Nashorn

This tank destoyer mounted the 8,8 cm PaK 43/1 L/71 gun in an open-topped, open-back superstructure atop a chassis that used components from both the Pz. III and Pz. IV tanks. The Nashorn—“rhino”—also carried one 7.92 mm MG34 or MG42 machine gun. The amount of armour provided for the crew compartment was adequate to protect from blasts and small arms, but not armour-piercing rounds. Thus, like the Marder series, the vehicle was not intended to engage in tank fights, but to provide mobility to a powerful anti-tank gun. Though the open top, relatively light armor, and high profile made this vehicle and its five-person crew vulnerable, it featured the same main gun as mounted on the Pz. VI Tiger II. This gun could frontally penetrate any Allied tank at long range. The Nashorn's relatively low cost and superior mobility to heavier vehicles ensured it remained in production from 1943 until the war's end. The Alkett and Deutsche Eisenwerke companies produced 494 vehicles, which saw service through the end of the war on the Eastern, Southern, and Western European fronts. It could attain a top speed of 26 mph.