Panzer IV Ausf. F mit 7,5 cm KwK L/34,5

[Ghostmaxi 873]

I would like to suggest the Panzer IV Ausf. F mit 7,5 cm KwK L/34,5. In short at the beginning, yes it is just a Pz IV Ausf. F but with an (as the missing year number indicates) prototype L/34,5 gun, of which 1 was build and mounted in an Pz IV Ausf. F serial number 82091, sadly no picturs of the gun nor the whole tank exist today anymore to my knowlege and information is hard to come by, any help in form of a comment is happily seen.

 

Story: Fighting in france in 1940 against the more thicker armored medium tanks such as S.35, D.2 but also heavily armored tanks like the B1 and B1 bis showed that the armarment of the Pz III and Pz IV was insufficent, (see also my other suggestion of Pz IV Ausf. D mit 5 cm KwK 39 L/60) the appearance of the T 34 and Kw tanks further increased the need of a more powerfull weapon. In 1941 fighting of the italian army in north africa with the appearance of the Matilda tanks, the german army feared the same fate as the italians and ordered the upgunning of the Pz IV with the long 50mm L/60 gun, this was later cancelled, because they figgured that the Pz IV could take an even bigger and more powerfull gun and having 2 tanks with the same armarment would be a waste. Krupp wasted no time developing a high velocity 75mm gun for the Pz IV (L/41 with 685m/s from the 1930) which could penetrate the Matildas 78mm frontal armor  from acceptable distance and an alterantive L/33 gun with 610m/s (also planned for the Vk 30.01 but didnt fit). Unfortunately the german army had the rule in place, that barrles werent allowed to be longer than the frontal hull, so it was settled on and intermeadiat L/34,5 gun, officially called 7,5 cm KwK L/34,5 with an velocity of around 610-620m/s. It was build and tested at the end of 1941 in an Pz IV Ausf. F Nr. 82091. After the events in russia, the barrle length rule was quickly abandond and developmend of an longer gun was favoured resulting in the KwK 40 L/43.

 

Its place in game:

I can see the tank at an Br of around 2.3 perhaps foldered with the F1, cince it also shows the transition from low velocity (L/24) to high velocity (L/43) while beeing as powerfull as the M3 cannon, with more than 610m/s (Aberdeen proving grounds got their hands on an Stug III Ausf. F/8 with an 7,5 cm StuK L/33 which by them got 610m/s), but still with just 50mm frontal armor. It would further give a somewhat mobile and effective playstile similar to the normal F1, but with a little more reaction time and range, as well as penetration.

 

By the Aberdeen Proving grounds and a mention in a book, it turned out that all guns, L/33, L/34,5 and L/41 all have the same casing ammo (75x495mm) as the L/43 and L/48 have, sharing the same ammo and breech (for the creation the Pak 40 got the L/41 breech) and by that no change to the ammo storage compared to the F2 was needed. And no problem with ammo supply was created, cince it used normal 7,5 cm KwK 40 L/43 ammo, which would later come into main production.

 

The chassis:

A normal Pz IV Ausf. F tank, as seen allready in game as the Pz IV Ausf. F1

Armour front / side / back

Hull           30 / 30 / 20

Turret       50 / 30 / 30

Crew 5 people

Speed  forward / back

AB                48 / 9 km/h

RB and SB   43 / 8 km/h

Number of gears 6 forward 1 back

Weight 22.3 t

Engine power

AB 572 hp

RB and SB 300 hp

Power-to-weight ratio

AB 25.7 hp/t

RB and SB 13.5 hp/t

 

Armarment: 7,5 cm KwK L/34,5

Ammo storage: 87 rounds.

Round types:

K.Gr. Pz Rot (Apcbc) 6,78 kg 610-620m/s 80g Fp.02 und Np.10 (102,4g) 100-103mm/10m

Sprgr. 34 (He) 5,74kg 686 g TnT 420m/s (or higher, it wasnt specified, up to 550m/s like the L/43, cince they werent fired at full charge)

K.Gr. Rot Nb (smoke) 6,2 kg 50g smoke 423m/s (or else)

Possibly Heat rounds.

2x Mg 34 900 rpm

 

Similar to the 7,5 cm KwK 44 L/36,5, but 2 calibers shorter barrle and horizontal instead of vertical mounted recoil cylinders. (and doesnt use the L/24 rounds) And it would end at the front hull.

There is a drawing of a Pz IV Ausf. F with L/33 barrle, the build L/34,5 barrle would just be a little bit longer.

Source:

Panzers at War Michael Green

Panzer Tracts No 4 Thomas L Jentz

The History of the Panzerwaffe Volume 2 1942-1945 Thomas Anderson

Panzerkampfwagen IV Ausf.G, H and J 1942-45 Thomas L Jentz

http://www.tankarchives.ca/2019/06/from-support-tank-to-lead-role.html

Edited November 15, 2022 by Ghostmaxi

[kurururocks 210]

Open for discussion

[warner7 81]

cool +1

[Milocat 4,857]

+1, would be an interesting addition.