+++ DISCLAIMER +++
Nothing you see here is real, even though the conversion or the presented background story might be based on historical facts. BEWARE!
Some background:
The Sd.Kfz. 141/4 Panzerkampfwagen III, commonly known as the Panzer III, was a medium tank developed in the 1930s by Germany and was used extensively in World War II. It was intended to fight other armored fighting vehicles and serve alongside and support the similar Panzer IV which was originally designed for infantry support. However, as the Germans faced the formidable T-34, more powerful anti-tank guns were needed, and since the Panzer IV had more development potential with a larger turret ring, the latter was redesigned to mount the long-barrelled 7.5 cm KwK 40 gun and the Panzer III effectively swapped roles with the Panzer IV. Later, the Panzer V “Panther” took over the role of the standard MBT. Production of the Panzer III as battle tank ceased in 1943. Nevertheless, the Panzer III's capable chassis was used for a range of specialized vehicles.
The Panzer III was by far the most widely used of all Axis chassis. Besides the StuG, or Sturmgeschütz III, family (9500 built), suspensions, tracks and engine were used in almost a dozen specially modified vehicles. These included the Tauchpanzer III, an improvised “submarine version” designed for “Operation Seelöwe”, the invasion of Great Britain in August 1940, the Sturm-Infanteriegeschütz 33B (or sIG-33B), a 1941-42 conversion of regular Panzer IIIs into a self-propelled chassis for the massive 150 mm (5.9 in) field gun, or the Sturmhaubitze 42 (StuH 42), of which 1024 were built. Other conversions included the Flammpanzer III Ausf.M(Fl), an Ausf.M-based flamethrower version, the Panzerbefehlswagen III command tanks and the Artillerie-Panzerbeobachtungswagen III, which was an advanced artillery observation model of which 262 were produced, appearing on the Russian front in 1943. The Bergepanzer III recovery tank was a late (1944) version affected to the Eastern Front, mostly to Tiger units.
Another late Panzer III development was the SdKfz. 141/4, officially called Panzerspähwagen III but better known as Spähpanzer III. It was, like the Panzerbefehlswagen III, not a newly produced vehicle but rather converted from recovered late Panzer III chassis. It was developed and introduced as an alternative to the SdKfz. 234 8x8 heavy scout cars, primarily for areas where better armor and off-road capabilities were called for, and where range was not a vital asset. In fact, the Panzerspähwagen III was more or less a direct alternative to the stillborn VK 1602 ‘Leopard’ light tank, very similar to it in many aspects.
As a dedicated scout vehicle, the Panzerspähwagen III was not designed to fight tanks. Its primary mission was rather to guide heavier battle tanks to potential targets in both offensive and defensive situations, and it would also act as an artillery scout. The crew was expected to race in front of the main Panzer Division or lie in wait ahead of defensive strongholds and search out the enemy. Once they had found them, they were to use speed to get out of range or a powerful radio set to report what they had seen, so that the main attack could be prepared.
Tailored to this task, the Spähpanzer III was simplified and lightened. It had a reduced crew of only four, with only the commander and a loader in a new turret - basically the same horseshoe-shaped turret that had originally been developed for the unrealized VK 1602, and which had also found its way on the highly successful SdKfz. 234/2, too. However, in order to provide the commander with a better all-round field of view under closed hatch conditions, a standard cupola was added. Another new piece of equipment was a stereoscopic rangefinder, useful for both reconnaissance and gun aiming. A stowage box was frequently mounted to the turret’s rear, too.
While the hull armor of up to 50 mm was retained, the turret’s armor was relatively light: the front was protected by 30 mm (1.2 in) armor at an angle of 20° from the vertical, the sides and rear had 10 mm armor set at 25°, and the top plate was 10 mm (0.39 in) armor, too. The gun mantlet was rounded and was effectively 40 to 100 mm (1.6 to 3.9 in) thick. Due to its small size and low weight, the turret only had a manual traverse (saving more weight and resources) and -10° to +20° depression/elevation.
The main gun was a 50 mm (1.97 in) KwK 39/1 L/60, which was sufficient to engage lightly armored enemies. It could, however, when firing armor piercing rounds from a favorable angle, penetrate at short range (100m) up to 130mm of armor at a 30° angle, enough to overcome a T-34’s armor – but this was not the vehicle’s task and rather a desperate measure. To support the vehicle’s escape, defensive smoke dischargers were often mounted, too. A 7.92 mm (0.31 in) Mauser MG 42 machine gun was fixed coaxially to the main gun, another machine gun of the same type was carried in a ball mount in a modified glacis plate. The latter was an attempt to improve the tank’s frontal protection through the clever use of angle instead of trying to add ever more armor and, consequently, weight. On the new glacis plate, the 50 mm armor was effectively extended to 115mm, and the shallow angle also deflected incoming rounds more easily. However, the rest of the armor remained almost vertical, so that this gain in protection was only marginal.
