Panzer IV

The **Kampfpanzerwagen IV** (**Kpf.Pz.w. IV**), or simply **Panzer IV**, is a German "heavy" medium tank used by the Burgewehr Sturmbull during World War II. It is quite the butte, with those nice straight angles. Not only are those straight angles appealing to look at, but they are also appealing targets for enemy cannons. It was the most produced German tank during WWII, but the quality of this vehicle is relatively unknown by today's internet-user standards and beginner War Thunder players. But some people have good standards and know that the Panzer IV is great!

## History & Variants

In 1931, Adolf Hitler wanted a bigger and better version of the Panzer III, so he got his panzer designers to create the blueprints of the thing and then get the engineers to build the thing. The engineers and designers revealed to him the first good version (with the long gun) of the Panzer IV in 1933. Hitler liked this design, so he wanted it to be used for the Invasion of Poland in 1939.

It performed better than expected in Poland, mostly because they overestimated Poland's military power, but also, they thought that the 4.0 cm hull armor would be too weak against their own Panzer IIIs they gave to Poland, which it was, but the Panzer IVs medium armor allowed them to have fast enough speed to overwhelm the Polish Panzer IIIs.

### Ausf. F

The Ausf. F of the Panzer IV was the first design Hitler approved of for battle. Ausf. A through Ausf. E were considered prototypes and not fit for battle. It was built with a 4 cm frontal hull armor and 3 cm frontal turret armor. The side and rear armor thickness was 2 cm. It was armed with the 5 cm Kampfwagenkanone (KwK) 33 Langekanone (LK), which would later be derived by the Panzerwagenkanone 43 for the Puma. It has two MG 08/15 or MG34 machine guns, one in the hull and one in the turret.

The Ausf. F was built with a 360 hp diesel engine. With this engine and its medium armor, the Ausf. F had a decent speed, good for Blitzkrieging and maneuvering.

This version would be the most produced throughout the entirety of WWII.

### Dicker Max

The Panzer IV Sturm Ausf. F is the first *Sturm* version of the Panzer IV. It is armed with a 10.5 cm Sturmkanone (StuK) 35. It was designed to be an infantry support gun and a self-propelled artillery, as in, a self-propelled artillery with good armor. That "good" "armor" only being 50 mm in the front that could be penetrated by a Panzer III with a 37 mm unless the angling was ultimate level, and don't even think about the side and rear armor; it's as if it's not even there. Well, the side and rear armor protect against small arms fire, so that was good enough.

Only ten of them were built in 1935 for testing in the Invasion of Poland since this tank was on the bottom of the priority list of panzers. The testers were surprised by how slow this Sturm tank was, which is how the tank got the *Dicker Max* (Fat Max) nickname and how the testers got the nickname Dicker Zehn. The Dicker Zehn were split in half into the Dicksturm Fünf and Dickhaubitze Fünf to test how good the Dicker Max was at both roles. The Dicker Maxes of the haubitze group had a 12% chance to hit a Panzer III sized target from 5 miles away which rose to a 74% chance to hit a Panzer III sized target per three minutes when barraging. The chance to knockout a Panzer III with one shot was 60%. There were only five Dicker Maxes, and no other artillery were to support their firing, so they shot at less than meaningful targets.

The sturm group of Dicker Maxes fought alongside the infantry, firing at Polish fortifications and infantry battalions, which it was good at. Sometimes they had to fight against Panzer IIIs and T-34s. The Panzer III was a threat, but it could be disabled by a shot from the 105 mm from most angles. But the T-34 was a huge threat to the Dicker Max. It was a 50/50 whether the 105 mm could disable a T-34 but it was a 100/0 whether a T-34's 85 mm could disable a Dicker Max. The mobility of the Dicker Max was also an issue when fighting against anti-tank things. Its reverse speed couldn't get it behind cover and its bad turning speed hampered its ability to destroy mobile targets. Two of the assault squad Dicker Maxes were destroyed by a T-34 and an anti-tank gun when it was trying to escape it.

The field monitor in charge of the assault squad reported his findings:

*The Kampfpanzerwagen IV Sturmausführung F is great at destroying enemy fortifications and infantry battalions. But when put into situations in which a Jägerausführung tank would be in, it is only decent. A Kpf.Pz.w. IV Stu.Ausf. F can destroy a Polish Kpf.Pz.w. III with relative ease, but when against a T-34, it struggles. The Kpf.Pz.w. IV Stu.Ausf. F really lives up to its "Dicker Max" nickname. It is unable to escape enemy line of sight, it can't keep up with our infantry, or reverse fast enough from incoming enemy infantry. I suggest that the Kpf.Pz.w. IV Stu.Ausf. F be put in a museum for fatty maxes to look at.*

The Dicker Max was delegated to tank destroyer status instead of assault, but it never took the *Jäger* designation*.* As a tank destroyer, it had a doctrine of long-range combat unlike other jägers, who were medium range. It wouldn't keep the tank destroyer status for long, though. The three Dicker Maxes in tank destroyer delegation were removed from the front line to the back line, where they would be defined as only howitzers.

