Aanvalsgeschut - Duitsland: boeken - historie en modellen

German Assault Guns and Tank Destroyers 1940-1945 - Rare Photographs from Wartime Archives (Images of War)

The assault guns and tank destroyers deployed by the Wehrmacht during the Second World War are not as famous as tanks like the Tiger and Panther, but they were remarkably successful, and they are the subject of Anthony Tucker-Jones's wide-ranging photographic history.

As the conflict progressed, the German army had to find a use for its obsolete panzers, and this gave rise to the turretless Sturmgeschütz or assault guns designed for infantry support. From 1944 onwards they played a vital role in Nazi Germany's increasingly defensive war.

A selection of rare wartime photographs shows the variety of turretless armoured fighting vehicles that were produced and developed - various models of the Sturmgeschütz III, the Sturmhaubitze, Jagdpanzer, Panzerjäger, Marder, Hetzer.
Often a lack of tanks meant that these armoured vehicles were called on to fill the panzer's role, and they proved ideal during the Germans' defensive battles on the Eastern Front as well as in Italy and Normandy - they were instrumental in delaying Germany's defeat.

This highly illustrated account provides is a fascinating introduction to one of the less well-known aspects of armoured warfare during the Second World War.

Specificaties

Hitler's Tank Killer - Sturmgeschütz at War 1940-1945 - Rare photographs from Wartime Archives (Images of War)

Sturmgeschütz III was originally designed as an assault weapon, but as war progressed it was increasingly used in a defensive role and evolved into an assault gun and tank destroyer. By 1943 its main role was providing anti-tank support to the units in its area of operation. This consequently led to many StuGs being destroyed in battle. Nonetheless they were very successful as tank killers and destroyed, among others, many bunkers, pillboxes and other defences.

The StuG was not considered to be a true tank because it lacked a turret. The gun was mounded directly in the hull, in a casemate-style fashion, with a low profile to reduce vehicle heights, and had a limited lateral traverse of a few degrees in either direction. Thus, the entire vehicle had to be turned in order to acquire targets. Omitting the turret made production much simpler and less costly, enabling greater numbers to be built. Its significantly shorter vertical profile as compared to contemporary tanks made the StuG more difficult to hit.

Most assault guns were mounted on the chassis of a Panzer III or Panzer IV, with the resultant model being called either a StuG III or StuG IV respectively. The StuG was one of the most effective tracked vehicles of World War II, and over 10,000 of them were eventually produced.
During the course of the war StuG III assault guns were issued to Sturmartillerie Batteries, Sturmgeschütz Abteilungen, Sturmgeschütz Brigades, Sturmartillerie Batteries, Ersatz (Reserve), Abteilungen and Funklenk (Remote Control) Companies. StuG III assault guns served on all fronts of WWII until the end of the war.

This book shows rare photographs of the Sturmgeschütz, found in wartime archives.

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The German Sturmgeschütze in World War II - A Photo Chronicle

This book is a detailed look at the World War II German assault gun in all its variants. Everything from design and construction, to ammunition, tactics, and operations on all war fronts is presented. War era photos show up-close details, as well as combat use throughout World War II.

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Deutsche Sturmgeschütze - Entwicklung und Fertigung der sPak (Spielberger)

As German losses increased, the Wehrmacht equipped infantry units with self-propelled "heavy anti-tank guns." As the war progressed, the easily manufactured assault guns increasingly took on the role of replacement tanks, even though they did not have a rotating turret. Nevertheless, they continued to be used after the war, even in the first Israeli-Arab wars.

In this volume, Walter Spielberger documents the development, technology and use of these vehicles in all their variants, while Alexander Lüdeke has examined the post-war years.

Specificaties