About
Panzerkampfwagen IV, commonly known as Panzer IV, developed by Nazi Germany in the late 1930s and widely used during the Second World War. The definition of inventory of this tank in the army is sd.kfz. 161.
The task of the Panzer IV tank, which was initially designed as a infantry support tank, was not aimed at piercing the enemy armor, it was the Panzer III tanks. Panzer IV, the most produced and distributed German tank of the Second World War, Panzer IV, Sturmgeschütz IV attack weapon, Jagdpanzer IV tank destroyer, Wirbelwind self -driven anti -aircraft weapon and Brumbär self -driven weapons were used as basis for many other war vehicles.
This tank, which is robust and reliable, served in all battles about Germany, and with more than 8800 production between 1936 and 1945, it is the German tank that was continuously produced throughout the war. Frequent design changes against improvements and opposition tank models have extended its service life. Generally, these changes were made on the development of armor and ball and focused on production simplification and acceleration to prevent the losses of Germany towards the last months of the war.
Panzer IV has been widely exported to the German service. Around 300 tanks were sold to partners such as Finland, Spain, Romania and Bulgaria. After the war, dozens of Panzer IV tank sold to Syria by France and Spain were combat in 1967 during the six -day war.
Panzer IV is the invention of German General Heinz Guderian, a German general and innovative armored war theorist. As a concept, it is aimed to be a support tank to be used against enemy tank weapons and fortifications. Ideally, it consisted of a combination of 1 heavy tank group consisting of 3 mid -tank groups consisting of Panzer IIIs and Panzer IVs during the war. On January 11, 1934, the German army wrote specifications for the "middle tractor" and announced that defense companies exported a number of. The Panzer IIIs would be equipped with an anti-tank weapon of 37 millimeters to support, the main weapon of the new vehicles was set as a short-barreled 75 millimeter howitzer ball and a 24-ton weight limit was allocated. Since Germany is still theoretically dependent on the Treaty of Versailles, improvements have been carried out under the name BeGleitwagen ("Accompanying Vehicle") in order not to notice their main objectives. Man, Krupp and Rheinmetall-Borsig developed the first prototypes, and the prototype of KRUpp has been selected for further development. The chassis was actually designed with a six -wheel sprinkled suspension, but the German army replaced it with the torction bar system. Suspension studies were carried out on the comfort of the road performance and the comfort of the crew, but the suggestion was not accepted because of the emergency needs of the new tank, and a simple leaf stringy dual bojis suspension was preferred instead of Krupp.
Versuchskraftfahrzeug 622 (etc.kfz. 622) was adopted. Production, Magdeburgkrupp Grusonwerk AG factory began in 1936 at Fried.
Panzer IV was initially designed to be limited to limited use, that is, the Krupp was the only manufacturer of the tank. Before the Polish campaign, only 262 panzer IV were produced: 35 AUSF. A; 42 AUSF. B; 140 AUSF. C and 45 AUSF. D. After the occupation of Poland, with the decision to adapt Germany to the tank as an armored basis, production continued at the Nibelungenwerke factory in Valentine, Austria (directed by Steyr-Daimler-Puch). Production was increased by delivering 223 tanks to the German army, and the AUSF E. version was introduced. In 1941, 462 Panzer IV, Ausf. It was assembled as f. With the development of the weapon, the transition to the F2 model was made. The annual production total has increased four times since the beginning of the war. Later, as the Panzer IV models appeared, as a third factory, assembly works for Vomag (located in Plauen). In 1941, an average of 39 tanks were produced in 1941, which increased to 83 in 1942, in 1943, in 252 and 1944, 300 tanks were produced monthly. However, in December 1943, the Krupp Factory was directed to Sturmgeschütz IV production and only the Nibelungenwerke factory was left for Panzer IV assembly and started production of Jagdanzer IV in the spring of 1944 in the spring of 1944. With pressure on allied air and land attacks, the slow collapse of the German industry began. In October 1944, the Nibelungenwerke factory was damaged by a serious bombardment attack. In March and April of 1945, the production level fell below the 1942s and reached a figure such as 55 tank production.
Panzer IV was the German tank most exported of the Second World War. In 1942, Germany delivered 11 tanks to Romania and 32 tanks to Hungary. In the last months of 1942 and early 1943, many of them disappeared. Romania has received about 120 Panzer IV tanks from different models throughout the war. For the Bulgarian army to form the core of a new armored company, Germany presented 46 or 91 panzer IV and 12 Italian tanks. These tanks are the tanks that the Italian dictator Benito Mussolini used to train Italian teams when he was overthrown, but in the middle of 1943, in Italy, the tanks that were taken back by Germany in Italy. In March 1943, the Spanish government filed a petition for 100 Panzer IV, but only 20 delivery were received until December. Finland acquired 30 Panzer IV in 1944, but only 15 were delivered and the second party of 62 or 72 units were sent to Hungary in the same year (20 of which were directed to Germany's losses). A total of 297 German IV models were delivered to allies of Germany.
Panzer IV, II. It became a type of tank produced and struggling during World War II, and with the statistics measured throughout the war, it formed the 30 %tank of Wehrmmact.
After the Second World War, it continued to use in some countries.
Panzer IV Ausf.g/H version was used by the Turkish Armed Forces and served as T-4.