Though originally intended as an infantry-support tank, the Pz. IV (along with the Pz. V, described below) formed the backbone of Germany’s panzer divisions from 1943 to the war’s end. The tank had the same engine and general appearance as the Pz. III, but the Pz. IV had a larger turret and gun, thicker frontal armour, and better cross-country mobility.
It mounted a 75-mm gun and two machine guns and was protected by armour ranging in thickness from 30 to 80 mm. It weighed 25 tons, had a top road speed of 40 km (25 miles) per hour, and carried a crew of five. The first Pz. IVs went into active service in 1939 with a short-barreled gun and were extremely successful until confronted by Soviet T-34 tanks in late 1941. To cope with this threat, the Pz. IV was given thicker armour and refitted with a long-barreled, high-velocity gun that could better penetrate the T-34’s armour. The improved Pz. IV could engage the T-34 on nearly equal terms and was superior to the U.S. Sherman tank in many respects. The Pz. IV was the only tank made by Germany throughout the course of the war, from 1939 to 1945. More than 8,000 Pz. IVs were built, making it the most numerous of all German tanks. Its inexpensive, mass-produced chassis, like those of its three predecessors, was used as a platform for various types of antitank, assault, and self-propelled guns and also functioned as an armoured personnel carrier.
Pz. V
Germany had experimented with heavy tanks as early as 1935, but these efforts acquired a new urgency after German medium tanks encountered Soviet T-34s in late 1941. A crash program was undertaken to design a tank that would incorporate the advanced features of the T-34, and the result was the Pz. V, or Panther, which entered production in November 1942 and active service soon afterward. With the possible exception of the T-34, the Panther was probably the finest tank built by any country during the war. At 45 tons it was a heavy vehicle, but a 12-cylinder, 700-horsepower engine enabled it to reach a top road speed of 45 km (28 miles) per hour, and an excellent suspension system gave it unusually good cross-country mobility for a German tank. Its long-barreled, high-velocity 75-mm gun had good range and penetrating power against most enemy tanks, and the Panther’s armour—80 mm thick at the front and 40–45 mm on the sides and rear—was sloped so that shells would ricochet off it.
The Panther’s combat debut in the Battle of Kursk (July 1943) was not auspicious: transmission, suspension, and cooling-system problems brought most of the tanks to a halt before they could even reach the battle zone. Once these defects were resolved, however, Panthers operated with great success on both the Eastern and Western fronts. They were especially effective against U.S. Sherman tanks and British Cromwell tanks in northern France during the Normandy campaign, though they remained vulnerable to attack by Allied aircraft. More than 5,000 Panthers were built during the war.
Pz. VI
The last and largest tank used by Germany in the war was the Pz. VI, or Tiger. Like the Panther, the Tiger was hurriedly developed in response to the Soviet T-34. It went into production in August 1942 and, like the Panther, first entered combat in large numbers at Kursk. The Tiger emphasized to an extreme the German preference for firepower and survivability at the expense of speed, agility, range, and reliability. Its long-barreled, high-velocity 88-mm gun, adapted from the Germans’ formidable antiaircraft (Flak) and antitank (Pak) guns, could penetrate even the most heavily armoured Soviet tanks at extremely long range.
The Tiger’s own frontal armour, 100 mm thick, was proof against almost any antitank gun, and the side and rear armour was 60–80 mm thick. The tank’s big gun and heavy armour seriously compromised its mobility, however. The early Tigers weighed about 55 tons, and the Tiger II model introduced in 1944 weighed 70 tons, making it the heaviest tank of the war. The Tiger had a top road speed of 38 km (24 miles) per hour, but it could travel only about 20 km (12 miles) per hour cross-country. Whereas the Panther had a range of 100 to 200 km (60 to 120 miles), the Tiger needed refueling after only 70 to 110 km (45 to 70 miles) of travel, and it was prone to breakdowns and was difficult to maintain.
The Tiger tank was thus best used in a defensive role, where speed and agility were not decisive factors. Lightly armoured Sherman tanks suffered terrible losses against Tigers in the Normandy campaign, but the Allies quickly learned to capitalize on their superior numbers and agility in successful attacks on Tigers from the side and rear. Because Tiger tanks were difficult to manufacture, only about 1,340 had been built when Germany ceased production of them in August 1944.