Tirta said:
Charlie and C.B.,
Thanks for sharing your tank knowledge.
Command tanks, infantry tanks,
how many tank roles is it in the german army during WW2?
what is the definition of infantry tanks? tanks for shooting infantry?
People have made careers out of trying to figure out the varieties of German armour and their modifications. I don't claim great expertise in this but:
All German AFVs accepted for production were allocated a SdKfz number.
e.g. the Kettenrad half-track motorcycle was SdKfz 2, the Panzer III was SdKfz 141.
Whenever a modification was approved to an existing design it was indicated by an Ausfuehrung (Ausf.) letter. e.g. SdKfz 141 Ausf G - is the official version of the Pz IIIG. Also major subtypes may be indicated by a slash and number e.g. the Jagdpanzer IV with the L/70 gun was the Sd.Kfz 162/1.
As well as this there was usually an offical name to go with the Sd designation. This could be quite complicated such as Sturmgescheutz Panther (8.8 cm StuK 43 (L/71)) (Sd.Kfz.172) aka JagdPanther.
There was also a naming system which mapped to the official designations which referred to the role of the vehicle like:
Panzerkampfwagen (tank) - Pz.Kpfw - followed by a type like Pz.Kpfw III
Sturmgescheutz (assault gun) - StuG - e.g StuG III
Sturmhaubitze (assault howitzer) - StuH
JagdPanzer (tank destroyer)
Panzerbefehlswagen - armoured command vehicle
(These are just the main roles there were lots of others)
Many German vehicles also were given common names as well these are probably the best known names like Tiger, Panther, etc. There were also names used by the front line troops as well e.g Guderian Ente (Guderian's duck) for the Jagdpanzer IV
Confused yet? The bottom line is that a single German vehicle might be known by at least 3 different names. As an example the tank destroyer deployed in 1944 based on the Panzer IV hull with a 75mm L/48 gun could be known as:
Sd. Kfz. 162
Sturmgeschütz neuer Art mit 7.5cm PaK L/48 auf Fahrgestell PzKpfw IV
Jagdpanzer IV
(no official name)
Guderian Ente
I bet you're sorry you asked now
I think we have caused confusion by referring to the Pz IIIN as an infantry support tank. The Wehrmacht didn't use it's armour like the Allies did in the early part of WW2. There wasn't distinction between tanks which accompanied infantry attacks and tackled fortifications and strong points to clear the way for infantry advance and tanks which operated independently.
However, many German infantry divisions acquired their own armoured units to support infantry operations. The tanks used were often captured or modified versions of older tanks - the Pz IIIN was a good example. I've probably just added to the confusion - sigh...
Regards,
Charlie