The Third Reich's Last Tanks

German tank building was in a difficult state towards the end of WW2. The issue wasn't just in factories damaged by bombers, loss of significant territories, and shortages of resources. The consequences of mistakes in planning and production as well as unscrupulous competition began to crop up. Let's take a look at how the new head of the Panzerkommission tried to bring order back to German tank building and what came of it.

Video: Hetzer in Action

The Jagdpanzer 38(t) "Hetzer" tank destroyer at the Ontario Regiment Museum has been under restoration for the past several years. This year, the museum crew put the finishing touches on this vehicle and it was finally able to take part in the Aquino Tank Weekend event. Like many Hetzers in museums today, this is a post-war G-13, but thanks to a thorough restoration process it is nearly indistinguishable from the real deal.

Tank Comfort

Vadim Elistratov is a renowned restorer of armoured vehicles, with experience of bringing WWII era tanks back to life with their original components. Since he doesn't just rebuild the tanks but also drives them, he gave his impressions on how various nations' armoured vehicles compare to one another in a recent interview with Tactic Media.

How the Wehrmacht's Diesel Stalled

All mass produced German tanks in WWII were equipped with gasoline engines. This fact resulted in a lot of myths that are being repeated to this day. How did Germany end up with a Maybach monopoly on tank engine and is it true that the navy ate up all the diesel fuel? Did German designers ever manage to create a good diesel engine?

Mega Hetzer

"Artillery HQ, 1st Order of Lenin Guards Mechanized Corps

February 5th, 1945

Only for: commander of the 1453rd Self Propelled Artillery Regiment

Based on directive #0160 of the Commander of Artillery of the 3rd Ukrainian Front, issued on January 17th, 1945, I report that:

A captured radio operator of the 73rd Artillery Regiment of the 1st Tank Division, German Gefreiter Gugenreiter, said that: "the first tank regiment of the division received four new anti-tank guns called "Getzer". These guns are held in great secrecy and no one is allowed to come close to them aside from their maintenance personnel. They are designed to fight Russian tanks. A shell fired from their guns can penetrate 22 cm of armour from a distance of 1200 meters. The gun is 1.5 meters tall and moves at a speed of 70 kph."

The Corps Deputy Commander of Artillery ordered that:

1. Personnel of artillery units and reconnaissance especially must be familiarized with the POW's statement.
2. If the new "Getzer" SPGs are located, immediately report to the Corps Artillery HQ.

Corps Artillery HQ Chief, Guards Major Veselovskiy."

Via Andrei Ulanov

Ersatz Tank Destroyer

The Jadgpanzer 38(t), also widely known as the "Hetzer", is often treated as just being short of a wonder-weapon that could significantly change the tide of war had it appeared sooner. Without doubt, the Jadgpanzer 38(t) was a good design. Its weight class had hardly any other vehicles that combined thick sloped armour, powerful armament, and a relatively low silhouette. However, let's not overestimate this vehicle. The Jagdpanzer 38(t) was just one of many ersatz vehicles called upon to slow down the relentless approach of the front line to Germany's borders.

Hetzer from Aquino

The fine lads from Base Borden are restoring a Jagdpanzer 38(t), and I had the luck to see it at Aquino Tank Weekend at the Ontario Regiment Museum last weekend. The tank is coloured like this only temporarily (the Flakpanzer they wheeled out last year had the same colour), but it will be painted its proper dark yellow in the end.

Tanks at Balaton

I've explored the issue of brittle German armour in many articles, but each one seems to get the same complaint: it's only an experiment, real life is not like this! Here are some photos from the battle at Lake Balaton (Operation Spring Awakening) that demonstrate very well how far German armour declined.

Despite hitting the Tiger's highly sloped transmission cover, this shell made a large breach in the tank's armour, destroying it.

Some people tell me that the Panther's wheels protected its thin side armour from low caliber guns, but that does not seem to be the case here. This Panther was hit through the wheel and then the side armour, knocking it out.

This Panther fell victim to a high caliber HE shell. The shell ricocheted off its upper front plate, but left a breach and cracks in the armour. The tank was abandoned by its crew.

A relatively routine penetration of the Panther's side armour, leading to significant amount of spalling.

This Jadgpanzer 38(t) fell victim to a 76 mm round, despite its highly angled 60 mm of armour around the gun mantlet. Interestingly enough, the armour was not as brittle here as it was on the Panther above. 

A gaping hole in the side of a Wirbelwind.

Another Panther with a huge hole in its side.

Many people complain that shooting at one tank during tests several times is unfair, but this is what a Panther caught in a Soviet ambush looks like. Several shots to the side resulted in a large portion of the armour caving in.

An explosion split this Panther's upper front plate all the way across.

This is a very interesting shot, as it managed to penetrate the gun, and then the gun mantlet behind it.

Another set of lucky shots to the turret that managed to knock off the gun.

