Jagdpanzer IV

Jagdpanzer IV

In the early stages of World War II, German tank destroyer units (Panzerjager/Jagdpanzer) were armed with various improvised self-propelled guns, which were modifications of numerous tracked and half-tracked vehicles, often captured vehicles (e.g. French). All of these vehicles had rather weak armor and an open fighting compartment.

The successes of the German assault guns set a new direction for the development of tank destroyers. A well-armed and armored vehicle with a low silhouette was therefore needed. Hence, initially the new tank destroyer was referred to as assault guns, Sturmgeschutz neue Art. The name was also an expression of a certain unification of the two classes of armored vehicles: assault guns and self-propelled (armored) guns, i.e. tank destroyers that often used the same tasks, which was possible , because they had high-explosive (high-explosive) ammunition and armor-piercing ammunition in their arsenal. Photos, color profiles, organization charts and scale drawings, Polish text, English captions