Re: battle for arnhem....
This is the Marder Ausf M version.........
Marder III
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Marder III
Marder III Ausf.M Type
Tank destroyer Place of origin
Nazi Germany Service history In service 1942 to 1945 Used by
Nazi Germany Wars
World War II Production history Designed 1942 Produced 1942 to 1944 Specifications Weight 10,670 kg (23,523 lbs) Length 4.65 m (15.25 ft) Width 2.35 m (7.70 ft) Height 2.48 m (8.13 ft) Crew 4 Primary
armament
7.62 cm PaK 36(r) or
7.5 cm PaK 40 The
Marder III is the name for a series of
World War II German tank destroyers built on the chassis of the
Panzer 38(t). German word "Marder" means "
marten" in English. They were in production from 1942 to 1944 and served on all fronts until the end of the war.
Contents
[hide]
[edit] History
Even in the early stages of
Operation Barbarossa, the
Wehrmacht already felt the need for a more mobile and more powerful anti-tank solution than the existing towed anti-tank guns or tank destroyers like the
Panzerjäger I. This need became urgent in June 1941, with the appearance of the new Soviet tanks like the
T-34 and
KV-1.
As an interim solution, it was decided to use captured French vehicles like the
Lorraine (Marder I), obsolete tanks such as German
Panzer II (Marder II), and Czech-supplied
38(t) (Marder III) as the base for makeshift tank destroyers. The result was the
Marder series, which were armed with either captured Soviet 76.2mm F-22 Model 1936 divisional field guns, or 75 mm
PaK 40 anti-tank guns. Due to weight and space constraints of these small chassis, Marder series were not fully armored. Weak armor protection was provided only for the front and sides. All Marder series had open tops. Some were issued with canvas tops to protect the crew from the elements.
From early 1944, fully armored vehicles such as the
Hetzer,
StuG III,
StuG IV,
Jagdpanzer IV,
Elefant,
Jagdpanther and
Jagdtiger increasingly took over the role of tank destroyers and the weakly armored Marder series were phased out of production, however, they served until the end of the conflict.
[edit] Development
Marder III (Sd.Kfz.139) on display at the
US Army Ordnance Museum in Aberdeen
Marder III Ausf.H (Sd.Kfz.138) on display at the
Sinsheim Auto & Technik Museum in Germany
Marder III Ausf.M on display at the
Musée des Blindés at Saumur
Marder III on display at Victory Park in Moscow, 2004.
[edit] Marder III, Sd.Kfz. 139
While the
Panzer 38(t) had largely become obsolete as a tank in early 1942, it was still an excellent platform for adaptation into a tank destroyer, among other roles. Since the
Soviet 76.2 mm field gun was captured in large quantities, the decision was made to mate this gun to the Panzer 38(t).
To do so, the turret and upper superstructure of the Panzer 38 were removed and a new superstructure was bolted on to the chassis. The upper structure mounted the gun and an extended gun shield, giving very limited protection for the commander and the loader. Armour protection overall ranged from 10 to 50 mm. The gun, commander and loader were located on top of the engine deck. It had higher silhouette than
Panzer 38, which made it more vulnerable to enemy fire.
The now-called
7.62 cm PaK 36(r) was rechambered to be able to use standard German 75 mm ammunition, of which 30 rounds could be carried inside the vehicle. Apart from the main gun, there was a 7.92 mm machine gun mounted in the hull.
This tank destroyer was put into production as the
Panzerjäger 38(t) für 7.62 cm PaK 36(r), Sd.Kfz. 139. A total of 363 of this Marder III variant were built from April 1942 to 1943.