needless diversion of resources from Panzer IV production, as the StuG III was still more than adequate for its role.

Officially, only the L/48-armed vehicle was named the Jagdpanzer IV. The L/70-armed vehicle was named the Panzer IV/70. In this article, both versions are referred to in general as the Jagdpanzer IV, except in the variants and surviving vehicles section.

Development

With experience gained during the initial phases of the Battle of Stalingrad, in September 1942 the Wehrmacht's arms bureau, the Waffenamt, called for a new standard for heavy assault guns: 100 mm of armor to the front, 40–50 mm on the sides, wider tracks, ground clearance of , top speed of and the lowest possible firing positions. The new Panzerjäger ("tank hunter") design would be armed with the same 7.5 cm gun as fitted to the Panther tank: the Pak 42 L/70. Initially a new chassis was planned, but that of the Panzer IV had to be used.

Previous efforts to mount bigger guns on smaller chassis resulted in the Marder I, II and III series and the Sturmgeschütz III. The Marder series were tall and had open crew compartments. The new design had a low silhouette and completely enclosed, casemate-style fighting compartment.

The Jagdpanzer IV used a modified Panzer IV Ausf. H chassis, but the almost-vertical front hull plate was replaced by sloped armor plates. Internally, the layout was changed to accommodate the new superstructure, moving the fuel tanks and ammunition racks. Since the Jagdpanzer lacked a turret, the auxiliary engine which powered the Panzer IV's turret traverse mechanism could be eliminated.

The new superstructure had 80 mm thick sloped armour, giving much greater protection than vertical armour of 100 mm. To make the manufacturing process as simple as possible, the superstructure was made from large, interlocking plates that were welded together.

Armament

Main gun

Armament consisted of a 7.5 cm main gun firing Fixed QF 75 × 640mm R ammunition, originally intended to be the Pak 42 L/70. Due to shortages, older guns were initially used, the 7.5 cm Pak 39 L/43 for pre-production, and the 7.5 cm Pak 39 L/48 for the initial production variant. These were shorter and less powerful than the Pak 42, and also carried a muzzle brake.

Installing the much heavier Pak 42 meant that the Jagdpanzer IV was nose-heavy, especially with the heavy frontal armour. This made them less mobile and more difficult to operate in rough terrain, leading their crews to nickname them Guderian-Ente ("Guderian's duck"). To prevent the rubber rims of the roadwheels being dislocated by the weight of the vehicle, some later versions had steel roadwheels installed on the front.

The final prototype of the Jagdpanzer IV was presented in December 1943 and production started in January 1944, with the Pak 39 L/48 armed variant staying in production until November. Production of the Pak 42 L/70 armed variants started in August and continued until March/April 1945.

Secondary armament

thumb|Jagdpanzer IV 0-Serie preproduction vehicle with 2 opened front facing [[firing ports next to the main gun]]

Early versions of the Jagdpanzer IV carried two standard (no modification made) MG 42 machine guns on both sides of the main gun mantlet/glacis, firing 7.92×57mm Mauser rifle ammunition through a firing port which was protected by an armored cover plate (with the MG 42 retracted) when not in use. As the main gun was located between these machine guns one machine gun could be operated from the left side only, which is impractical for non-left-handed operators, and the other one from the right side only. Later version Jagdpanzer IVs carried only one MG 42 as internal secondary armament with about 1,200 rounds of ammunition. The Jagdpanzer IV secondary armament was exceptional, as other World War II era German tanks or other armored vehicles used the MG 34 for internal secondary or co-axial armament.

Production

On 19–22 August 1943, after the Battle of Kursk, Hitler received reports that StuG IIIs performed better than the Panzer IV within the constraints of how they were deployed. It was thus intended to stop production of the Panzer IV itself at the end of 1944 to concentrate solely on production of the Jagdpanzer IV, but the Panzer IV continued to be produced until the end of the conflict along with Jagdpanzer IV. VoMAG in Plauen switched completely from Panzer IV production to Jagdpanzer IV in Spring 1944, Krupp-Grusonwerk in Magdeburg switched to StuG IV in early 1944, and only the Nibelungenwerk in St. Valentin continued with Panzer IV production.

Variants

thumb|The 0-Serie preproduction vehicle at [[Deutsches Panzermuseum]]

thumb|Panzer IV/70 (V) at [[Kubinka Tank Museum]]

  • Jagdpanzer IV 0-Serie

:with 7.5 cm Pak 39 L/43: a small number of these were built as the preproduction (0-Serie) probably in December 1943. These were used in the conflicts with Israel up until 1967 when most were either destroyed, abandoned on the Golan Heights overlooking Israel, or scrapped.

Comparable vehicles

  • Germany: Hetzer, StuG III, StuG IV
  • Italy: Semovente da 75/34
  • Japan: Type 3 Ho-Ni III
  • Romania: Mareșal
  • Soviet Union: SU-85
  • United States: M10 GMC
  • United Kingdom: Gun Carrier, 3-inch, Mk I, Churchill (A22D)

The Kanonenjagdpanzer (also known as "Jagdpanzer Kanone 90mm", or "tank destroyer, gun") was a German Cold War tank destroyer equipped with a 90mm anti-tank gun from obsolete M47 Patton tanks. Its design was very similar to that of the World War II Jagdpanzer IV.

References

Citations

Bibliography

  • Jagdpanzer IV at Panzerworld
  • Panzer IV/70 at Panzerworld
  • Jagdpanzer IV/70 in Kubinka tank museum
  • Jagdpanzer Photos of the Jagdpanzer IV at the Canada War Museum
  • Surviving Panzer IV variants - A PDF file presenting the Panzer IV variants (Jagdpanzer IV, Hummel, Nashorn, Brummbär, StuG IV, Flakpanzer tanks and prototypes based on Pz IV) still existing in the world