German World War 2 SPGs That Need Adding to War Thunder

Toreno

In this 13th episode of my series looking at World War 2 Tanks That Need Adding to War Thunder, we take a look at German SPG, Artillery and Assault Guns from the World War 2 period!  So join me as we take a look at some long overdue SPGs that we should have got over the American M44 and M55, many unique Waffenträger designs and the many British and French vehicles that were converted into German Self Propelled Artillery vehicles!  Support me at ⬇️ ☕Buy me a Coffee➡️ buymeacoffee.com/Toreno  Social Media ⬇️ 🦋Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/toreno.bsky.social 🌍Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Toreno4 📸Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/toreno170 🐘Mastodon: Toreno17@mastodon.social 🧵Threads: https://www.threads.net/@toreno170  Sources ⬇️ Armed Conflicts. Available at: www.armedconflicts.com (Accessed: 20 January 2026).  Chamberlain, P. and Doyle, H.L. (2000) Encyclopedia of German Tanks of World War Two: Revised Edition.  Ghostmaxi. (2025) German WW1/2 Tank, Anti-Tank Guns and More of 7.92mm – 21 cm. Available at: https://forum.warthunder.com/t/german-ww1-2-tank-anti-tank-guns-and-more-of-7-92mm-21-cm/95431 (Accessed: 16 January 2026).  La Bataille du Rail. (1946) [Film] Directed by René Clément. France: Coopérative Générale du Cinéma Français  Panzer Tracts 10-1 – Artillerie Selbsfahrlafetten from Pz.Sfl.IVb to Hummel-Wespe.  Tank Encyclopedia. Available at: https://tanks-encyclopedia.com/ (Accessed: 21 January 2026).  War Thunder for ingame stats.   Link to Panther Waffentrager design ⬇️ https://www.armedconflicts.com/attachments/796/314840209_10228606890260111_304305055198133751_n.jpg  Songs used⬇️  Sun Machine One by Loopop  🎮 Game: War Thunder  ⬅️  Vehicles in this episode⬇️ Sturmpanzer I "Bison" 15cm sIG 33 B Sfl Wespe 15 cm sIG 33 auf Fahrgestell Panzerkampfwagen III Ausf.H (Sf.) Sturminfanteriegeschütz 33B Grille H Grille K 15 cm sIG 33/2 (Sf.) auf Jagdpanzer 38(t) Aufklärungspanzer 38(t) (7,5 cm K.51 L/24) Sd.Kfz.140/2 Mittlere Einheitswaffenträger Hummel Hummel-Wespe Geschützwagen IVb für 10.5 cm leFH 18/1 Waffenträger IVb Heuschrecke 10 Geschützwagen III/IV Mittelerer Waffenträger sFH 18 auf Panther (dünnwandig) Grille 17/21 Raupenschlepper Ost (10.5cm-15cm artillery weapons) Karl-Gerät (54cm and 60cm) Geschützwagen Mk.VI(e) Geschützwagen Lorraine Schlepper(f) (10.5cm) Geschützwagen Lorraine Schlepper(f) (15 cm) Geschützwagen Lorraine Schlepper(f) (12.2cm) Geschützwagen 39H(f) Geschützwagen FCM 36(f) Geschützwagen B2(f)  #warthunder #warthundertanks #hummel #wespe #grille #spg #ww2   Panzer I based SPGs: 00:00 Panzer II based SPGs: 03:44 Panzer 38(t) based SPGs: 08:16 Panzer III based SPGs: 17:29 Panzer IV based SPGs: 23:03 Panther based SPG: 40:03 Tiger based SPG: 41:30 Non tank based SPGs: 44:40 SPGs based on captured British tanks: 47:10 SPGs based on captured French tanks: 49:56

Transcript

00:00So, in previous episodes I have looked at German tanks and tank destroyers of the World War 2

00:05period that need adding to War Thunder, and today we will be taking a look at German self-propelled

00:10guns, artillery vehicles and assault guns. These being the vehicles that were generally armed with

00:15harrotser or large calibre artillery weapons, and usually relied on large calibre shells and

00:20HE shells to destroy their targets. Also, like with the German tank destroyers video, we will

00:26be looking at these vehicles based on the chassis they utilised, starting with the Panzer I, or more

00:31specifically the 15cm Sig 33 SF ALF Panzerkampfwagen I ALF B, more commonly known as the Bison.

00:41Basically, by 1940 the Panzer I was out of production, and in any case was only armed with machine

00:46guns, making it rather obsolete for the modern battlefield, but the chassis was still useful

00:52for conversion to other roles. This was good for the Germans, as the initial campaign in Poland

00:57had highlighted a need for a self-propelled gun that was able to keep up with advancing troops,

01:03as up to this point German artillery was usually reliant on horses, and sometimes half-tracks or

01:09similar vehicles. To this end, it was decided to convert various Panzer I's by removing the turret

01:14and superstructure, and mounting a 150mm Sig 33 artillery weapon atop of it, wheels and all,

01:22as you can see in these images. Though most of the production vehicles also had this rather large

01:27and ungainly superstructure added for protection. Now, the Sig 33 is capable of firing HE and heat

01:33shells in-game, with the former having a penetration of 61mm and a muzzle velocity of 240m a second,

01:41while the latter has a penetration of 185mm and an improved muzzle velocity of 280m a second.

01:49So we have a good variety of deadly shells here, though some other shells could also be carried,

01:54including the Stilkronata 42, which was fitted over the barrel and had a maximum range of 1000m,

02:01but had an explosive filling of 54kg, compared to 38kg for the in-game HE shell. So this could be a

02:09useful shell to have in-game, balanced by the fact it would take longer to reload, due to needing to

02:15be fitted over the barrel. Meanwhile, the reload speed in-game is 14.4 seconds, and it has a

02:21horizontal traverse of 12.5 degrees either direction, and an elevation of minus 4 to plus 75 degrees.

02:28So this has better firing arcs than its successor, the 33B SFL, and makes it useful for aiming at

02:35closing targets, and as an impromptu artillery vehicle in-game. Unfortunately, the armour is very

02:40thin, with the armour maxing out at just 13mm for the hull and superstructure, which doesn't cover

02:45the rear and is open-topped, making the four crew easy pickings for enemy aircraft, while its top

02:51speed is 25mph or 40kmph from a 100hp Maybach NL36TR engine. In-game, this could work at 1.0,

03:00maybe before its successor, the 15cm Sig 33B SFL, giving us a rather unusual looking vehicle that

03:08still packs a punch, and would make for a good artillery vehicle in tier 1, and we could get

03:12two variants if needed, one with the armoured shields and one without, which would allow us

03:17to have two vehicles, or at least an optional modification on one. In real life, 38 Panzer 1s

03:24would be converted in February 1940, and these were used in the invasion of France, Yugoslavia,

03:29and the Soviet Union, and although superseded by more effective designs, some were still

03:35serving in mid-1943 on the Eastern Front, which is a pretty good service life for an early attempt

03:41at creating a self-propelled artillery vehicle. So only one artillery vehicle would be based