Another Panther with an enormous crack across its front armour.

Another Panther that was caught in an ambush. Three shots to the turret seemed to not crack the armour that much, but the lower turret and upper hull shots resulted in a lot of spalling.

More effective shots to the turret. These one did not knock the gun off, but knocked out the tank anyway.

One or two shots to the side of the turret resulted in a huge breach forming.

Another Panther that was likely the victim of an ambush, and another one where the turret fares a lot better in terms of spalling then the hull.

Skoda Production Status

As with German factories that fell into the Soviet zone of influence, the Soviets took inventory of other factories working for Germany, to figure out if anything they produced was of value to them. I already posted the results of this assessment.

"Note on the condition of tank production at Skoda factories

1. G-13 tank destroyers
Current production batch: 2000 tanks
Supplied to former German military directorate: 800
Remaining tanks still in production: 1200

Of those, 150 tanks can be assembled in a short amount of time (about 6 months). The rest (1050 tanks) are currently in production, with parts being produced here or by subcontractors. According to preliminary data, these 1050 tanks are 45-60% complete. The exact degree of completion is currently being established.

78 7.5 cm guns are available to arm these tanks, the rest would have to be manufactured. There are no machineguns, as the machineguns were supplied by the buyer.

2. Tiger Assault Tanks

We produced certain components for the Nibelungenwerke company. This order was completed before the end of the war.

3. Hulls and turrets for the heavy Tiger II tank

The initial order for 300 hulls and 300 turrets by OKH made on September 17th, 1943, was reduced to 86 hulls and 103 turrets on March 13th, 1945.

As of April 19th, 1945, 15 hulls and 10 turrets were ready at the Hradec Králové factory, but they were not delivered to the German military directorate.

In July of this year, the Red Army accepted the following at Hradec Králové:

• 19 fully or partially completed Tiger II hulls.
• 19 fully or partially completed Tiger II turrets.

and the remainder of unprepared materials, as a result of which, the order was completed."

CAMD RF 38-11355-3015

German Production Plans for 1945

I've covered Soviet production plans that were interrupted by the start of the war, so let's look at the opposite: German production plans that were interrupted by the war's end. This document was translated by someone rather distant from German military terminology, so some of it doesn't make a lot of sense.

Item number	Name	March	April	May	June	July	August	Monthly requirement	Note
365	Tiger II	45	50	65	70	80	80		500 more units planned after February 1st, 1945.
355	Panther	200	225	225	225	225	-		1341 more units planned after February 1st, 1945, including 125 mountain Panthers.
356	Mountain Panther	25	25	25	25	25
351	PzIV	180	200	100	-	-	-		650 planned after February 1st, 1945.
355	StuG III	250	300	300	300	130	-		1480 units produced in total.
	StuH 42	80	80	80	-	-	-		Only 274 StuH 42s are planned.
	StuG IV	50	60	60	68	-	-		Production scaled back due to bombing.
342	PzIV long (U)	180	200	200	200	150	150	150	150 tanks of this type per month in the new economy plan.
	PzV long (A)	-	-	-	-	-	-		No longer produced, production will renew when the box (?) is produced for the long U.
350	Jagdpanzer 38	350	350	350	350	300	50	250	2100 units since February 1st, 1945.
	Jagdpanzer 38(d)	-	-	10	50	80	120		Initial production.
	Waffentrager 38(d)	-	-	-	5	10	20	100	It is not yet decided if the Waffentrager will be built.

CAMD RF 38-11355-2725

Hetzer? I hardly know 'er!

If you ask a lot of people what a Hetzer is, they will show you a Jagdpanzer 38(t). These people include even the knowledgeable folks at Wargaming. However, it appears that neither the Germans nor the Czechs called it "Hetzer".

"December 10, 1945

To Deputy Chief of the Eastern Europe Directorate of the USSR NKVT, Comrade Vozzhov

The provided report on tanks manufactured at the Skoda factory states that 1200 "G-13" tank destroyers are incomplete. 150 of these tanks can be assembled from existing parts, while 1050 tanks are 45-60% complete.

To complete the 1050 tanks, there are 78 guns available. The remaining guns and mechanisms would have to be manufactured.

I do not think that it is reasonable to complete the manufacture of these tanks.

Chief of the Head Tank Directorate of the Red Army, Lieutenant-General of the Tank Forces, Vershinin."

CAMD RF 38-11355-3015

As for the Germans, a translated copy of their plans for March-August 1945 (CAMD RF 38-11355-2725) lists a "hunter tank 38" and "hunter tank 38 D", which are obviously "Jagdpanzer 38(t)" and "Jagdpanzer 38(d)", respectively.

