I plan on hopefully every weekend posting the history of a tank that is featured in WoT.

I'm currently working on the first Tank (StuGIII).

History of The StuG III

The StuG III was developed from the observation in WWI that German infantry needed more firepower to assault enemy fortified locations. Artillery was too large and slow to be able to keep up with advancing infantry and therefore deemed ineffective as a viable option. On June 15, 1936 Daimler-Benz was given the order to develop an “Assault Infantry Vehicle” that could carry a 75mm gun. This plan was met with an altered design of the Panzer III chassis with a 75 mm StuK 37 L/24 cannon that was mounted to a fixed location on the chassis providing a 25 degree firing arc. With this setup the tank could have a low profile the size of an average man.

In 1937 only 5 prototypes were manufactured. The prototypes featured the short barreled 75 mm StuK 37 L/24 cannon and a mild steel superstructure. This design was called the Sturmgeschütz Ausführung A or StuG III Ausf A for short.

This StuG III Ausf A was mainly used for soft-skin targets and fortifications. After coming into contact with the Russian KV-1 it was fitted the high-velocity 75mm StuK 40 L/43 gun. It was then refitted with the 75mm StuK 40 L/48 anti-tank gun. [img]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/27/StuG_III_Ausf_G%2C_Dezember_1942.jpg[/img]



Specifications
The StuG III was 6.85 meters (22ft 6in) long and was 2.95 meters(9ft 8in) wide. It stood at 2.16 meters (7ft 1in) tall and weighed around 23 tons. The StuG used a crew of 4. Its main armament was the 7.5cm StuK 40 L/48 anti-tank gun with 54 rounds and one 7.92mm Maschinengewehr 34 with 600 rounds of ammunition. It was fitted from 16-80mm of armor and powered by the Maybach HL120TRM V-12 gasoline engine driving six-speed transmission with a top speed of 40 km/h. This tank was in service from 1940 to 1945 in the German Service and used in World War II as well as the Six-Day War.

Yeh I really like it in company of heroes

Nice!