Kromyr

I was reading a translated War Diary of the 14th Army. It stated that the unit arrived in Rome for the 24th and placed as Army Reserve, under LXXVI PanzerKorps. The attack began on the 29th of March. So I do not doubt that the unit, 1./schwere Panzer-Jager-Abteilung 653, was not commited until March 1st. Thanks for the info.

Hmmm, after checking it out thoroughly it becomes available only from April 1944, in CMAK, but were available to the 14th Army, against Anzio in Feb '44. They arrived in Rome about the 24th of Feb '44. Then participated in the second major attack on Anzio. Go figure. *sigh*

When is the Ferdindand/Elefant available in CMAK? I can't seem to find it after selecting a few random dates it was supposed to be there.

Oh btw I did post the message under the last username. Sorry if there was any confusion. Kromyr

Oh btw I did post the message under the last username. Sorry if there was any confusion. Kromyr

Check out this link. Half way down you will find the PzKpfW IV data, guns, and ammo. I hope this helps. Kromyr.

Check out this link. I hope this may help. Beware, its a slow load (fairly large .pdf). It is a declassified Standard Ordnance Catalogue, 1944. The 90mm starts on page 87 of the PDF.

From the statement, "Some of the 2nd series of the Ausf B production had a new six-spoke drive sprocket, and an eight-spoke idler,..." I can only conclude through semantical logic that the word "new" applies to the "eight-spoked idler" via the word "and" but some people, including authors and editors, do not write thinking in those terms. But when I read the statement I believe it means, "a new six-spoke drive sprocket, and a (new) eight-spoke idler,..." Stupid english language!

A little off-topic but it may be of use. From the same book I described earlier, of the 50 Ausf C's and 150 Ausf D's produced from May to September 1941, the majority went to replace front-line losses, 105 assault guns for 1941, and some went to form new detachments. They might have been used to replace losses for that time-period as well.

According to Encyclopedia of German Tanks of World War Two by Chamberlain and Doyle " The Ausf B was the 2nd and 3rd Series of the StuG, differing from the previous model by improvements in the drivetrain... Some of the 2nd series of the Ausf B production had a new six-spoke drive sprocket, and an eight-spoke idler,...by the end of 1940, the number of Sturmartillerie batteries had been raise to seven, and four assualt-artillery detachments,...Additional assault-artillery attachments equipped with Ausf B were formed early in 1941. Two Sturmartillerie Abteilung were present in the Balkans campaign and six Abteilung advanced into Russian territoy in June 1941." Given that there were 30 StuG A's made by the end of May 40', 320 StuG B's made by the end of May 41', and that only some (number unknown) of the 2nd Series of the StuG B received the new six-spoked drive sprocket and eight-spoked idler, I can only guess the the slim majority of all StuG B's would have the new drive-sprocket and idler, this is based on the assumption that the each series had an equal number of StuG's produced. Given that the production of the Stug B's was from June 1940 - May 1941 and the previous information I would hazard a guess that there is a strong, but arguable, conclusion that the StuG B's, for your question, had the new six-spoked drive-sprocket and new eight-spoked idler. Sincerely, Kromyr [ July 09, 2004, 10:28 AM: Message edited by: Kromyr ]