Der Luftwaffen Panzer

Historical Background

In 1933 the then-Oberst Heinz Guderian wrote specifications of a tank tasked with dealing with other tanks (and another supporting the infantry). In January 1934 the German Army's Army Weapons Department (Waffenamt) drew plans for a medium tank weighing 24,000kg with a speed of 35km/h under the cover names Versuchkraftfahrzeug 619, Mitlerer Traktor and 3.7cm Geschutz-Panzerwagen. There was a conflict between the Waffenamt and the Inspector for Mechanized Troops about the armament. The Waffenamt was satisfied with the 37mm gun while the Mechanized Troops wanted a 50mm gun. In the interests of standardisation with the infantry, the 37mm gun was chosen. However the turret ring remain able to support the proposed 50mm weapon. Daimler-Benz, Krupp, MAN and Reheinmetall were chosen to produce prototypes, which were to be made ready by 1936. The Daimler-Benz design was eventually chosen for production. The first series, Ausfuhrung A started coming off the assembly line in May 1937. The tank was given official designation Panzerkampfwagen III with ordnance inventory designation Sd.Kfz. 141/1.

The most distinctive feature of the Panzer III and sets it apart from most of its contemporaries was the three-man turret. Allegedly influenced by the British Vickers Medium Tanks, the turret allowed the separation of jobs between the commander, gunner and loader. The commander was thus not distracted with other tasks and can fully maintain the situational awareness and commanding the tank. Since other tanks at time, such as the French Somua S35 and early versions of the T-34 did not have this feature, the German tanks had a tactical advantage in combat. This was further reinforced by the fact that the German panzers were equipped with intercom, allowing clear communications between the crew members.

The early marks of the Panzer III (Ausf. A through C) was clad in 15mm of rolled homogenous armour on all sides. This was considered insufficient and was thickened to 30mm in Ausf D to G. Ausf H had another 30mm layer while Ausf J added 50mm plate on the front and rear while the late Ausf J to M added another 20mm to the front hull and turret. The Ausf. A to early Ausf. F Panzer IIIs were armed with a 3.7cm KwK 36 L/45 gun which was adequate during the early campaigns of World War 2 but when confronted with the powerful Soviet tanks, the larger 5cm KwK 38 L/42 were fitted to Panzer III Ausf. G to early Ausf. J and finally the longer 5cm KwK 39 L/60 on late Ausf J and L. The final Ausf. N was armed with 7.5cm KwK 37 L/24 weapon (the same weapon arming early Panzer IV marks) as they were designed as support tanks. Secondary armament was two MG34 7.92mm machine guns mounted co-axially with the main gun (reduced to one after Ausf. F) and another MG34 mounted in the hull. Power was provided by a Maybach HL 108 TR petrol engine rated at 250hp which was later replaced by a Maybach HL 120 TRM rated at 300hp. The early Marks used various leaf-spring suspensions while Ausf E standardises on torsion-bar suspension.

Panzer IIIs were used in the campaigns against Poland, France, the Soviet Union and in North Africa. The early versions used in Poland were found to be vulnerable to Czech-built 47 mm anti-tank gun, Solothurn and UR anti-tank rifles and even the low-velocity 37 mm guns arming FT and R35 tanks (although at short ranges). The first real test was during Fall Gelb, the invasion of France and the Low Countries. Panzer III Ausf. E, F and G armed with 37 mm guns were all involved. The Allies however were equipped with better protected tanks, able to shrug off the 37 mm rounds. The French Char B1 and the British Matilda were impregnable to all German anti-tank weapons except the 88mm flak cannon. The German panzers eventually prevailed through better tactics, excellent communications and coordination (down to individual tank level), speed and coverage by the Luftwaffe. In the deserts of North Africa, Panzer III Ausf. F and G formed the early backbone of Rommel's Afrika Korps. They had some success against the British cruiser tanks but still failed against the Matilda. Later, late Ausf.G and H, armed with KwK 38 50 mm gun were received and towards the end of the campaign, KwK 39 L/60-armed Ausf. L and M were received. For the invasion of Russia, all Panzer IIIs have now been upgunned with the 50-mm gun. While sufficient to destroy BT fast tanks and T-26 light tank forming the bulk of Soviet armor, the gun was inadequate against the T-34 and KV tanks.

By the end of the war, the Panzer III were no longer in front line service and only a handful were present at Anzio and North-West Europe. The Panzer III chassis were selected as the basis for the Sturmgeschutz III assault gun. Apart from new-built vehicles, many Panzer III were converted into Sturmgeschutzes when they were returned to factories for overhaul. More than 5,700 Panzer IIIs were built during the war. The Ausf. L entered production in June 1942. 653 were produced by Daimler-Benz, MAN, Alkett, Henschel, Wegmann, MNH and MIAG until December of that year.

