How Bad Was The Panzer 4?
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- Опубліковано 10 лют 2025
- Of all the tanks from World War II, the Panzer 4 is one of the least glamorized. Later developments like the Panther and Tiger usually get the spotlight. Why was it made, and just how well did it perform?
Check the channel "About" section for the link to the creator of my profile picture.
Sources:
Panzer Tracts No.4 by Thomas L. Jentz and Hilary L. Doyle
Panzer IV & Its Variants by Walter J. Spielerberger
Panzer IV by Kevin Hjermstad
Panzer IV vs Sherman by Steven Zaloga and Richard Chasemore
Armored Champion - Steven Zaloga
Panzerkampfwagen III by Thomas L. Jentz and Hilary L. Doyle
Germany's Panther Tank by Thomas L. Jentz and Hilary L. Doyle
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Halo 3: ODST - Rain (Deference for Darkness)
Sound mods:
Epic Thunder (Pre-release)
Armored Warfare Crew Voices
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#warthunder #tanks #tankhistory
Sorry for any voiceover problems, feeling sick again
I didnt even notice anything i think it sounds good always, you got a nice voice
Just do a how bad was the is2 video and i will forgive you
Np
get well soon
Get well gamer we still love you bby ❤️ ❤️ ❤️ ❤️ ❤️ ❤️
I'm always sad how people tend to overlook the Pz. IV when they talk about german WW2 vehicles but focus on the workhorses of the other nations like the T-34 or M4. The Pz. IV was like tea, a flavor for any occasion. Funnily enough, T-34, Pz. IV and M4 all faces off against each other after WW2 again in the middle east, due to the Arab-Israeli conflicts. A last goodbye in the desert for the WW2 veterans.
don't mention it to me being italian i get sad when italian tanks (or hungarian tanks me being half hungarian too) get utterly ignored only italian tanks getting some love from rare fans and hungarian tanks only being mentioned by spookston
@@italiancountryball865 I don’t mean to be rude but I had the impression that Italian tanks for the most part were not all that great
@@Oppen1945 oops sorry yeah i just forgot his channels name so put spookston instead yeah i saw potential histories video and it was very interesting
@@SqaurebearSqaurebear the problem was italian economy, research and development, and the terrain
Italian tanks had mountainous terrain in mind in case they needed to fight in the mountains again not deserts where sand ruins EVERYTHING
@@italiancountryball865 lol alright that makes more sense.
Thats actually really interesting that the Panther was easier to produce than the Panzer IV. Always would have considered the Panzer IV to be easier. But I guess most of the time would go into the weird hull where Panther hulls were more streamlined.
It had less componants if think about it. The suspension was built with intetlocking wheels instead of a lot of bogies
@@gabornemes6932 The Hulls are also especially different. Compare the rear of a IV to a Panther. The IV has a lot of different angles, automotive parts, and radiator cutouts on the rear hull side. The back half of the IV is an entirely different piece from the front half. Whereas on the Panther, it's just one large plate connecting the front and back ends.
The only really complex design element of the Panther was its suspension set up. But overall it's pretty clear that the Panther was overall the best tank of the war when it was in the sweet spot of having supplies and regular maintenence, which was obviously hard in the later stages of the war, but it wasn't the fault of the vehicle. It was certainly better than the Tiger, Tiger II, T-34 and any M4 variant fielded. The M26 and IS/IS-2 were obviously worrisome opponents but they were cumbersome and complex vehicles in their own right.
@@terran6686 Yeah for sure the IVs hull was really complicated compared to a Panther hull
@@DefinitelyNotEmma I am not sure about the best the engine was terrible and wasn't really improved for the duration of the war
Ah yes, the one tank that did the thing and did other things as well
TANK IS TANK!!!
The Biden Tank
“The work horse of the German army” 🤌
I feel like people often forget about the thing it does :(
@@FELONIOUSBOLUSS IM A TANK WHO DOES.... ERRR..... UUUUMMMM... YOOOU KNOOOW??!! THE THING?!
The Panzer IV, despite all its shortcomings, is probably my favorite tank of the war. I can't place my finger on why.
The Pz Iv has always been my favorite German tank. In WoT and War Thunder, I've consistently had good results from playing the Pz Iv.
My favs will always be panthers and pz iv, both very good tanks with a bit hard start to be better that other of they counterparts (and i mean especially of their own nations)
My personal reason is it's pretty.
Because it can wear armor skirts, like some kind of tank waifu
The panzer 3/4 are both very eye pleasing tanks. By far my favorites as well.
The design was good enough to be in continuous production as a medium tank from 1939-45, which was pretty unique and the best evidence of its quality
One of a few tanks during WW2 that had continued service from the beginning to the end.
Its more of a testament to lack of options, it was inferior to either Sherman or T-34 from an engineering standpoint
@@phunkracy yet it still did the job well enough.