World of Tanks History Section: Jagdpanzer 38(t) Hetzer

In November 1943, Allied aviation bombed the Alkett factories in Marienfeld. These factories were one of the most important producers of self propelled guns in Germany. The Wehrmacht's demand for vehicles of this type was in danger of going unfulfilled. This was partially covered by Krupp producing a vehicle with the StuG casemate and PzIV chassis, but he alone could not satisfy the demand. Additionally, these tanks were expensive, and their chassis was used by other tanks that were also needed.

The Germans decided to set up additional manufacturing in Czechoslovakia, which was nearly unbombed. The VMM factories in Prague already repaired German SPGs, so retooling them for building StuGs didn't seem like such a bad idea. However, when specialists analyzed the situation, it was clear that such a swap would not be possible in a short amount of time.

In 1943, Heinz Guderian, chief inspector of the tank forces, proposed that a light tank destroyer with at least a 75 mm gun be developed. Germany already had vehicles like these, the Marder and the Bison, but they were more self propelled carriages for the guns, with not much armour or survivability. The Wehrmacht needed a full fledged TD, with a proper armoured hull.

Something like this was proposed by VMM engineers in October of 1943, but it did not cause much interest back then. Now, they had the opportunity to blow off the dust and finish what they started. The order came in to VMM late November of 1943. On December 17th, the commission from the Armament Directorate received project documents and two wooden models with different armament and suspensions. The commission chose "Solomon's solution" and ordered a combination of the best parts of the two projects be made. The new TD received the chassis from the PzKpfw 38(t) light tank, 75 mm gun PaK 39 L/48, and a closed casemate with sloped armour plates. Starting on December 4th, 1944, the TD was nicknamed Hetzer (hunter).

The Hetzer was the first Czech vehicle with welded armour. This halved the time needed to make it. The armour thickness varied greatly. The front was 60 mm, but the sides and rear were only 20 mm. The Hetzer's armour protected it from bullets, shrapnel, and AT guns up to 45 mm in caliber. The hull was air-tight. The crew climbed in through hatches on top. According to memoirs, the ventilation was poor, and it very hot inside the tank during the summer.

Many claim that Soviet tanks were "blind", but the Hetzer was no beter. On first Hetzers, the observation devices could only be used when the hatches were open. If the hatches were closed, it was not possible to look right. This problem was tackled by adding more observation devices for the commander, but the deadzone on the right was never fully removed.

The Hetzer was very compact, only 4.8 meters in length (not counting the gun) and 2.1 meters in height. The 75 mm gun only fit in such a small hull due to a special universal joint developed by K. Stolberg. Ironically, this joint was developed in 1942. The Germans claimed that it could never work. However, after finding it in Soviet TDs (SU-76I, SU-85, SU-152), this solution was used on the Hetzer, JagdPzIV and Jagdpanther.

The Hetzer was a very agile vehicle. It accelerated to 40 kph with no problems. A well trained driver on a well maintained Hetzer could reach even higher speeds. Soviet test crews accelerated a captured Hetzer to 50 kph. The gas tank lasted for 190 km.

The Hetzer was mass produced in April of 1944. The design was modernized almost immediately. The tracks were widened to improve cross-country performance. The engine was improved by increasing its RPM. In order to simplify removing the engine and transmission, the Hetzer was modified to mount a 2-ton crane. Attempts to improve visibility were mentioned earlier. Command, engineering, and flamethrower modifications of the Hetzer were produced. The flamethrower modifications were used in the Ardennes forest on the Western front and at lake Balaton in the East. The combat performance was deemed unsatisfactory. The engineering modification attempted to mount a 150 mm gun. 24 large caliber Hetzers were made.

The Hetzer resembled Soviet tanks with its simplicity and effectiveness. No aces fought in these vehicles. Crews were formed from personnel with very basic combat and technical training. Hetzers were placed in infantry AT squads, grenadier and cavalry units. The crew reviews were largely positive. The Hetzer was praised for its small size, agility, simplicity, and reliability. The gun also performed well. Soviet soldiers commented on its small silhouette  and its ability to suddenly appear, and disappear. The Hetzer's shape earned it a number of nicknames: "flea", "chisel", "ax", "coffin", and, for some reason, "whistle".

The Hetzers stayed in production until May of 1945. During WWII, it was used by the Hungarians, as well as the Germans. During the Warsaw uprising on October 2nd, 1944, Krajow's army captured one Hetzer, and used it against the Germans. During the Prague uprising in 1945, these vehicles were used by the Czechs as well.

Summing up all the information on this project, the Hetzer was a pretty good vehicle. It was used after WWII as well as during. Until 1970, the Swiss army used Hetzers under the index G-13. Most Hetzers that exist today are Swiss G-13s that were cosmetically modified to more closely resemble its German ancestor.

There are 9 authentic Hetzers left worldwide.

Original article available here.

Note: historical scholarship indicates that "Hetzer" is a post-war name. In various documents from 1944 and 1945, the TD in question is referred to as "G-13" or "Jagdpanzer 38(t)".