03:46on the Panzer 1, and this wasn't built in large numbers. But as the war continued, it was increasingly

03:52clear that there was still a need for self-propelled artillery vehicles, so efforts would shift to

03:57adapting the Panzer 2 to such a role. Initially, this would be in the form of another Sig 33 armed

04:03vehicle, which is already in-game as the 15cm Sig 33B SFL, and it is the starting SPG on the German

04:11tech tree. But only 12 of these would be built, with these used in North Africa, where they were

04:15all destroyed or captured, though at least three remained to be taken over by the Egyptians for use

04:21against the Israelis during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war. However, from 1942, a more famous self-propelled

04:28howitzer vehicle, based on the Panzer 2, would be produced. The SDK of Z124, or Vespa, which is

04:35WASP in English. Though this wasn't its official name, with a variety of official designations being

04:41used over the years. The Vespa would be designed by Alquette in early 1942, and was based on the

04:47Panzer 2F, with the engine moved to the centre, and the fighting compartment based at the rear

04:53of the vehicle. The main armament of the Vespa would be the 105mm LEFH-18M length 28 howitzer,

05:02which has a horizontal traverse of 17 degrees right and left, and an elevation of minus 5 to

05:07plus 42 degrees. Now this weapon is capable of firing a variety of different shells with different

05:13charges. With these charges giving a muzzle velocity of 200 to 460m a second, depending on

05:19the shell and charge used. Though we will assume that the largest charges possible for each shell

05:25will be used in game. As for the shells themselves, we have a HE shell weighing 14.8kg with 1.38kg of

05:33explosive, giving around 15 to 25mm of penetration. Two standard anti-tank shells, one weighing 14.2kg

05:40with 650g of explosives and a muzzle velocity of 395m a second, and a later one weighing 15.7kg

05:49having 400g of explosive and a muzzle velocity of 390m a second. With this shell having an alma

05:55penetration of 67mm at 500m, which isn't too bad. There was also a discarding Sabo shell developed for

06:03later 105mm guns, the Panzergranate 39TS, but this could still be fired from the 18M. With this having

06:11a much greater muzzle velocity of 765m a second, and a penetration of 91mm at 500m, making this an

06:20excellent anti-tank shell. However, the best anti-tank shells will be the HEAT shells. With Ian Hogg's German

06:27artillery of World War 2, giving a penetration of 100mm at a 0 degree angle, or 70mm at a 30 degree

06:34angle. Which is pretty good, though identically named shells in game penetrate up to 115mm,

06:41so it is possibly even more powerful than stated. And smoke shells and explosives slash incendiary

06:47shells could also be carried, while an MG34 is carried for use against soft skinned vehicles and

06:53enemy aircraft. Armor was understandably light, maxing out at 30mm for the hull and 20mm for the

06:59superstructure, which is again open-topped, making the 5 crew extremely vulnerable to enemy tanks and

07:05aircraft. Lastly, the top speed was 25mph or 40kmh from a 140hp Maybach HL62TR engine, which is again

07:16decent enough for this vehicle. In War Thunder I could maybe see the Vespa being added at 2.7,

07:21between the Marder III and Marder III H, with the HE shell not being the greatest,

07:27but its AP shells allowing it to do a decent job against enemy tanks, while the Sabo and

07:32HEAT shells will allow it to deal with all but the most heavily armoured tanks, and it would just be

07:36nice for this rather major vehicle to be added in War Thunder. However, the non-inclusion of this

07:41vehicle in War Thunder is rather baffling, as like I say it was built in large numbers, and it would

07:46give Germany access to a decent if not spectacular artillery vehicle, and would be far more

07:51preferable to the M55 that has been added as a copy paste vehicle to the German tech tree,

07:56so hopefully we will see this vehicle added in the future. In real life, 676 Vespers would be

08:03built from February 1943 to July 1944, along with 159 munition carriers, and these fought until the

08:11end of the war, with a number of these surviving in various museums. Moving on from the Panzer II,

08:17we then have the Czechoslovakian Panzer 35T and 38T. Now the Panzer 35T didn't have any large guns or

08:24harrotsers mounted, which makes sense as it was no longer in production when Germany took over

08:29Czechoslovakia, but was still a useful combat tank, and by the time it started to become obsolete,

08:34there would have been very few left, so there was never any effort to rearm them. However, it was a

08:40different story with the Panzer 38T, which was kept in production, and while it too became obsolete as a

08:46combat tank by the end of 1941, its chassis was still very useful for a variety of different roles,

08:52including as an SPG or SPH vehicle. So we start with the SDK of said 138-1, or GRILL,

09:00which came about in 1942, with Alquette beginning work on developing a prototype,

09:06with BMM later joining the project, and a prototype was ready by April 1942,

09:11though production wouldn't start until February 1943, almost a year later. The initial production

09:17variant of the GRILLA would be built on the Panzer 38TH chassis with a rear mounted engine,

09:24and this was again armed with the 150mm Sig 33, having a traverse of 5 degrees both ways horizontally,

09:31and an elevation of minus 3 to plus 72. However, it still has an effective HE shell, capable of

09:37penetrating 61mm, and a HE shell capable of penetrating 185mm in game, as well as a smoke

09:44shell and the Stilgranate 42 that was mounted over the barrel, while an MG34 was also carried.

09:51Armour was again light, with the superstructure being open topped and maxing out at 25mm,

09:56though the whole front is 50mm, which will give a bit of protection against smaller calibre weapons.

10:02Lastly, the crew carried was 5, and it could reach a top speed of 21.7mph or 35kmh on a 140hp Praga EPA-2

10:13engine. I could see this working in game at 1.0, maybe folded with the in game Sig 33B SFL,

10:20as this variant of the GRILLA is rather similar to that vehicle with regards to stats and main armament,

10:27so this would give some more options in the early tiers. In real life, 200 GRILLAs would be ordered,

10:33with 90 GRILLAs and one prototype produced on the ALSF H chassis from February to April 1943,

10:41before production switched to the K chassis. This was very similar to those built on the H chassis,

10:47with the same 150mm gun and MG34 machine gun, but had an extra degree of elevation, and the armour now

10:54maxed out at just 20mm, and the weight increased from 11.5t to 12t. This could also be added,

11:02maybe on the tech tree or as a premium vehicle, or vice versa, with the variant built on the H chassis,

11:08giving us a regular version and premium version for the lower tiers. In real life, 110 GRILLAs would be

11:14built on the K chassis from April to June 1943, but a second production order would be made for October

11:211943 to September 1944, bringing the total built to 282, with these serving until the end of the war,

11:29with 173 still available for service in February 1945. Interestingly, 10 would also be built on a

11:36chassis intended for the Flak Panzer 38, which could also be added, maybe as a premium vehicle.

