Mark IIIN

[General Jack Ripper]

Whats the best use of the Mark IIIN?

I have 2 platoons of them in a battle and I don't really know what the best way is to use them.

[George MC]

The Panzer N carries a 75mm L24 gun - from what I mind is was designed as an assault panzer so guess it was more used for supporting infantry units as at that time the 75mm L24 was not all that much use for engaging enemy armour (at short range using special ammo is could do damage).

So keep it behind your footsloggers and use it to blast enemy Mgs etc.

Sure someone else will give some more detailed advice shortly

Cheers fur noo

George

[ParaBellum]

As George pointed out, the 7,5cm gun is quite good for infantry support. The blast value of the HE round is roughly three times bigger than that of the 5cm HE round. Also, it carries HC ammo for anti-tank work, which works quite well against non-angled armour regardless of the distance, if you can hit something with the slow velocity gun, that is.

[John Kettler]

The Panzer III/N was originally deployed as an escort tank for the Tiger I, with the goal of dealing with precisely the sorts of things which would otherwise distract and/or annoy the Tigers.

With speed, maneuverability and turret speed the Tigers lacked, and the Tigers to keep the big threats off their backs, the two types worked in a kind of combat symbiosis. As noted here, the spaced armor on the III J/K/L models was not present because of the heavier turret. It's unclear whether this applies only to the turret or to the turret and hull.

http://www.achtungpanzer.com/pz8.htm

Regards,

John Kettler

[General Jack Ripper]

Hey thanks. I ended up losing 4 of the 8 Mark IIIN's in the battle, but those 4 that were left killed a couple T-34's and killed alot of Infantry. The highlight of the day was a MarkIIIL killing a KV2.

I will play some more and get used to the role that the Mark IIIN plays in a battle.

Thanks for all the info.

[JasonC]

As a history point, the switch to short 75s for the last models of turreted IIIs was an attempt to deal with the limitations turret diameter imposed on the III chassis. The turret could not accomodate a high velocity long 75mm, and the 50L60 used throughout 1942 had proven inadequate against T-34s at range.

The idea was to exploit improved HEAT ammo made available at midwar, and to get the superior HE performance of the older short 75s used in the early IVs. 75mm HE was found more effective against towed guns than the underpowered 50mm HE in earlier IIIs, in particular.

While the HEAT was effective against T-34s if hits were obtained, low muzzle velocity detracted from accuracy at range. While a 50L60 could hit at 1-1.5 km it wouldn't kill. 75L24 firing improved HEAT would kill if it hit, but hitting at 2-3 second flight time ranges with the low velocity gun was hard.

The eventual solution was to dispense with the turret entirely and switch all III chassis production to StuGs, which could accomodate the more powerful 75L48. That combined the range of the 50L60 with better penetrating power than even 75mm HEAT (which it could also fire if wanted etc).

In CM terms, it would be realistic to edit ammo loads to allow a dozen or more HC rounds for each of these. Plain AP was barely used any more, in 1943 fighting, with these guns. They work well against infantry and gun defenses. Against T-34s you want to engage relatively close to get hits rapidly despite the limited muzzle velocity - 600-700m is a good distance. At that range, Russian hits on the front hull will generally bounce (use some side angle aka cant your tank's hull off the line to the target if you don't see this), while HC is insensitive to range and will kill if it hits.

[John Kettler]

JasonC,

Nice explanation! ISTR a German quote I've seen repeatedly to the effect that hitting anything with the HL round was iffy beyond 500 meters. Ring any bells?

Regards,

John Kettler