For even better ballistic protection both hull crew members (driver and radio operator) had only periscopes, similar to the late Panzer V “Panther” versions. Open vision ports at the front were deleted and therefore weak points in the front armor, even though the side ports were retained. Thanks to the smaller and lighter turret, both driver and radio operator in the hull also received individual hatches in the hull roof, which were greatly appreciated by the crews. They not only offered a better field of view when not under fire, they also provided them with a much improved escape route: former Panzer IIIs with turrets lacked these hatches and the only escape options from the hull were either via the turret or through small emergency hatches in the lower flanks, right through the running gear. The raised glacis plate furthermore offered more internal space in the tank’s front end, so that a new, semi-automatic gearbox could be installed, which made handling easier.
As a command vehicle, the Panzerspähwagen III carried two radio sets: a FuG 2 command channel set with a FuG 122 aerial, and a FuG 5 radio with an intercom system. This arrangement allowed tank commanders to listen on one frequency while transmitting and receiving on the FuG 5. This meant that the commander could listen to the regimental command net while talking to other tanks at the same time. This radio receiver could listen into a total of 125 channels, at 50 kHz channel steps in the 27.0 to 33.3 MHz range. The system had a usable range of around 4 km to 6 km, depending on the atmospheric conditions and the surrounding landscape.
Due to material shortages, esp. the lack of natural and synthetic rubber, most Panzerspähwagen III conversions received simplified, lightweight all-metal road wheels, which made the ride less comfortable but helped to reduce the vehicle’s overall weight. Protective side-skirts against hollow charges could be mounted, but these were normally left away since they added weight and got easily lost in action, so that their benefit was only marginal – and the Panzerspähwagen III was expected to avoid direct confrontations, anyway. Altogether, the Panzerspähwagen III weighed about 19 tons, five tons less than the final Panzer III battle tank versions with 75mm guns and uprated armor, and this markedly improved the vehicle’s performance and agility. The light turret, which markedly lowered the vehicle’s center of gravity, improved the handling, too.
A few Panzerspähwagen IIIs were ready to fight in Normandy in 1944, but their movements were constrained because of Allied air supremacy. However, a good use of the bocage proved that the Panzer III was still a match for most Allied tanks and that the Spähpanzer concept worked well. Only a limited number of this SdKfz. 141 type was produced, though, since resources were concentrated on the development and production of heavy battle tanks. Production numbers are uncertain, but less than 50 Panzerspähwagen IIIs seem to have been re-built until early 1945.
By the end of 1944 the regular Panzer IIIs were no longer the bulk of the German armored forces, and they were relegated to second line duties, e .g in composite small defensive units. And as the production had stopped earlier, their numbers decreased even more, and by fall of 1944, there were perhaps 80 still operational on the Eastern Front. By then, new generations of US, British and Soviet tanks had nailed their coffin. The type had reached its limits as a battle tank, its former advanced features were now commonly used, and no further up-gunning was possible.
The last Panzer IIIs fought in the Netherlands, Northern Italy (Gothic line), and in eastern Prussia. Perhaps a handful still operational were spread between desperately weakened companies in March-April 1945, like the Steiner Brigade.
Specifications:
Crew: Four (commander/gunner, loader, driver, radio-operator/hull machine gunner)
Weight: 19.2 tonnes
Length: 5.56 m (18 ft 3 in), hull only
6,04 m (19 ft 10 in) overall
Width: 2.90 m (9 ft 6 in)
Height: 2.41 m (7 ft 11 in) w/o antenna mast
Suspension: Torsion bar
Fuel capacity: 320 liter
Armor:
15 – 50 mm (0.6 – 1.97 in)
Performance:
Maximum road speed: 44 km/h (27 mph)
Off-road speed: 28 km/h (18 mph)
Operational range: 165 km (103 mi) with internal fuel
Power/weight: 15.63 PS (11.24 kW)/tonne
Engine:
Maybach HL120 TRM water-cooled 12-cylinder gasoline engine with 300 PS (296 hp, 220 kW),
combined with a Maybach OG 55 11 77 semi-automatic transmission
Armament:
1× 50 mm (1.97 in) KwK 39/1 L/60 with sixty rounds
2× 7.92 mm MG 42 machine guns (coaxial with main gun and in the front hull) with 2.400 rounds
The kit and its assembly:
This converted Panzer III was spawned by the idea that, by 1944, this 1936 design could have been re-built for a different use than a battle tank – a task for which this medium tank had become much too light, with an utter lack of development potential. A dedicated recce variant appeared plausible. This idea was further promoted by the fact that I had a surplus VK 1602 turret in the donor bank, left over from a Hasegawa SdKfz. 234/2 “Puma”.