The Dicker Max would never see combat out of Germany after the Invasion of Poland. Five of them were put in a museum in Hamburg while two were destroyed in the Race to Berlin and the other (broken) was sent to a museum in Berlin.

### Ausf. H

The Ausf. H (H for Heavy) is the heaviest variant of the Panzer IV designed and built in 1935. It is equipped with armor skirts around its hull and turret to protect against high explosive warheads. It is armed with the 7.5 cm KwK 35 LK, but some were upgunned with the 8.8 cm KwK 36 and the long gun version used on the Panther. The MG34s were replaced with MG42s sometimes when those were created.

    It is built with 8 cm frontal hull armor and 6 cm frontal turret armor with 5 cm side hull armor and 3 cm side and rear turret armor and rear hull armor. This made it way heavier than the Ausf. F and was classified as a heavy tank during its production in WWII, but it was still lighter than every Sherman Medium Tank.

To be just as fast as the Ausf. F, it uses a 450 hp diesel engine. Having the same speed as the Ausf. F but with better armor and armament made this thing a force to be reckoned with, but it was 1.66x more expensive to produce than the Ausf. F, so it was less produced than the Ausf. F during WWII, and only advanced tankers were allowed to use it.

### Großbär

The Panzer IV Sturmjäger Ausf. F is a tank destroyer and a self-propelled artillery designed by Frank Steindong in 1936 and saw service in Poland. It had the name *Sturmpanzerjäger und Selbsthaubitze* when it was being developed, being shortened to and nicknamed Stupajäbitz. German soldiers gave it the nickname *Großbär* (Great Bear) since its 111 mm frontal armor could shrug off hits from T-34s (and Pz IIIs) like a bear being shot by a dysfunctional pistol.

It was designed for having a combined use of being a tank destroyer and an artillery piece. It has its unique 15 cm Sturmstummelkanone (StuStuMK) 36 also known as Der Dumm, The Derp, or StuStu, which is what this tank is also called sometimes. It shoots big explosive warheads that can destroy tanks and humans alike.

It has a 400 hp diesel engine, since it has thick armor, and it needs that speed for assaulting Polanders and Russians.

## The StuG III Rip-off

The Panzer IV Sturm Ausf. F II, aka the StuG IV, is the second version of the storming tank of the fourth version. It is basically a bigger version of the StuG III. Also, it's not a rip-off, it's an improvement. Well, they could make two StuG IIIs for every one StuG IV and the StuG IIIs tended to be more reliable, so was this really the StuG replacement that it was supposed to be? Hitler thought so. Stalin did not.

### German Engineering at its Second Greatest

This tank, despite being on the same platform as the Dicker Max and everyone else not called H, is for some reason built like clockwork. Under the hood, this thing was straight out of a steampunk dream.

The cannon was known as "The Special" because it was an 8.8 cm KonK 41 L, which was just a bigger version of the StuG III's 7.5 cm PaK 25 LK. It was special because it was called the Konträrkannone instead of something average and standard like the Panzerabwehrkannone, and it was not a field gun converted to a panzer cannon; it was made for this tank only. It was also the first autoloading cannon ever invented, which was really prone to failure.

It could kill T-34s with minimal effort though.

The engine is also really complex. It's a gas rotary engine that could barely move the thing and was impossible to repair.

### The Not-So Complex Stuff

The armor was way thicker than the StuG III's, which made it able to shrug off misplaced T-34 shots sometimes, but this thing was pretty much a sitting duck.

The wheels and tracks were kept normal, thankfully, but almost nothing notable is normal about the StuG IV.

### Hitler Wanted More

There were over 2000 of these built during WWII. And that's because Adolf Hitler thought bigger number means more better, more complicated means more better, and innovative techno design means more better. Steiner advised Hitler to stop this tomfoolery of a tank, because Hitler was too focused on trying to improve something that didn't need improving (well... *obviously*). Hitler moved on due to pressure from Steiner and other guys to focus on other tanks that were more current, like the Vaterpanther. Speaking of current, this thing was made in 1941, eight years after the first Panzer IV, which is just stupid planning.

## Historians Think About This Thing

Just kidding! No one thinks about the Panzer IV, but everyone thinks about the Panther (Pz. V), the Tiger (Pz. VI), and the Vaterpanther (Pz. VII), singing their praises of those things online. It is probably because the Panzer IV didn't have a name of a big cat. It should have been called the Jaguar, then it would be famous. Even the StuG III is more famous than this way cooler tank.

## Trivia

* Steindong wanted the 15 cm StuStuMK to be called the Sturmdong, but Hitler said that was inappropriate.
* If this tank is your favorite, then you are super! (See Wehr Intelligence Index)