Sturmartillerie and Panzerjager
Sturmartillerie and Panzerjager (New Vanguard 34) By Bryan Perrett, Mike Badrocke
Publisher: Osprey Publishing 1999 | 48 Pages | ISBN: 1841760048 | PDF | 20 MB
Publisher: Osprey Publishing 1999 | 48 Pages | ISBN: 1841760048 | PDF | 20 MB
he German assault gun was originally designed for infantry support but changing conditions on the battlefield forced it to adapt to other roles, notably as a tank destroyer. This volume details the gun's technical development, illustrated with a two-page annotated cutaway. A11 weapon systems are designed to overcome a particular aspect of the enemy's capacity to fight, and the majority are produced as a result of hard experience. Originally, the German assault gun was conceived to provide the infantry with the armoured support which had been lacking during the great battles of 1918, but changing conditions on the battlefields of the Second World War saw it develop into a powerful tank destroyer, although its infantry support role was never forgotten. The purpose-built tank destroyer had a much shorter history, and was produced to provide a direct answer to the heavy armour carried by certain British and Russian tanks. If the much-glamorised Panzer divisions were the sword of the German Army, then the assault gun and tank destroyer units were its shield. In the last year of the war, the Panzers' once all-powerful grip on the battlefield began to fail, and more and more of the burden of anti-tank defence fell upon the assault gun and tank destroyer crews: it is largely due to their, skill and professionalism that the massive Red Army did not advance even further into Europe.