The chassis was taken from a Revell “Panzer III Ostwind” kit and modified in two ways. Firstly, I changed the glacis plate, replacing the old-school vertical front with a sloped alternative, crafted from styrene sheet pieces. A new ball mount for the hull machine gun was added, as well as periscopes for the crew on new hatches, which became possible through the smaller turret.
The turret opening in the hull had not to be adapted to the smaller Puma turret – the latter was only a little bit smaller than the opening, so that some spacers were enough to make it fit snuggly, and a thin “distance ring” between hull and turret was added, too, so that it would not directly sit on the body. Fairings for a stereoscopic rangefinder were added to the turret flanks, scratched from styrene profile material, and I also added a typical Panzer III stowage box to the turret’s rear. It had to be customized to the smaller “Puma” turret, but I think that this visual enlargement of the turret is a good balance to the rest of the hull, and the box changes the vehicle’s silhouette, too. The commando cupola from the Revell kit (which comes, beyond the open “Ostwind” AA turret, with a full, early standard Panzer III turret) was left open, using the hatch from the VK 1602 turret, and I put a figure into the opening – this German commanding officer is actually 1:76, but that’s not obvious. The figure comes IIRC from a Matchbox “Wespe” SPG that I built more than 30 years ago. Since the figure had somehow lost a leg in the meantime, the Panzerspähwagen III became a suitable new workplace for the handicapped, after having been stripped off of an old enamel paint layer and outfitted with a multi-colored new uniform. Other small changes include the scratched antenna mast for the vehicle’s uprated radio equipment (from heated sprue material) and some re-arranged external equipment.
As another, subtle gimmick, I replaced the original main wheels, for a different and somewhat confusing look. A simplified running gear, without rubber on the main wheels, appeared quite plausible for 1944 onwards. The new road wheels came from a Zvezda IS-2 tank. I had a dozen of these left over from another conversion project, just in the right number and their diameter is virtually identical to the Panzer III’s original wheels! Just the spare wheels had to be taken over from the Revell kit. The fiddly OOB segmented plastic tracks were replaced with soft vinyl tracks from a Panzer III/IV CMK aftermarket set. Personally, I find them easier to handle and to paint – due to their anthracite black color and the material’s smoothness. Nice stuff!
Painting and markings:
As a late WWII vehicle I decided to apply a non-standard/fictional paint scheme, something different from the popular “Hinterhalt” scheme, and I settled upon a pattern similar to an E-100 tank I had built a while ago. The scheme consists of an overall coat of grey-green (RLM02, a universal and omnipresent tone) with disrupting, large spots of dark grey (RAL 7021, Schwarzgrau), which were strategically placed over corners and edges of the hull, so that the outlines break up. I adapted the concept onto my modified Panzer III, but somehow this looked goofy – probably due to the much smaller size and classic tank silhouette of the vehicle: the whole affair was way too reminiscent of the Allied late-war “Mickey Mouse” scheme in olive drab and black!
In order to provide a more outstanding look and lighten everything up a little, I added small grey-green mottles to the dark grey areas. After that, however, the still uniform grey-green areas stood out, so that I eventually applied mottles in RAL 7028 (Dunkelgelb) to these areas, too. The contrast is rather low, but I think that the overall look is in the end more balanced with them, and the mottles overall help to break up the outlines even further – and the paint scheme looks more “different” now. The wheels and the running gear sections of the hull were – as a standard order of the time – left without the mottles, because the swirling patterns would be rather obvious when the vehicle was moving.
The basic tones are Revell 45, Humbrol 67 and ModelMaster 1584, later treated with a dark, red-brown overall washing with acrylic paint, dry-painting with a greyish beige all over (Revell 89, nice weathering tone for fresh, clayish mud) and some watercolor in ochre and umbra for dust and mud residues. Tactical markings are minimal and come from the Revell Ostwind kit and a Hasegawa Panther. Finally, the kit was sealed with matt acrylic varnish and some mineral pigments were dusted onto the model’s lower areas.
An interesting result, and the fictional Panzerkampfwagen III looks IMHO disturbingly plausible, as it combines well-known elements and comes with subtle updates/modifications. And somehow the vehicle (unintentionally) reminds me a lot of the comparable M24 Chaffee. And isn’t there a certain look of a mini KV-1, due to the turret’s shape and proportions?