11:43So the Panzer 38T chassis was used for SPGs, but nowhere near to the extent it was used for tank

11:48destroyers. However, the Jagdpanzer 38 tank destroyer, which was derived from Panzer 38T components,

11:55would also be used as a basis for an SPG, in the form of the 15cm Sig 33-2 SFL Elf Jagdpanzer 38T,

12:04augerat 588. Now the chassis was actually built on the chassis of the Bergerpanzer 38T,

12:12which was an armoured recovery vehicle that was based on the Jagdpanzer 38, and this was again

12:16armed with the 150mm Sig 33, with a horizontal traverse of 5 degrees left and right, and an

12:23elevation of 0 to plus 73, while an MG 34 or MG 42 was carried for close in defence. Armour was pretty

12:31decent, maxing out at 60mm for the hull and superstructure, though it is open topped,

12:36leaving the 4 crew vulnerable to enemy aircraft, and the top speed is 20mph or 32kmh from a 160hp

12:44Traga AC-2 engine. This could probably work at 2.7 between the Marder III and Marder III H,

12:51giving us a rather unique variant of the Jagdpanzer 38, with a good main armament and improved armour,

12:57allowing it to be used in a more direct fashion against enemy tanks, and it would be nice to see

13:02this vehicle in game. In real life we know that at least the prototype was built, and purportedly

13:0830 would be produced in December 1944, 24 from scratch and 6 converted from Jagdpanzer 38s.

13:15Though images only exist of the prototype, and there seems to be precious little evidence of the

13:20existence of more of these vehicles, whether in use, knocked out, after combat or captured by the

13:25Allies or Soviets. So it's possible that 30 might have been ordered and maybe even started production,

13:31but were never finished or perhaps were converted to regular Jagdpanzer 38s for whatever reason.

13:38After this we then have a few vehicles that I probably could have covered in the German tank

13:42destroyer episode, but luckily I didn't as it turns out there are two very similar vehicles here.

13:47So the first of these is the Alfklärungspanzer 38t mid 7.5cm Kwk 37 length 24, which is basically a

13:57prototype of the SDK of Z141 that we already have in game, but armed with a Kwk 37 length 24 75mm gun

14:06from the early Panzer IV, and with a new superstructure with extended sides. The Kwk 37 would

14:12mainly rely on its heat shell, having an in-game penetration of 80mm, while its HE shell penetrates

14:1910mm and its APCBC shell 45mm at 500m, while a smoke shell is also carried, though it is let

14:27down by the lack of a turret, limiting its effectiveness against fast moving vehicles,

14:31and allowing it to be flanked more easily. Meanwhile the armour should max out at 50mm,

14:37though it is unfortunately open topped, while a crew of four is carried and it has a top speed of

14:4236mph or 58kmh much like the 20mm armed vehicle. This could work at 2.0 to 2.3, maybe as a premium

14:51counterpart to the in-game Alfklärungspanzer 38t, and I could see as being a rather popular vehicle

14:57in the lower tiers. In real life two prototypes were built in 1944, presumably to the same design,

15:03but there might have been some differences, though it doesn't appear to have gone into production.

15:08Then there is a very similar vehicle based on the Berger Panzer 38 armoured recovery vehicle,

15:14sometimes called the Gerat 564, and seems to get confused with the previous vehicle,

15:19and this was also armed with the KWK length 24 75mm gun, but with improved armour that is sloped to 60mm,

15:28though it is again open tops, and it should have a top speed of 26mph or 42kmh, from a 160hp AC2

15:36engine. While presumably a crew of four was carried, and again this could work at 2.3 to 2.7,

15:43being similar to the previous vehicles but with more armour, and it is also a bit slower,

15:48but it would still be an interesting vehicle to have in game. In real life it seems like only one

15:52was built in 1944, and may have been used to test a Tatra diesel engine, but ultimately didn't go into

15:59production. Then lastly for the Jagdpanzer 38 based vehicles, we have what in the Encyclopedia of

16:05German Tanks of World War 2 Revised Edition is called the Mittlere Einheit Waffentrager,

16:12or Medium Standardised Weapons Carrier, also known as the Krupp 1, but it also kind of looks like it's

16:18referring to the Leichter design, which was much like the Waffentrager we have in game. Either way,

16:24this was designed to be armed with a variety of different weapons, but in the one prototype we

16:29have two pictures of, it was fitted with the 105mm LeFH-18 40-5 length 28 howitzer, which the same

16:38book says has a fully rotating turret and elevation of minus 5 to plus 42, but most other sources seem

16:44to indicate that it was not fully rotating, which would limit it's effectiveness. Armour is naturally

16:50light, with the armour maxing out at 20mm but generally being 10-15mm in most areas, with the

16:56turret being open topped, while the top speed was to be 22mph or 35kmh and a crew of four was carried.

17:03This would make for a good artillery counterpart to the 88mm armed Waffentrager, but of course less

17:08effective, but it could still work at 2.7-3.0 and would be an interesting vehicle to have in game.

17:15In real life it seems like only the one prototype vehicle was made and fitted with the 105mm gun,

17:20this was captured by British troops at the end of the war, but unfortunately we only have the two

17:25photos of it and it was likely scrapped after the war. So moving on from the light tanks,

17:31we now come to the self-propelled guns and tauritsers based on German medium tanks,

17:36starting with the Panzer III. Surprisingly we don't have a huge amount of SPGs here to look at,

17:41not counting the Stug III, which we looked at in the tank destroyers episode, but we do have a few

17:47designs here. The first of these was an impromptu conversion where in 1942 a damaged Panzer III H in

17:53North Africa was fitted with the 150mm Sig 33 with an armoured shield in place of the turret and

18:00superstructure. This should have a maximum armour thickness for the hull of 60mm from two 30mm plates,

18:07with the gun shield being lightly armoured and the fighting compartment being open topped, while the top

18:11speed was 25mph or 40km an hour and four to five crew would be carried. This could probably be added

18:18at 2.0, having an effective albeit short ranged armament, which I also haven't found a traverse

18:24for so it's possible that's going to be quite limited, but it does also have a decent amount of

18:29hull armour and it would be interesting to see the Panzer III used in the SPG role. In real life only the one

18:35Panzer III H was converted, probably on an ad hoc basis. Basically the Germans had a spare gun lying

18:41around and a damaged Panzer III H in close proximity of each other, and a workshop available so it just

18:47made sense to combine the two together, and presumably the need for such a conversion lessened, or the

18:52right circumstances didn't come up again for future conversions to be carried out. However, there would be

18:58a more dedicated assault gun in the Sturm Infanteriegeschutz 33B. Now this seems to have a bit of

19:05disputed history in some of my books, with the encyclopedia of German tanks of World War 2 saying

19:11that they were ordered in 1941, but it seems to be a bit of an outlier and the basic premise seems to

19:16have been that with the Germans battling to take the Soviet city of Stalingrad in 1942, there was a need

19:22for assault vehicles with heavy guns to attack heavily entrenched Soviet forces. Thus in a 22nd

19:29of September 1942 conference, a requirement for the new vehicle was set out, with it to be armed

19:34with a 150mm Sig 33 and it was to be heavily armoured, with 12 vehicles to be produced. Now

