Panzer IV main battle tank

I just realised it has been a very long time since i have done a blog about a tank.

In 1934 the German army designed a new main battle tank.It was called the Panzer IV (meaning Tank 4)and it was armed with a 37 mm gun.However that design in favour of one that was armed with a short-barrelled 75mm gun and the first Panzer IV Ausf. A's(Panzer 4 version A) rolled out of the factory in 1936.When Germany attacked Poland in 1939 the small numbers of Panzer IVs(there were only 250 in service in 1939)quickly proved their worth in the heat of battle,destroying large numbers of inferior Polish tanks.However in France and Russia in 1940-41 the Panzer IV met it's match in the shapes of the French Char B1 bis and Russian T-34.




Throughout the war new versions of the Panzer IV were being created with improved equipment,weapons and armour,the most notable of these modifications being when the short barrelled 75mm gun was replaced with a long in the Ausf. F2 onwards.By 1944 the Panzer IV was no longer the major workhorse of the German army,this role falling to the new Panzer V "panther".However the Panzer IV and it's variants(different units produced on the same hull)still holds the records of being the most mass produced German tank of the war(at least 10,000 vehicles)and one of the few German tanks to serve throughout the entire war(1939-1945).


The Ausf. F2:the first version to use the long barrelled gun.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panzer_IV


That's all for now!


Tigertank