Panzerartillerie: Firepower for the Panzer Divisions

258 Pages·2019·116.426 MB·English

by  Thomas Anderson

PANZERARTILLERIE
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PANZERARTILLERIE
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PANZERARTILLERIE
Thomas Anderson
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OSPREY PUBLISHING
Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
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OSPREY is a trademark of Osprey Publishing Ltd
First published in Great Britain in 2019
This electronic edition published in 2019 by Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
© Thomas Anderson, 2019
Thomas Anderson has asserted his right under
the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988,
to be identified as Author of this work.
For legal purposes the Acknowledgements on page 256
constitute an extension of this copyright page.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be
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ISBN: HB 978 1 4728 2024 2
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CONTENTS
Introduction 6
1: GERMAN ARTILLERY IN 1933 12
2: MOBILITY FOR THE ARTILLERY 32
3: 1936–39 DEFINING THE STANDARDS 54
4: INTO POLAND 70
5: FRANCE AND THE BALKANS 80
6: 1941 – A TIME OF UNCERTAINTY 102
7: 1942 – ADVANCED SELF-PROPELLED GUNS 136
8: IN COMBAT 184
Index 252
Acknowledgements 256
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6 PANZERARTILLERIE
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7
INTRODUCTION
In 1931, Oberstleutnant Heinz Guderian joined the staff of General Oswald
Lutz at the Inspektion der Krafttruppen (inspectorate of mechanized troops)
and it soon became apparent that both were in agreement that plans needed to
be laid for a revolutionary highly mobile tank corps – the Panzerwaffe. The main
element would be the Panzer division; a large unit that was to be motorized
and equipped with the latest tanks and transport vehicles. In combat, the tanks
would strike at a selected point in enemy lines, make the breakthrough then
fan out to destroy enemy forces and other tactical targets in rear positions.
Mobile Artillery
Both Lutz and Guderian were fully aware that these rapidly advancing forces
would require artillery support weapons which were able to equal the mobility
and speed of the tanks. For military planners, totally aware of the lack of support
A photograph taken for
artillery for the Panzer divisions, the only solution was to order the development
propaganda purposes
of armoured self-propelled guns: Germany was most certainly technically
in East Prussia at the
capable, but there would always be a decisive gap between development skills beginning of Unternehmen
and a lack of production capacity, exacerbated by a severe lack of funding. (Operation) Barbarossa of a
vorgeschobener-Beobachter
By 1936, the first half-tracked self-propelled gun had been designed by
(forward observer) team
Rheinmetall. It was armed with a 3.7cm FlaK 43/1 L/70 gun, mounted in a
positioned in a ditch. The
small open turret, and built using the chassis of a Hansa-Loyd HLkl 3. A short
Scherenfernrohr (scissors-
time later, Büssing-NAG produced a similar type of vehicle on their BNL6 type telescope) has been
chassis, but it was more heavily armed with a 7.5cm L/40.8 gun. Both types mounted on a tripod which
has been lowered to its
were intended to operate in the tank destroyer role; the Bussing-Nag type
minimum position, but the
would have been a formidable light field gun to provide supporting fire. Finally,
team does not have a field
Hanomag developed a reconnaissance vehicle based on their H 8(H) chassis.
telephone or radio to contact
None of the three types progressed beyond the prototype stage. their battery.
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8 PANZERARTILLERIE
As war approached, military planners selected two heavy artillery
pieces – schwere (s – heavy) 10cm Kanone (K – cannon) 18 and the 12.8cm
Flugabwehrkanone (FlaK – anti-aircraft gun) – to be mounted on a fully tracked
chassis. A small number of both types was built, but were only used for very
specific combat missions.
In 1940, it was decided to mount a 15cm sIG 33, heavy infantry gun, on the
chassis of a PzKpfw I, now considered obsolete on the battlefield. Designated
15cm schwere (s – heavy) Infanteriegeschütz (IG – infantry gun) 33 auf Fahrgestell
(on the chassis) of a Panzerkampfwagen (PzKpfw – tank) I, Ausführung (Ausf –
model) B, it must be considered to be the first German self-propelled artillery
gun to be used in action.
Up until 1943, the Reich had not able to build new facilities or increase
production capacity for urgently required new weapons. Indeed, the first self-
propelled artillery gun manufactured in substantial numbers for German forces
would be built using the chassis of a French-built Beutepanzer (captured tank).
In 1943, the Wehrmacht finally took delivery of self-propelled heavy artillery
A Wespe battery of SS-
PzArtRgt 5 Wiking on the guns mounting a 10.5cm leFh 18 or 15cm sFH 18, and these soon formed
march in the winter of 1943:
the backbone of the divisional artillery. At the same time a new branch of the
The Panzerbefehlswagen
(PzBefWg – command tank) military was born: the Panzerartillerie.
III is from the regimental
During research for this book a large amount of documentation was found
staff section, which in turn
reports to the divisional including development orders for a number of self-propelled guns and the
staff. The PzBefWg has directives issued for the establishment of units and tactical requirements. Also
been fitted with extra
the documentation included a number of after-action reports which detail the
armour and a full set of
Panzerschürzen (side skirts). experiences of troops on the frontline.
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