19:41interestingly this was to be built on various converted Stug III chassis, from the Stug III A to the

19:46Stug III F, with the Stug of course originally being based on the Panzer III. The armament as mentioned

19:52was the 150mm Sig 33 Slash 1, which was now designed specifically for fitting two armoured vehicles,

19:59with the wheels and trail now removed unlike on the Bison, but it still fires HE and heat shells at

20:05a muzzle velocity of 240 to 280 metres a second, and with a rather limited traverse, being just 3 degrees

20:12right and left and with an elevation of minus 3 to plus 25 degrees, showing that this really was intended

20:18for short range engagements, while an MG 34 was fitted to the right side of the vehicle for close

20:24in defence. Luckily for us, unlike some of the previous vehicles, the 33B is well armoured, with a

20:30maximum of 80mm of armour for the front, 50-30mm for the sides and 30-15mm for the rear, making this

20:37well protected frontally, though with mostly flat sided armour. The mobility on the other hand is in a rather

20:43odd position. You see, it is still the same Maybach HL120TRM as used on the previous Stug freeze,

20:49but the top speed is now reduced from 25mph or 40kmh to just 12.4mph or 20kmh. Now obviously this is a

20:59drastic reduction in speed, and I assumed that this was due to weight increases, after all the bigger

21:04gun and extra armour have to have had some effect on the weight. However, all of my sources state that

21:09the weight was actually decreased, from 21.6 tonnes of the Stug 3F to 21 tonnes for the 33B.

21:17This seems to be a rather odd situation, and I can only assume that either the figures are taken

21:22from a 33B that was in some way defective, giving worse results, or maybe some other changes were made

21:28that weren't documented, like a new engine or transmission, or perhaps the details were just

21:33recorded wrong. But it's definitely one of the odd discrepancies I've seen when researching for this

21:38series. Lastly, the crew would number 5, which is about standard for this type of vehicle.

21:44In game I could see this being added at 3.3 to 4.0, depending on its effectiveness,

21:50as the 33B has a very effective albeit short ranged gun, with a decent amount of armour,

21:56only let down by its slow top speed, and as I said at the beginning, it was converted from various Stug

22:02variants, meaning we could in theory get multiple versions of this vehicle added, and it would definitely

22:07be a unique vehicle for the lower tiers of the German tech tree. In real life, as mentioned,

22:11there are some discrepancies on the history of this vehicle, but the general history seems to

22:15be that after being ordered on the 22nd of September, the first 6 vehicles were ready by 7th of October,

22:22with a further 6 ready by the 10th, and a further 12 finished by the end of October,

22:27making this a very fast turnaround from ordering to completion. The first 12 would be sent to

22:33Stalingrad, arriving by early November, but just a few weeks later on the 19th of November 1942,

22:39the Soviets would launch Operation Uranus, encircling the Germans in Stalingrad, with the

22:4533Bs in the area being lost as a result. The remaining 12 would be used in the failed attempts

22:50to break the encirclement, and despite being useful at reducing fortifications, they seem to have been

22:56subsequently lost over time, though surprisingly one does still survive at the Kubinka Tank Museum in Russia.

23:03So now we move on to the Panzer IV, and here we get a whole bunch of self propelled guns and howitzers,

23:09including an SPG that I've been waiting to be added to the game for a very long time.

23:14I am of course talking about the Hummel, or Bumblebee in English, which isn't its technical name but is

23:20the name I will be using for it. The Hummel came about from a decision on the 25th of July 1942,

23:26to mount the 150mm SFH-18 artillery gun onto the Panzer III or IV chassis,

23:33with the Panzer II taking the smaller 105mm LEFH. The chassis used was actually the

23:40Gschutzwagen 3-4, which is already in game for the Nashorn tank destroyer, and indeed the Hummel is

23:47basically a carbon copy of that vehicle, but the chassis used various components like the

23:52front drive wheels and transmission from the Panzer IIIJ, and the engine and suspension from the

23:57Panzer IV, with the hull being that of a Panzer IV but lengthened. Now the SFH-18, like with the

24:04105mm gun on the Vespa, uses various charges to propel its shells, with the standard 1-6 charge

24:12propelling them to around 210 to 375m a second. However there were more powerful charges that

24:18could take this up to 495m a second, but were only used rarely in very special cases, as these would

24:25cause stress on the gun barrel. But of course War Thunder kind of assumes everything works 100%

24:30of the time, so he could probably have this maximum charge as standard, making this gun far more useful

24:36for long range engagements than the Sig 33 armed vehicles. Meanwhile its horizontal traverse was 15

24:42degrees right and left, and its elevation minus 3 to plus 42, giving it good flexibility for engaging

24:48close and far off targets. As for the ammunition fired, it can fire at least two HE shells, the GR-19

24:55weighing 43.5kg, and the GR-36FES weighing 36.50kg, and I suspect these will penetrate around 60 to 70mm of

25:06armour. Then there is the GR-39HLA heat shell as used on Sig 33 which can also be used, giving a

25:13penetration of 185mm, which will allow it to deal with all but the most heavily armoured enemies. There

25:20were also two anti-concrete shells, with the GR-19BE rot weighing 43.45kg, and having 3.25kg of TNT,

25:30and using Gaijin's damage calculator and assuming it is fired at the maximum muzzle velocity, this gives

25:36us an armour penetration of around 95 to 100mm at point blank range, which is not a bad performance at

25:42all. So these shells would make the Hummel a pretty deadly vehicle, but there were a number of more

25:48experimental shells that could perhaps be added in game, including a number of SABO shells such as the

25:5415cm SPRGR-42TS, which had a 127mm subcalibre HE shell with 4.05kg of explosives, which should have

26:06worse penetration but a higher muzzle velocity, while the Panzergranate 39TS fired an 88mm subcalibre shell,

26:14which I believe is represented in game on the mouse, which fires it from a 128mm gun,

26:20and this would give us a shell with a muzzle velocity of 880m a second, with 64g of explosive

26:27mass or 109g of TNT equivalent, and could supposedly penetrate 172mm at 500m at a zero degree angle,

26:36or 140mm at a 30 degree angle, again making this a very useful shell and turning the Hummel

26:42into a true tank destroyer. There was also a rocket propelled shell, which used more propellant than

26:48even the heaviest regular charge, giving us a shell that in real life could reach up to 19,000m,

26:54or more practically for us would have a higher muzzle velocity, but could only be fired from guns

26:59with muzzle brakes, which only seems to have been fitted to the prototype. Meanwhile on the War Thunder

27:05forum Ghost Maxi has posted information about a HEAT FS shell, the GR-39 HL-A MIT Mienen Light

27:13FERC, which weighed 45kg, had a muzzle velocity of 370m a second, and could penetrate 245mm of armour

27:22at a 30 degree angle, again giving us a great shell for against heavily armoured enemies, though would

27:27be a little tricky to use at longer ranges. Lastly a smoke shell can also be carried, allowing you to

27:33give yourself and ally some concealment at short notice, and of course an MG34 was carried for

27:39close in and anti air defence. Moving on, the Hummel also came in two, technically three variants,

27:46with a prototype early production model and later production model. Now as mentioned earlier the

27:51Nash Horn is basically the same vehicle and is based off the early production model, with a raised

27:56driver's position, while the prototype was the same but with a muzzle brake for the gun.

