Page 25 - History of War - Issue 29-16

OPERATION BARBAROSSA

FIRING HIGH NO SECONDARY FIRE BATTLE-HARDENED
STURMPANZER I much higher than other armoured but the rst incarnation had no War II. It was involved in the
Later versions of the Sturmpanzer
Despite its many technical faults,
The Sturmpanzer I may have
the Bison saw action across
would utilise a secondary weapon
been compact, but its design
in the form of the meaty MG 34,
multiple battle elds in World
inexplicably placed the cannon
bloody Battle of France in 1940,
other weapons save the sIG 33
vehicles. Meaning the gunner often
the invasion of the Balkans in
cannon that was re-appropriated
had to compensate while aiming in
for the vehicle design of the
Operation Marita, and Operation
battle. This proved to be one of the
Barbarossa in 1941.
Sturmpanzer I.
Sturmpanzer I’s biggest problems.

NO ROOM FOR
AMMUNITION
The original version of the
Sturmpanzer was smaller than the
incarnations that would follow in
later generations, and with little
WEIGHS 8.5 TONNES to no space inside the vehicle,
extra ammunition was carried
behind it in a separate vehicle.

“DESPITE BEING
COLLECTIVELY GROUPED
INTO THE ‘TANK’ FAMILY,

THE STURMPANZER I

WAS ACTUALLY A MOBILE
ARMOURED CANNON”

ARMOURED WARFARE ON THE STREETS

Serious overloading of the chassis meant
that the Sturmpanzer wasn’t designed
for off-road warfare. As the many
accounts of these armoured vehicles
breaking down in rural areas (especially
in wet weather) should testify, the
Sturmpanzer was a mobile cannon that
Hitler wanted for urban assaults.
EXPOSED CREW NEED FOR SPEED Its rounds were powerful enough
The basic crew of a Sturmpanzer The original Sturmpanzer was to blow straight through walls, so the Illustration: Alex Pang www.alexpangillustration.com Illustration: Alex Pang www.alexpangillustration.com
I consisted of four or ve men, designed speci cally to work in urban Nazis often used them to clear out Allied
but only three could t inside the environments, and its six-cylinder, roadblocks. However, while these mobile
small armoured compartment water-cooled Maybach NL38TR cannons often cleared obstacles or
of the vehicle. For the rest of the engine could produce up to 40 km/h. destroyed gun nests, they also attracted Above: Operation Barbarossa would
crew left to load the cannon, This made it as a fast as a Panzer the most re so the German infantry see nearly all of the remaining Bisons
that meant being exposed out in IV, but unlike its bigger brother, the would often hold back until the vehicle destroyed, giving way to another
the open during battle. Sturmpanzer I struggled off-road. had cleared the vicinity before engaging. iteration of self-propelled guns

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