Marder III

Early during Operation Barbarossa in mid-1942, the Wehrmacht was aware of their inability to combat some Soviet tanks. The lighter German tanks then in service were relatively under-armed and under-armoured. Further, the standard towed anti-tank gun—the 3.7 cm Pak 36—was difficult to maneuver in fast-changing battlefield conditions and could not penetrate heavily-sloped armour. The Germans possessed a more powerful anti-tank gun in the 7.5 cm PaK 40, as well as a large number of captured Soviet 76 mm F-22 (L/51.2) Model 1936 divisional guns (designated 7.62 cm Pak 36(r)). With their Panzerjäger I tank destroyer design of 1941, they also had experience rebuilding the chassis of an under-gunned tank to provide mobility to a heavier gun. The Wehrmacht envisioned the Marder (“marten”) series of tank destroyers as an interim solution. These vehicles provided mobility to the 7.5 cm PaK 40 or 7.62 cm Pak 36(r) guns by removing the turrets of captured French tracked vehicles or less effective Wehrmacht tanks and mounting the guns in lightly-armored, open-topped fixed superstructures. The Marder series provided only thin armor around the gun on the front and sides, effective only against shrapnel and small arms. Unlike the Panzerjäger, Marders were not built to exchange fire with enemy tanks. The Marder III self-propelled anti-tank vehicle featured its main gun in a fixed, open-topped superstructure on a Pz. 38(t) chassis. Some of the initial vehicles carried captured Soviet 7.62 cm guns (converted to accept the larger German 7.5 cm Pak 40 propellant cartridge), while later examples carried German 7.5 cm Pak 40 (L/46) guns. The 1,080 units built saw service throughout Europe. They carried a crew of four at a top speed of 24 mph.