28:01The late production model however had the entire frontal area of the vehicle raised,

28:05giving more room for the radio operator, who is labelled a machine gunner in-game.

28:10As for the rest of the stats, the armour should be the same as the in-game Nash Horn,

28:14maxing out at 30mm for the hull and 10mm for the open-topped superstructure, while the top speed is

28:2025mph or 40kmh and a crew of 6 is carried. In-game we could probably get all three variants, with the

28:28prototype being an event or premium vehicle, while the early and late production models could be added

28:33to the tech tree at around 4.7, with the late version maybe having access to more shells than the early

28:39one. Overall this would be more useful than the M44 and M55 due to its larger variety of shells, while of

28:46course being an iconic German vehicle and due to sharing the Nashorn chassis, and I believe being

28:51added in-game at one point as a vehicle that can be targeted in air battles, should make this relatively

28:57easy to add and so I would love to see this long overdue vehicle in War Thunder. In real life the

29:02prototype would be ready by October 1942, and 705 Hummels would be built from February 1943 until the end of

29:11the war, with the Hummel first seeing combat at the battle of Kursk and serving on various fronts until

29:16the end of the war, with 6 vehicles still surviving to this day. So the Hummel would go on to be a very

29:23useful SPG for the Germans, but in December 1944 it was planned for the Hummel to be fitted with the

29:29lighter 105mm LEFH as found on the Vespa, with the new vehicle becoming the Hummel-Wespa, of which only one

29:37photo exists. This might seem an odd choice, as the Hummel was better suited to carrying the larger

29:43150mm gun, but the lighter Vespa had gone out of production in June 1944, when the advancing Soviets

29:50had captured the factory producing them in Warsaw, Poland. So with the Germans still needing a vehicle

29:56armed with the 105mm weapon, it made logical sense to fit it to the Hummel. The stats for this vehicle

30:02should remain the same, with the only difference being the change in main armament. With the 105mm

30:07howitzer firing smaller shells at slower muzzle velocities, so its HE shells penetrates 15-25mm of

30:13armour, its best anti-tank shell 67mm at 500m, its panzer Granata 39TS Sabo shell 91mm at 500m,

30:23and its HE shell up to 115mm at a zero degree angle, or 100mm depending on other sources. While smoke and

30:31explosive slash incendiary shells could also be used. This could work at maybe around 2.7 to 3.0,

30:38giving players a chance to get used to the Hummel before getting the main version, as well as giving

30:43us a rather unusual vehicle for the lower tiers, and this could be an interesting counterpart to the

30:48Vespa. In real life, despite the chassis already being in production, only 11 or so Hummel Vespas were

30:54reported to be built, and these don't seem to have seen any surface. However, this wasn't the first

31:00time a 105mm gun had been fitted to the Panzer IV, or at least chassis that were based on or were

31:06similar to it, as there was a previous design in the form of the Gschutzwagen 4B, or SDKFZ 165-1,

31:14which came about from a 1939 proposal from Krupp, which would result in a wooden mock-up and orders

31:20for prototype vehicles in November 1940. So the 4B, as I will call it, is armed with the 105mm LeFH 18-1,

31:30which as mentioned can fire a wide variety of shells, and unlike previous vehicles we've looked

31:35at, it is placed in a turret. Unfortunately this turret only turns 35 degrees each way horizontally,

31:42which is better than the previous vehicles but nowhere near as good as a fully rotating turret,

31:46while the elevation is minus 10 to plus 40. Armor is also relatively light, maxing out at just 30mm for

31:53the front and 14.5mm for the sides and rear, while the turret is open topped, making the 4B

32:00extremely vulnerable to enemy fire, while its top speed is 28mph or 45kmh from a 180hp Maybach HL66P

32:10engine, which isn't too bad, while the crew carried was 4. This could probably work at 3.0 as a relatively

32:17lightly armoured vehicle with a decent gun and much better firing arcs than previous vehicles,

32:22giving German players a vehicle vaguely analogous to the better protected Sherman M4A3 105,

32:29and I think this would be a great vehicle to have in War Thunder. In real life two prototypes would be

32:34built, followed by 10 pre-production vehicles which were built from August to December 1942,

32:39but ultimately it was found that mounting the 105mm howitzer on the Panzer II as the Vespa

32:45was a better solution than building a completely new vehicle, especially as the new chassis,

32:50while based on the Panzer IV, used many parts that were not interchangeable between the two vehicles,

32:56so development of the 4B was halted. Despite this, half of the constructed vehicles were assigned to

33:01the 16th Panzer Division, which would be destroyed at the Battle of Stalingrad, with all six vehicles

33:07lost, while the remaining four plus the two prototypes would remain in Germany as training vehicles,

33:12with only one remaining to be discovered by the allies at the end of the war, minus its gun.

33:18Despite the failure of the Gschutzwagon 4B, Krupp would develop a similar vehicle a few years later,

33:24the Hoiststrecker 10, or Waffentrager GW4B, which was technically a Waffentrager or weapon carrier,

33:32indeed for a long time this is the vehicle I thought of when I heard the term Waffentrager.

33:37Now you might be wondering in what way this qualifies as a Waffentrager, and that is because

33:42the requirements that this vehicle was designed for called for the ability to remove the turret

33:46and gun from the vehicle and deploy it as a stationary artillery piece, and it could even be

33:52towed much like a conventional artillery piece if required. Now how useful this would have been in

33:57practice is questionable, and I doubt this would be implemented in War Thunder, but it is definitely

34:02one of the more unique features of an armoured vehicle that I have seen. As for the main armament

34:07carried, this was the 105mm LeFH 18-1 length 28 howitzer, which due to now being mounted in a fully

34:15rotating turret has 360 degrees of fire and an elevation of 0 to plus 68, while firing the same

34:22shells as we have looked at earlier, namely HE, APCBC, HEAT, sabot and smoke shells, but no machine guns are

34:29carried. Unfortunately, armour is rather light, with some sources saying that it maxes out at 20mm for

34:36the front and 15mm for the sides, while others have it maxing out slightly thicker at 30mm for

34:41the front and 16mm for the sides and rear, but either way this isn't particularly well armoured,

34:47and the turret sides and rear could also be folded down, which would remove the protection but would

34:52give more room for the gun crew, which could be an optional modification that makes the turret

34:56crew vulnerable, but gives a faster fire rate, which would be a unique feature of this vehicle.