The Kit

Tamiya came up with a new-tool kit of the Panzer III in 1997. The release depicts an Ausf. L, replacing the 1960s/1970s vintage Ausf. M. The Panzer III was released alongside the Sturmgeschutz III in the same year, so the two kits share most of the chassis. The parts are spread among five dark yellow sprues, a pair of vinyl one-piece tracks, four polycaps and a decal sheet. Although the parts count are not as extensive as those found in a Dragon kit, the Tamiya offering has very good details moulded onto it. The rather glaring exception was the lack of engine deck screens, which have to be purchased separately (which I did). The vinyl tracks, although have great details, have the guide teeth moulded solid, instead of hollow as they should be. There isn't really any options when building this kit, just two styles of spaced armour for the front plate. Decals provide markings for five tanks:
1.  II01, 15th Panzer Regiment, 11th Panzer Division, Battle of Kursk July 1943 (Dark Yellow/Red Brown)
2. 02, Fallschirm-Panzer Division 'Hermann Goering', Germany 1942 (Panzer Grey)
3. 1 15, 10th Panzer Division, Tunisia 1943 (Gelbraun)
4. 200, 18th Panzer Division, Russia 1942 (Dark Yellow)
5. 133, s.H.Pz.Abt. 502, Russia 1942 (Dark Yellow/Olive Green)

There is also a couple of 'extra' decals that weren't shown in the instructions. This took the form of a skull and crossbones, which I believe is meant for probably the most notorious of the SS divisions - the 3rd SS-Panzer Division 'Totenkopf'.

Construction

The instruction follows the usual assembly sequence for an armoured vehicle in that it starts by sticking things to the lower hull. The torsion bars were cemented to the hull and attention has to be given to the details as there are two types of them and need to be put accordingly. Sticking to the Tamiya philosophy of easy to be build kits, there were only the outside structure of the suspension, unlike Dragon's Panzer III J I built before. This was followed by crew escape hatches (?) and the final drive housing; a poly-cap was inserted into each of the housing to allow movement of the sprocket wheel. Afterwards it was time for a rather tedious job assembling the road wheels; good thing the Panzer III has only six sets per side (I still curse the designer of the Panzer IV and the one who suggested that the German heavies and Panthers use the overlapping wheel arrangement). The muffler and the rear hull panel was then cemented into place. Tamiya in the 1990s-early Noughties has that annoying trait of having separate PE parts and I have to suspend the build for nearly a week, while waiting for the PE parts to come through post. 

Before assembling the upper hull, a number of holes were drilled into it in order to accommodate the lights. All the hatches and covers were then cemented on the upper hull. The hull machine gun barrel was not cemented at this time. Next up was the spaced armour plate at the front of the hull. Tamiya provided two styles but without mentioning which style goes to which marking. The second style involved some cutting; although straightforward, I chose the first style. Well you should always try to use the path with the least resistance right? More stuff were added to the upper hull but I left all the pioneer tools off. Part D27, the turret ring guard was marked as optional; again, there is no indication whether it should or should not be used in conjunction with any of the markings. The wheels were all assembled but they would only be fitted to the model after painting.

Attention was then turned towards turret assembly. The turret upper and lower halves were mated

first and all hatches, ports and sundry small parts were cemented onto it. The commander's cupola is a rather simplified affair with no periscope details. The gun, which include rudimentary breech was assembled and inserted into the mantlet. Some careful gluing was done so that the gun is still moveable. The recoil mechanism housing and the mantlet spaced armour mount were assembled and fitted to the gun. As the parts count are relatively low, the build process was rather quick and now it was time for painting.

Painting and Decaling

All the markings are interesting but after looking at my collection, I found that there were only two panzer grey vehicles in my collection: a Panzer II and a Sd.Kfz.222 armoured car. I used a mixture of 70% Tamiya XF-63 German Grey and 30 % XF-18 Medium Blue, plus roughly 20% white for scale effect. The decals were then applied. I was having second thoughts as the Hermann Goering Division's markings were rather bland, but I decided to stick with it. The tools were painted on their sprues and will be touched up later. Afterwards, I applied the sludge wash on certain parts of the model - not really appropriate for a tank model but sufficient for me to pop up some of the recessed details.

Finishing

To start the final leg, I attached all the remaining loose parts such as the pioneer tools and the aerial holder. The wooden block was painted XF-59 Desert Yellow and dry-brushed XF-64 Red Brown to simulate wood grain. I had another attack of laziness and simply paint the pioneer tools a straight XF-59 and XF-56 Metallic Grey. The exhaust and muffler were also painted XF-64. For weathering, I started by applying thinned XF-57 Buff all over the lower hull, tracks and wheel. For the lower hull, I was quite undecided whether to use 'desert' or 'European' pigments as there was no real indication as to the time frame of the tank's markings. The HG Division took part in Barbarossa and a battle group of them took part in the Battle of El Alamein. Grey paint meant a general time period before the summer of 1943. There were barely any photos of the HG prior to their participation in Sicily and Italy. So in the end I took a middle way (sort of) by mixing Mig Productions' Gulf War Sand' and "European Dust'. They mixed with water and applied liberally. The excess was then removed using a stiff brush. 

Conclusion

Tamiya has come up with another simple yet finely executed model. Assembly is hassle-free as usual, and the moulded-on details, while rather simple for some modelers, are good enough for the casual (or those not suffering from AMS) modelers. Like I mentioned elsewhere, a simple, yet detailed kit is a good antidote for stress after building a 1,000 part 'premium edition' kit!