You know that:
- The tank was designed by Krupp as early as 1933.
- The machine was subjected to rigorous tests that revealed many imperfections. Serial production did not begin until the fall of 1937.
- The Panzer IV was the only German tank that was produced throughout the war.
- The machines were supposed to support actions where the older and lightly armed Panzer III tanks were no longer sufficient.
- The tank also had one peculiarity, which did not quite work out, namely the gearbox service hole in the frontal armor covered with an additional sheet of steel.
- While the service technicians could not praise the approach to the gearbox, the crews had a completely different opinion and reported the inappropriate design solution to the arms authority as "unfortunate".
- In addition to the Maybach main engine, the tank was equipped with an independent two-cylinder engine connected to a generator to rotate the turret.
- The driver's seat was fitted with lights that lit up whenever the gun crossed the tank's floor plan when the turret rotated.
- fans were installed in the crew compartment to exhaust fumes after a shot and it was no longer necessary to open the hatches as in the Panzer III tanks.
- Some versions had trailers with a supply of 400 l of fuel for long moves during the Russian campaign.
- The H versions had a turret fitted with a long gun with a large slide, which increased in size with repeated firing until it reached a mechanical stop and the tank commander had to declare a so-called "feuerpause" to allow the slide system to regenerate.
- The anti-magnetic Zimmerit paint was applied to the armor of the tanks intended for the Eastern Front, which was supposed to prevent the attachment of a magnetic mine. Ironically, the Red Army had no effective magnetic mines at first. They were only seized from the United States in July 1943.
- In total, about 2,023 were produced in the H version.
Technical parameters:
- class medium tank
- weight 23,500 kg
- length 7.02 m, width 2.28 m, height 2.68 m
- armor up to 80 mm
- main weapon KwK 40L/48 caliber 75 mm cannon (ammunition stock 85 pcs)
- secondary weapon 2 x 7.92 mm MG34 machine gun (ammunition stock 3150 pcs)
- power unit gasoline 12-cylinder Maybach HL120 TRM engine with a power of 195 kW
- fuel tank 470 l
- range 210 km (road), 130 km (terrain)
- maximum speed 38 km/h
- wading depth 1.2 m
- crew of 5 people
Excerpt from the Soviet propaganda magazine Krasnaya Zvezda 6/27/1942:
"When we were returning from an attack on the advanced German troops near Stalingrad, we came across a group of Panzers preparing to attack. They were formidable machines and we knew we had no chance against them, but we had to fight. We had nothing but one grenade and bayonets. The fight was cruel and bloody, but in the end we defeated the Germans. It was the worst thing I ever experienced."
private Sergej A. Ivanov
Assembly Instructions