35:02Meanwhile the chassis used is the Gschutzwagen 3-4, and its top speed is 28mph or 45kmh from a 285hp

35:11Maybach HL120TRM, though again at least one other source gives it as the 360hp Maybach HL90,

35:20while the crew carried is 5. This would make for a good vehicle to add at a minimum of 3.0,

35:25on account of the large variety of shells available, and the fact it has a fully traversable turret

35:31unlike previous designs, and although I know it wouldn't be represented in game, the deployable

35:36turret would make this an extremely unique vehicle, and it would be nice to see it added in game in

35:40some fashion. In real life at least one prototype was built, although some sources say three were

35:46built and this underwent testing on the 13th October 1943, which prompted some modifications,

35:52with firing trials commencing from January to 31st May 1944. Ultimately these trials resulted

35:58in the cancellation of the project, primarily due to the clumsiness in removing the turret,

36:03and the additional complexity over existing vehicles. That said, the prototype was captured at the end of

36:09the war by American troops, and still exists to this day at Fort Seal, Oklahoma. However, there would be

36:16a competing design for this Waffentrager requirement, namely the 10.5cm LEFH 18-40-2 SF ALF

36:25which was designed by Alquette. The main armament for this design was, as you could probably guess,

36:32the 105mm LEFH 18-40-2 length 28 howitzer, which was lighter than the previous LEFH 18 designs,

36:42and is again designed to be deployed from the vehicle. But unlike the crop design, only the gun

36:47is deployed with the turret remaining on the chassis. As for the weapon itself, it is fitted in a fully

36:53rotating turret with an elevation of minus 10 to plus 70, which is better than the crop design,

36:58and this fires all of the previous 105mm shells we looked at. And it was for this weapon that the

37:04Panzerklonata 39TS Sabo shell was developed, with the Sabo shell carrying an 88mm Panzerklonata 39 shell,

37:12and was capable of penetrating 91mm to 500m, which is pretty good, and again a machine gun is not carried.

37:19Armour is still pretty light, maxing out at just 30mm for the front and 20mm for the sides,

37:24while the turret is open topped, making it very vulnerable to aircraft. Meanwhile, the top speed

37:30is 28mph or 45kmh from a 285hp Maybach HL120TRM engine, while the crew complement is 5. Again,

37:39this could be added at 3.0 or higher, maybe folded with the Voyerstreker 10, with this vehicle maybe

37:46having access to the Sabo shell to differentiate it from the crop design, and it would likely play in

37:51the same fashion as that vehicle, but I would still like to see it in War Thunder, albeit as a low

37:56priority. In real life, a single prototype was constructed and tested on the 28th of May 1944,

38:02where a number of issues arose, namely the 15 minutes it took to deploy the gun, and the cramped

38:08fighting compartment. So modifications were made, and it was tested again on the 28th of May,

38:13and presumably did well as production was due to start in October 1944. However, this never occurred,

38:20and all production was halted in December 1944, but surprisingly the prototype survived the war,

38:25and still exists to this day in a private collection. So that is most of the self-propelled

38:31gun and haritzer vehicles based on the Panzer IV, but there are still a few variants of an existing

38:35vehicle that need adding as well, and I am of course talking about the Brumbar or Sturm Panzer IV.

38:41You see, the Brumbar technically comes in four production series, with modifications made in

38:46each series, with 52 of the 60 built for the first series being built on the Panzer IV G chassis.

38:52However, the remaining 8 were built on the Panzer IV E, which has the disadvantage of 20mm side and

38:58rear armour, while the lowermost frontal hull is 30mm, versus 30mm for the side armour,

39:05and 80mm for the lower hull front of the G. Naturally, Gaijin decided to add the rather obscure

39:10E variant, giving us a Brumbar that frankly doesn't live up to its full potential with regards to

39:16protection. Now admittedly we are only talking about a 10mm difference for the side armour,

39:21and the lower frontal hull isn't a massive target, but it still seems very odd for this variant to be

39:26the one that's in game, especially for a premium vehicle, so I suggest that the Brumbar built on

39:31the Panzer IV G should also be added in the tech tree. Then of course there is the subsequent series,

39:37with the second introducing a reinforced driver's hatch, the third a lighter main armament, and in

39:43the fourth series a ball mounted machine gun was added on the top left of the front of the vehicle,

39:48giving the ability to defend from soft skinned vehicles, while some of the previous series also

39:53had an MG34 mounted on the roof, and I think all of these variants could be introduced in a folder

39:58in the regular tech tree, even if not as a priority. So moving on from the Panzer IV, we now have the

40:05Panther, and frankly there isn't really any options here, with the closest being the Mittlerer Waffentraeger

40:12SFH-18 Alf Panther Dunevandig, which we don't have any photos of for reasons that will become apparent.

40:20Now I'm not going to get too much into the details for this, but basically this was another Waffentraeger

40:24design, where the gun was to be dismountable, and various designs were submitted by Krupp from July

40:30to October 1944, despite being ordered to halt working on the design, with the requirement

40:36itself cancelled in November 1944. However on the 6th of February 1945, a telex message stated that the

40:43chassis was ready, though not the turret, but on the 20th of February 1945 the project was completely

40:50terminated anyway. Now it seems clear that this vehicle was never actually finished, and probably

40:55never even had an engine installed, but it was to be armed with the SFH-18, firing the same ammunition

41:01as the Hummel, while the armour was to max out at 30mm, and the top speed would presumably be 28.5mph,

41:09or 46kmh like on the late Panthers in-game, and probably 6 crew would be carried.

41:15Honestly this probably shouldn't be added, except maybe in the same fashion as the E100 due to it

41:20never being anywhere close to finished, let alone tested, and it would have to be a very low priority

41:26vehicle for adding, but it felt remiss not to mention it at all. So moving on from the Panther,

41:31we now come to the Tiger tank, and again we only really have the one option in the form of the

41:37Grilla 1721, or Gschutzwagen Tiger, and straight away you can see a big difference over the Panther

41:44design, in that this one actually has pictures, which is a big plus, though again it suffers from

41:50the same problems as the Panther design. Again, without going into too much detail, this design came from

41:55a 1942 requirement for a vehicle that could carry various heavy weapons, which could be dismounted,

42:01which does seem to be a recurring theme with these late war designs.

42:04A prototype was ordered in January 1943, and was to use a modified Tiger II chassis,

42:10but it was still unfinished on 7th December 1944, when it was ready to move to the Halstenbeck

42:16Ordnance Proving and Tank Testing Ground in Northern Germany, and in January 1945 all work was cancelled,

42:24and this was the date that the prototype was found when the US Army found it.

