German
Panzer Identification Made Easy
By
Tim Allen, edited by Jonathan Bocek
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It is
amazing even during WWII, the vast number of G.I.’s
who swore they were shooting at a Tiger I when in fact
it was a Panther.
Like the B-17, the Tiger I was the star of the
German side when it came to armor.
If a big, loud German tank was shooting the
crap out of everything in sight…….it was
identified as a Tiger I.
This
article will hopefully allow you to quickly identify
German tanks by looking at their turret shape, road
wheel configuration, & hull shape.
Since there were dozens of German tanks,
assault guns and variants of each, I will not attempt
to go over every vehicle.
Rather, I will take the 5 major tanks in the
German arsenal. Covering
1941 to 1945.
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Panzer
Kw III (Mk III) |
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The Mk III
Panzer was the first of the medium tanks developed by
the German Army.
It’s main purpose was to support Infantry and
not as an assault weapon.
The tactic of guarding the flanks of Infantry
was quickly thrown out of the window with the success
of “Blitzkrieg”.
Both the Mk III and Mk IV and Tiger I tanks
have very square angles and joints as a hull shape.
This was later changed to the more sloped look
on the Panthers and Tiger II.
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Looking at the side, the Mk III is easily
identified by its stair stepped hull.
Starting with a flat, rear deck that drops off
almost straight down at the driver’s port, then
sloping gently over the transmission gears (at the
drivers feet) and then finally boxing off in the
front. The
road wheels are also a dead give a way.
The top three support wheels remained on all
versions of the Mk III.
The lower bogie wheels varied from five medium
size bogie wheels (A model) to eight smaller bogie
wheels (B, C and D models) while finally ending up
with six small bogie wheels on models E through N.
All of the bogie wheels are mounted on leaf
springs. The
turret was short in length with angles for the shape.
It had side hatches for the crew and some times
a rear mounted storage bin (a “Rommel basket”). The
gun can be helpful as well in identifying a Mk III.
The early models had a 3.7cm L/45 main gun
which later was changed to an L/60 and finally to a
short, stubby L/24.
This last version is sometimes confused with a
Mk IV model A through F1.
Some Mk III’s have even been shown to have
side armor skirts mounted on them.
This was a later add on, probably done in the
field. |
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Panzer Kw IV (Mk IV) |
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The mark IV was
basically a beefed up version of the Mk III.
It was slightly longer, wider in stance. This
tank became the back bone of the German Panzer Corp
during the war in all theaters. |
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Looking from the side, the body shape and
turret although slightly larger, was the same as the
Mk III. Side
hatches and sometimes the rear storage bin.
However, the bogie wheels numbered eight and
were paired in two’s on leaf springs. The
upper support wheels are also increased to four.
Models A through F1 had the short, stubby L/43.
This was a low velocity 7.5cm gun.
Many of these tanks fought in North Africa and
some in the invasion of France.
The most popular version was the long barrel
7.5cm L/48 which was mounted on models F2 through J.
These are the panzers seen in photos strewn
across Europe and Russia with and without armor skirts
around the turret and sides. |
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Panzer
Kw V (Panther) |
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The Panther tank
was classified by the German Army as a heavy tank.
It was designed using lessons learned by the
Russian T-34 in that it utilized sloping sides on the
turret and hull.
This was found to have an advantage in the
deflection of shells against the vehicle.
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Looking from the side: the hull is flat all the
way across the top to the front of the drivers
position were it slopes downward and then under to the
bottom. The
sides of the hull are sloped outward from the top.
The rear of the vehical
is sloped downward from the top. The
turret is longer and wider, again following the sloped
design and has less angles as it predecessors.
Gone too is the rear storage bin.
Instead of a flat main gun mantlet, the main
gun mantlet is bowed outward across the turrets front.
The upper support wheels are gone, replaced
with eight, large over lapping road wheels that
support the entire track.
The main armament is the long L/70 7.5cm
high velocity gun.
The sloped angles of this tank make it easy to
identify. |
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Panzer Mk VI (Tiger I) |
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Perhaps
the most famous German tank because of it’s
Ferocious 8.8 cm main gun, the Tiger I reached super
star status among friend and foe. |
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The
Tiger I hull kept the more squared angles as the Mk IV
but was much larger overall.
From the flat hull going across the top to the
dropped off area at the drivers view port.
Unlike the Panther or Mk IV, turret
was more of an egg shape going from front to back.
Meaning, it started off narrow at the gun
mantlet. As
it went toward the back it made a wide “bulge” at
the center then rounded back
off. The
sides of the turret were at 90’ and had no slope.
The road wheels used the same setup as the
Panther but on a larger, wider scale.
Eight over-lapping, large road wheels which
supported the track. |
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Panzer VI (Tiger II) |
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The Tiger II was
more than anything a Panther on steroids.
It roughly the same hull design as the Panther
and the turret was a longer version of the
Panther’s. The
main gun was the 8.8cm with a longer barrel.
The road wheels were again over lapping full
size and full supporting but were increased to nine.
The name Tiger was used because of the 8.8. |
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There were two designs for the turret.
The Porsche design which had the commander’s
hatch ring protruding from the side of the turret.
Also, the turret was slightly rounder.
The more common model was the Henschel turret
which was similar to the sloped sided Panther but only
longer.
* Porsche and Henschel were given the task to design the
turret on the new tank.
Porsche pumped out 50 turrets before the final
contract was given to Henschel.
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At
a glance |
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I
hope this article has given you a quick overview of
these vehicles. I
have not attempted to go in to great detail on each as
there are many books already written on the subject of
German tanks. I
have however, put together a small list of major
things to look for when identifying German tanks
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MK
III |
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3
support bogie wheels
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6
small road wheels
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Thin,
3.7cm main gun barrel with no muzzle
break |
Mk
IV |
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4
support bogie wheels
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8
small road wheels
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Stubby
or long 7.5cm main gun barrel |
Panther |
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Sloped
sides on the turret, hull & back end
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Long
7.5cm main gun barrel
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8
over lapping road wheels (no bogie wheels) |
Tiger
I |
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Basic
Mk IV hull shape but much larger
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8
over lapping road wheels (no bogie wheels)
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Round
shaped turret but flat not sloped
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Long,
8.8cm main gun barrel
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Very
wide combat tracks |
Tiger
II |
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Large
hull, sloped sides and sloped, long turret
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9
large over lapping road wheels
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Long,
8.8cm main gun barrel
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Very
wide combat tracks |
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