TYPE: Medium Tank
ARMAMENT
1x 7.5cm KwK L/24 “Short” Cannon
3x 7.92mm MG34 or MG42
TECHNICAL DATA
Length: 5.49 Meter
Width: 2.95 Meter
Height: 2.50 Meter
Weight: 23 tons
Crew: 5
Propulsion: Maybach HL 120 TR V-12 265hp
Max Speed: 40 km/h
ARMOR
Up to 50mm
Additional 30mm frontal armor plate
HISTORY
The Pz.III came to Norway a little after the German invasion of Norway in April 1940, the Germans did not expect there to bee a need for heavier tanks, as Norway did not have any other than a couple armored trucks. Because of this the smaller and less powerful Pz.III and Stug.III were brought to Norway. During the occupation, the tanks Germany used here were sent to Germany and upgraded a number of times, and in a wide variety of variants and mixes, and when the war came to an end, the Germans surrendered all their vehicles to Norwegian and British/American forces that had fought in Norway. The British wanted to sabotage most of these vehicles, and among trying to blow up the barrels of the various tanks, they had driven over and destroyed a whole bunch of surrendered motorcycles. Most of these tanks were later on put in service in the Norwegian Army, and because of the British sabotage, the Norwegians worked on restoring these vehicles until 1948, before they were ready to be used. And because of the vehicles being damaged and parts having to be taken from here and there, those vehicles that already had been upgraded/mixed by the German army during the occupation, were even further mixed by the Norwegians during the restoration, with this vehicle potentially being one example.
The majority of these tanks were put in service in so called “Airport Troops” to guard the various airports in the area, this specific tank were used at Bardufoss Airport, and the platoon here consisted of 3 Pz.III and one Stug.III. Each of those Pz.III were painted in Norwegian colors, and had each their number (1, 2 and 3) painted in Yellow on their turrets. The interesting thing is that all of those 3 wagons are completely different mixtures from each other! Its only because of the amazing work the owner of the Facebook page Pz.III in Norway and his group with discovering these tanks and witch mixtures they are, that we know anything about them. All images i use have been lent from this site and other archives.
The fate of the StuG.III are unfortunately lesser known, but thankfully the Pz.III is better documented, those remained in service until the mid/early 1950’s when they got replaced by the New M24 Chaffe tanks received tough the weapons aid programme. After ended service those remaining Pz.III were dug down and encased in concrete in defensive positions around the airfield, where they were used in a “Bunker” to shoot at invaders. Those were used until the 1960’s when the tanks were rendered obsolete. After this they were for some reason completely buried along with the bunker/fort they were integrated with, and almost forgotten until these people decided to save them and have them restored.
In this post i will include the specific technical details regarding armor and other changes that this mixture included, whether or not this is a Norwegian or German mixture is hard to know for sure. Due to this extremely interesting story, i will describe some pictures that features this tank under album.
This specific wagon has had its tower, cannon and hull identified by the group that restored it, the hull is an Ausf.H, the tower is an Ausf.J that has been rebuilt to a Ausf.N with the short 75mm cannon. The yellow number has survived all the years sitting in concrete but i personally cant identify witch color they were painted in by the Norwegians but it were almost certainly in the same olive green colour as the M24 Chaffee’s.
Ausf.H
-Additional 30mm frontal armor
-Wider running gear with repositioned first return roller
-New tow hooks and covers for ventilators on eigne deck mounted transversally
Ausf.J
-First armed with short 5cm L/42 cannon
-New pattern sprocket and idler wheels and wider spaced return rollers (introduced from model H)
-Thicker hull MG ball-mount (introduced on model J)
Ausf.N
-First armed with short 5cm L/42 cannon and rebuilt to with the 7.5cm KwK L/24 cannon on the Ausf.J turret
IN GAME
I believe this would be quite a nice addition for the lower ranks either in a Norwegian subtree or in a Norwegian techtree, with the mixtures potentially being quite special.
ALBUM & DETAILS
Spoiler
Album: Pz.III Ausf.HJN — ImgBB (only included pictures including the “Yellow 2”)
Add on armor in front of driver and gunner
Early eigne deck
Whole hatch as on Ausf.N
The “Yellow 2” tank being located in the far left of the image
SOURCES
Spoiler
Information and specs about various Pz.III variants
henkofholland mastermodelling military vehicles scale 1/72-1/76
Images and some information
Redirecting...
Images and some information
Redirecting...
Background and service history
Book: Motoriserte Militærkjøretøy i Norge
Copyright 2005 by Forsvarsmuseet/HMK All rights reserved
Billedbehandling/Grafisk produksjon: Mikro Marketing, Asker
Press: Gan Grafisk, Oslo
Motoriserte Militærkjøretøy i Norge Bind 1
ISBN 82-91218-43-9
The book is printed in 3,000 copies, 100 of which are leatherbound
front cover/back cover: The wheel rider squadron at Trandum 1953
Defense publications No. 3 Oslo 2005
Stridsvogn & Stormkanon KW-III (Panzer III & StuG III in Norwegian Service) - Tank Encyclopedia
- Yes
- No