42:28Now the weapons that were intended to be fitted were the 17cm K72 SF length 50,

42:33the 21cm LMRS 18-1 SF length 31, and the 30.5cm GRW length 16, but none of these appear to have been

42:44fitted, though a 17cm K72 was present near to the vehicle when it was found, so if any variant was going

42:50to be added, it seems logical this would be the one to add. With the K72 firing shells at 620 to 925

42:58meters a second depending on the charge used, though again we will assume the largest possible is used,

43:03and it could fire two HE shells weighing 62.8 to 71 kilograms, with these likely to one shot most

43:10vehicles, while an APCBC shell could also be fired, penetrating 255 millimeters at 1000 meters at a 30

43:18degree angle, which is again a pretty good performance. Meanwhile the horizontal traverse

43:23was to be 5 degrees right and left with the elevation being 0 to plus 50, while at least one

43:28machine gun was to be carried in the bow and possibly another on the roof. As you can see this vehicle was

43:33massive, weighing in at 58 tons, being 13 meters long, including the K72 barrel, 3.27 meters wide

43:41and 3.15 meters high, but unfortunately the armor is very thin, maxing out at just 30 millimeters for

43:47the front and 16 millimeters for the sides and rear, while the fighting compartment is open topped,

43:52making it very vulnerable to aircraft. That said, its mobility isn't the worst, with its top speed being

43:5821.7 miles per hour or 35 kilometers an hour to 28 miles per hour or 45 kilometers an hour depending on

44:04the source used, which isn't bad at all, with this powered by a 690 horsepower Maybach HL 230 P30 engine,

44:13while the crew carried was 7 to 8, again depending on the source. Like with the Waffentraeger Panther,

44:19this probably shouldn't be added except as a very rare event vehicle, but would likely be a bit more of a

44:24priority just because we have photos of it, and if it was added, it would surely be a monster of an

44:30SPG to face on the battlefield. In real life only the one prototype was constructed, and unfortunately

44:35despite being extensively photographed, the prototype was most likely scrapped. So that is pretty much all

44:42of the German tank based SPG and SPH vehicles, but we do have a few options that were based on non-tank

44:48vehicles, like the Rauppenschlepper Ost or RSO, a vehicle we have previously looked at in the tank

44:55destroyer video, which also seems to have carried various artillery pieces as well, or was at least

45:00tested with carrying them. The first of these weapons is the 7.5 centimeter de Burg's Halbitzer 34,

45:08which could fire two HE shells, a smoke shell and most importantly the GR38H shell, which can penetrate

45:14up to 115 millimeters in game, at least with the C version, making this a pretty deadly weapon.

45:20The only downside I could see with this weapon is the elevation when firing forwards, but the

45:24windshield can be dropped, which should hopefully fix that problem. Another weapon used was the 105

45:30millimeter GEBH40, a mounting gun that could fire shells up to 565 meters a second with its maximum

45:38charge and could fire HE and the GR39HLC heat shell, which as mentioned can penetrate 115 millimeters of

45:46armor. So again, this is pretty good. Lastly, the Sig 33 was mounted with its effective HE and heat shell

45:53that penetrates 185 millimeters in game. So that gives us a few good options with regards to armament.

45:59However, there is some debate on whether these could actually be fired from the vehicle,

46:04with evidence suggesting that the GEBH36 could or was intended to be fired from the vehicle,

46:10but less evidence with the other two guns, which may have just been loaded to show that the vehicle

46:15could transport them, so their inclusion is a bit more up in the air. As for the Raupen Schlepper

46:21Ost itself, it is completely unarmored, has a top speed of 18 miles per hour or 30 kilometers an hour

46:26and a crew of 3 to 4. I could see these being added in game at the early tiers, with some in the regular

46:32tech tree and some perhaps as event vehicles, and it would give German players some more choices in

46:37artillery weapons, and more of a reason to add to the RSO. Now that's mostly it for German vehicles,

46:44but I had intended to look at this massive vehicle, the Kohlgerat, which was fitted with a 60 centimeter

46:49and later 54 centimeter mortar, capable of firing 1.25 to 2.17 ton shells. But while the gun does appear

46:57to be capable of pointing at zero degrees, which would technically make it usable, it unfortunately

47:02could only be fired at plus 55 degrees at a minimum, making it unsuited for adding in any sort of role.

47:10However, while we have gone through all of the German vehicles, there were various captured British

47:15and French tanks that were also fitted with artillery weapons that could be added. The first

47:20of these is the 10.5 centimeter LEFH-16 Aufgeschützwagen Mark 6E, which was the British light tank Mark 6

47:28fitted with the 105 millimeter LEFH-16 Howitzer from the World War 1 period. This came about after

47:35many British Mark 6 light tanks were abandoned by the British Expeditionary Force or BEF after the fall

47:42of France, with these tanks generally being obsolete for front line service. However, a German officer,

47:48Alfred Becker, who commanded the 15th Artillery Regiment of the 227th Infantry Division and was

47:54also a pretty skilled mechanic, decided to convert these light tanks into SPGs, which was done by

48:00removing the upper superstructure and turret and placing the new 105 millimeter gun to the vehicle

48:06with some welded plates for protection. The LEFH-16 Howitzer itself was already obsolete at the start of

48:12the war. As mentioned, its design dated back to World War 1. But it fires the same ammunition

48:18types as the later LEFH-18 with a maximum muzzle velocity of around 400 meters a second,

48:24and it had a horizontal traverse of just 4 degrees and an elevation of minus 10 to plus 40 degrees.

48:31Unfortunately, it is still very lightly protected with the armor only maxing out at 22 millimeters for

48:36the frontal superstructure and 13 millimeters for the sides, and it is of course open topped,

48:41while the top speed was 31 miles per hour or 50 kilometers an hour and the crew was 4.

48:46In game this could work at around 2.3, having a decent gun and top speed, though of course very

48:52vulnerable to enemy attacks. But its small size should allow it to conceal itself relatively easily,

48:58and it would be nice for this early converted vehicle to be available in War Thunder. In real life,

49:04it seems only 6 to 7 were built, though some sources claim up to 12 were made, and in October 1941,

49:10the 15th Artillery Regiment, including 6 of the Mk VIEs were transferred to the Eastern Front,

49:17and seemed to have performed very well, giving German forces a small but effective mobile artillery unit,

49:22with the vehicles themselves surviving into early 1942. However, they would seriously impress the right

49:28people, and would give Becker's career a nice boost, as he would be recalled from the front line,

49:34in charge of a unit known as Baal Commando Becker, or Construction Unit Becker,

49:39with the task of converting various unarmed or obsolete vehicles, usually French, into effective

49:45tank destroyer and mobile artillery vehicles, and these would go on to give useful service for

49:50Germany for relatively little cost, at least compared to building completely new vehicles.

49:56So moving on from converted British vehicles, we can now take a look at the converted French vehicles,

50:02starting with the Lorraine 37L, which was fitted with various armaments in German service.

50:07Starting with the vehicle itself, this was basically a tractor for carrying supplies,

50:12having a top speed of around 22mph or 35kmh and a maximum of 12mm of armour. However,

50:19after the fall of France, most of the 480 Lorraine 37Ls fell into German hands, with many of these

50:26converted to carry the 75mm Pak 40 anti-tank gun, but a lesser number were fitted with artillery guns,

50:33including the 105mm LeFH-18, 15cm SFH-13, and in at least one case, a captured Soviet 122mm M30

50:45howitzer. We have already looked at the LeFH-18 previously in the video, but the SFH-13 was an old

50:52weapon dating back to just before WWI, and was mostly assigned to reserve units, but these were

50:58still in service in WWII, with more captured from the Belgian and Dutch armies. This weapon was able

51:04to fire many of the same shells as the later SFH-18, including many of the HE anti-concrete, heat and

51:11smoke shells, making this effective against a variety of targets. Luckily for us, the 122mm SFH-396R,

51:20aka the Soviet M30, is already in game on the SU-122, being able to fire a HE shell with 37mm penetration,

51:29a heat shell with 160mm penetration, and a smoke shell, again making this a rather deadly weapon as well.

