Syrian StuG III G: Germans in the Golan

JamesPond1200 · July 23, 2023, 1:01am

Would you like the Syrian StuG III G to be added to the game?

Yes
No

0 voters

How should it be added?

Tech Tree
Premium
Event
Battlepass
Squadron
I said no

0 voters

Who should receive it?

Germany
Italy
Future Arab League Tech Tree
Other (comment)
I said no

0 voters

What BR should it have?

3.7
4.0
4.3
4.7
Other (comment)
I said no

0 voters

Syrian StuG III G: Germans in the Golan

History:

After World War II, many nations found themselves in need of military equipment. Germany, having lost the war, was ripe for the plundering of equipment and vehicles, along with other nations which had received them directly during the war. Nations like France, Spain, Czechoslovakia, and Romania all found themselves using Nazi German tanks after the war, one of which was the StuG III. These vehicles served their respective nations well, but by the mid-1950s were getting a bit long in the tooth. This is when an opportunity arose for the nation of Syria. Syria, being a poorer nation, had to rely on whatever vehicles they could get their hands on, and soon they struck deals with all four of the aforementioned nations to purchase older German army equipment. Along with Panzer IVs, Jagdpanzer IVs, and Hummels, they received a number of StuG IIIs in varying condition, and on average had around 28 in their armored force, though not all were functional at all times. The first nine came from France in 1950-51. These had served in the immediate postwar French army but were retired in the late 1940s. Czechoslovakia delivered the bulk of the Syrian armor, with somewhere between 20-30 StuGs delivered in several batches, some as non-functional parts vehicles. Romania only delivered one, reportedly via Czechoslovakia after a deal between the two countries for modernization fell through. Finally, a few (actual amount unknown) were delivered from Spain in the 1960s. The vast majority of these StuGs were of the G variant, specifically the late-war G variant with the cast gun mantlet, coaxial machine gun, and cupola. These vehicles would see action against Israel in the Six-Day War of 1967, but were mostly destroyed or captured. Any remaining vehicles would be removed from service soon thereafter. One of these StuGs was captured by Israel and is now on display at Yad la-Shiryon in Latrun.

Description:

What makes these StuG IIIs special are the modifications performed on them while in Syrian service. Firstly they enhanced the armor by adding applique steel plates to the front of the vehicle. These improved the protection in certain weak areas. I haven't been able to confirm how thick the add-on armor is, so if anyone can help me out, I will add it here.

Second (and most interesting) they added a heavy machine gun on the roof. But this wasn’t any machine gun you might expect, such as a DShK or even an M2HB. This was a 12.7x81mm Breda-SAFAT aircraft machine gun converted to ground use! These machine guns and their ammunition were highly available to the Syrian military, as they had many Italian WWII planes in their air force at the time. A makeshift mount was developed and the machine gun was converted to fire with a manual trigger. These were installed on most if not all Syrian StuG IIIs, and were a distinguishing feature of them. Along with often retaining the remote-operated MG34 and the coaxial MG34 that model was equipped with, they had plenty of firepower to deal with infantry or attack aircraft. These features make this StuG III G a unique vehicle which could serve as a premium/event/gift vehicle for Germany or possibly as a TT vehicle in a future Arab tree.