My Favorite WW2 Weaponry; Part 4; Stug 3

The "Sturmgeschutz 3" was the most produced German vehicle of WW2 with cca. 10k being produced from 1940 till 1945, the "G" version being the ultimate one. It is considered an assault gun.

It featured the long 75 mm L43 gun (versions from A to F) and later the L48 gun (F to G). These guns had outstanding armor penetration. Starting from the "E" version an MG34 machine was introduced for anti-infantry defense. Later on, the MG42 replaced it.

This, combined with a very low silhouette, allowed the Stug 3 to be an absolute ambush monster, easily hidden and incredibly effective at destroying enemy tanks.

The Stug 3 series featured frontal armor of 50 to 80 mms in later variants, and side armor of 30 to 50 mms, also scaling with variants. It could achieve 40 km/h with its Maybach HL 120 TRM water cooled engine which had 265 HP.

Fun fact, the Stug 3 had a 3:1 destruction ratio, meaning, on average, each Stug 3 destroyed 3 enemy tanks before being destroyed.

The most famous Stug 3 commander was Hugo Primožić, a Slovenian/German tank commander who managed to destroy 60 Soviet tanks at the battle of Rzhev, earning himself The Knight's Cross.