51:35Meanwhile, the elevation for the guns should be about 5 degrees left and right, with an elevation of 0 to

51:41plus 40 degrees, and a crew of 4 would be carried. The vehicles armed with the 105mm and 15cm guns would

51:48be good regular vehicles to add somewhere between 2.3 to 3.0, having a good variety of ammunition,

51:54but let down by their thin armour, slow speed and small crew. Meanwhile, the 122mm variant could be

52:00an event vehicle at 2.3, seeing as this was a rarer variant. In real life, 12 105mm vehicles would be

52:08recreated, along with 94 15cm vehicles, with these serving in North Africa and Western Europe,

52:15and these were mostly destroyed. Though a few do survive, while just one was fitted with the 122mm

52:22howitzer, and the vehicle was then mounted on an armoured train, but could be disembarked for combat.

52:27And this was destroyed in 1946, after being used in the French film, La Bataille de Roux,

52:33or the Battle of the Rails, where the train it is on is derailed, and it was presumably scrapped

52:38after the derailment. So the Germans had found a good use for these French tractors, but of course

52:44it also had a lot of French tanks that were frankly, hopelessly obsolete on the modern battlefield,

52:49but would still make good platforms for various artillery weapons, giving them a new lease of life.

52:55One of these tanks was the Hotchkiss H39, or Gschutzfagen 39HF, which as we looked at in the

53:02previous episode, was also used as a tank destroyer. With the modification carried out on the same

53:07lines as on the Lorraine 37L, now being fitted with a 105mm LEFH-18 with a horizontal traverse of

53:1630 degrees each way, and an elevation of minus 5 to plus 22, while a 7.92mm MG34 is also carried.

53:25Some were also armed with the older LEFH-16, and these could also be added if necessary.

53:31However, unlike the 37L, it is a bit more armoured, with the superstructure coming in at

53:3620mm for the front and sides, while the hull maxes out at 40mm for the same flanks,

53:42giving us a slightly better fighting chance against less penetrating weapons, though of course it is

53:47still open topped. Meanwhile, the top speed is 22mph or 36kmh, and a crew of 4 is carried.

53:55This could be added at 2.3, having a decent gun and better armour, but not the best speed,

54:00but still making for an ok SPG. In real life, 48 Hotchkiss H39s would be converted,

54:06carry the 105mm howitzer, and these would serve in France during the Normandy invasion. With these

54:13being lost in the fighting, with only one surviving today in the Musi de Blondie in France.

54:19There would also be a similar conversion done to the FCM36 or Kschutzwagon FCM36F, which again is

54:26similar to the tank destroyer version that we looked at before, and is definitely an interesting

54:30looking design. And as mentioned last time, the FCM36 was rather different from other French tanks,

54:37in that it has a diesel engine and welded armour, and only 100 were built. This again has a maximum

54:43of about 15-20mm of armour for the superstructure, and 40mm for the hull, and is again open topped.

54:50While a 105mm LEFH16 was carried, while the top speed is unfortunately now just 15mph or 24kmh,

54:59and a crew of 4 is again carried. In real life, only 12 FCM36s were converted to this standard,

55:06in large part due to how few FCM36s would have survived the Battle of France intact,

55:12as well as its use of a diesel engine. And while they were around in France from the autumn of 1942,

55:18they seemed to have disappeared by early 1944, perhaps due to mechanical issues,

55:23and it's unknown if they served in combat during the Normandy invasion.

55:28So that's almost all of the French tanks, but there is one last design for us to look at,

55:33the Gschutzwagen B2F, which was based on the Char B1Bis heavy tank.

55:38Now here the hull is rather reminiscent of WW1 tank designs, with the tracks going around the

55:44entirety of the hull, and there is very little change to the hull besides removing the hull-mounted

55:4975mm howitzer and armouring over the resulting gap. However, a larger change has taken place atop the tank

55:56where the turrets used to be, with this now replaced by a 105mm LEFH-18 howitzer, with a limited traverse

56:04of 15 degrees horizontally, and an elevation of minus 4 to plus 20. This also makes the tank

56:10significantly taller, now coming in at 3.05 metres tall versus 2.88 metres tall for the regular

56:17Char B1Bis, making this a much more prominent target. Worse still, while the rest of the tank is

56:23very heavily armoured at 60mm for the front, the new superstructure is only 20mm all round and is

56:29open-topped, meaning any enemy could simply target the rather prominent gun position and easily wipe

56:36out most or all of the crew. Meanwhile, the 32.5 ton tank only has a top speed of 17mph or 28kmh,

56:43which is not the best, while the crew is numbered at 4 to 5 depending on the source used.

56:48In-game this could probably work at 2.3, having a greatly protected hull and good armament,

56:54but let down by its speed and the ease with which it can be destroyed if the fighting compartment is

56:59targeted. But I could see this unusual looking vehicle gaining some popularity in-game.

57:04In real life only 16 of these B2s were produced in 1942 by Rheinmetall Borsig, with these remaining in

57:11France, and they were intended to support the Char B1Bis tanks that had been converted to carry

57:17flamethrowers. But as it turns out the flamethrower tanks were ready in 1941 while the Haritzer

57:21vehicles weren't, and so they went into action without them, meaning that the SPG vehicles seem

57:27to have not actually seen any combat. Honestly, while most of the SPG conversions the Germans made

57:33all make sense to various degrees, the Char B1Bis seems to suit this role the least out of all the

57:37tanks we've looked at. As you have a tank that, while not great, does have a unique selling point of

57:43very heavy armour for the time, making it well suited for attacking strong points,

57:47either with its existing armaments or flamethrowers or some alternate armament,

57:52yet instead has been fitted with an artillery gun that is intended to be used far behind the front

57:57line where that armour doesn't really make any difference. And honestly if the Germans had

58:01fitted a bigger gun it probably would have made more sense at least. So this feels like a missed

58:06opportunity for the vehicle in real life, though it's also possible it was just done for logistics

58:10reasons, as after all it was supposed to help the flamethrower variant that the Germans created

58:15out of the Char B1Bis. So that's it for this episode looking at German SPG, artillery and assault

58:21vehicles, and I'd like to hear your views on these vehicles and any other vehicles you'd like me to

58:26cover in the comments below. Now I'm not entirely sure what we'll be covering next, I may cover a

58:31smaller nation like Argentina or Australia or Canada, or we may go on to German armoured cars, or maybe we'll

58:37look at one of the other major nations that I haven't looked at in quite a long time. But we'll just

58:42have to see how things turn out. Anyway, I hope you've enjoyed this video, hopefully you'll join

58:46me for the next one. I've been Toreno and I'll see you next time.

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