@@phunkracy inferior to the sherman yes, to the t-34 don't know specially the 76 variant
@@leandroramirez3684 you could still slap a large turret with 85mm gun on a T-34 chassis, you couldnt do it with pz4
I guess the most eye opening thing here is when you mention that the Panther was actually *easier* to manufacture than the Pz. IV
Maybe so, but maintaining it? Different story.
Me too, I've always heard of how much of a shitshow the maintenance was but that was probably because the war was already turning against Germany at the time.
@@PyroFTB not really, the panther was just terribly rushed/designed, having to remove the entire turret just yo Access the transmission is pretty damn stupid
Ease to manufacture and cost are 2 different things though. It's difficult to switch to a new tank when your factories are already streamlined for the panzer 4.
@@PyroFTB All the German tanks seemed to be a shitshow to repair to a greater or lesser extent. The designers always seemed to assume that if there was any problems there would be a fully outfitted depot garage handy to bring them back too. But them again, the Germans always seemed to treat logistics as something that happened to other people. Their plan for supplying operation Barbarossa was literally, "eh, it will work itself out".
Still probably one of my favorite tanks design wise. Obviously the lack of sloping wasn't great but it made for an aestheticly pleasing vehicle to me
The reason was deliberate in order to maximize crew comfort and effectiveness. Pretty much the opposite of the Russian philosophy.
@@Zorro9129 I also remember reading that it sped up production as it was easier to weld. I think Spookson also mentioned (in the tiger video maybe) that early war sloping was not considered since they didn't think that it would have as drastic as effect.
@@charmingcobra the Germans knew that sloping helped but they kinda underestimated just how beneficial it could be at a certain threshold. They'd later realize their poor decision and wanted to even add slopes to basic panzer IVs but to do slow would absolutely stop production and German really couldn't afford to do so
@@charmingcobra They knew the full effect. sloped armor is older then tanks themselves. medieval armor has slopes or bulges to deflect weapon strikes.
They just prefered to have a more flat front to maximize crew space and ammo capacity. Meanwhile the soviets with t-34 went the complete opposite.
Shermans were the middle. sloped front, flat sides.
At the end of the war, everyone went with pretty much sloped front, flat sides. The best compromise
@@charchadonto Ah thank you for the info!
Maybe "How Good Was The " would be cool for overhyped tanks
Tiger 2 might be the biggest roasting session ever.
@@g.williams2047 Tiger II, B1 Bis (again), KV-2, some post war tanks that people think are better than the opposition (*cough* M46's brakes), etc
@@g.williams2047 Al Soviet tanks from the T-62 until T90
@@otaviom6480 I don't know if most people think the KV-2 is actually really good, or if they say it's amazing for the meme because of how over the top it is. I'm certainly the latter
Pretty interesting how a tank initially designed in the 1930s could go toe to toe with the latest 1940s medium tanks.
Are you ever going to do a video on the Pz.III? I personally love that tank and the III M is always my go-to Tank to just have fun in WT. I know by the late war it was definitely out matched, but I would also like to know how effective it still was.
Imagine pz.III using APDS or FSHEAT
Perfection
@@themysteriusofadown Ahh yes, then maybe I could finally easily deal with those pesky Shermans and T-34's
@@captblueshadow682 you already, just aim for weakspots
@@motmot8879 I said "Easily Deal", I know the turrets are what you go for, but with WT Logic it sometimes doesn't pen. ntm the infamous T-34 Ring where you can but cant pen
@@captblueshadow682 then i'm sorry but you suck, the long 50MM on the pz3s is good UP until 4,3 easily
It always surprises me how you can gain so much info about a certain vehicle
he barely said anything this entire video, just talked a lot
@@SomeOne-pd6vm Fuck you talking about? He went over just about everything before and up to the panzer 4 and why it fell off nearing the end of the world war.
just play war thunder and you know
@Federal Bureau of Investigation stop right there, show me your n word license
The online tank encyclopedia is pretty good.
Panzer 4 is one of my favorite WW2 tanks, as much of tiger bias i have, the panzer 4 and its variants was a hell of a workhorse
One of its most deadly variants being the Jagdpanzer IV, due to its low profile and sloped front
@@DefinitelyNotEmma definitely, and that statment also applies to most of Germany's tank hunters
@@theeverydaythinker6310 StuG III anyone? xD
The StuG, Jagdpanzer IV and Jagdpanther were just absolutely ideal for defensive and ambush tactics. To some degree the Jagdtiger too, but it's very vulnerable to infantry, artillery and aircrafts due to its large silhouette
@@DefinitelyNotEmma oh yeah they had their drawbacks, but its hard to argue those drawbacks when they are direct firing at you with an artillery peice they have built into them.
But due to germany's constant meddling with their designs they were too often outnumber 2-1 or 4-1.
@@DefinitelyNotEmma While you see the STUG having similar profile to the Jagdpanzers, the STUG is not ideal for ambush, it's ideal for the role it was intended to do; full frontal offensive attack supporting infantry squad, not ambushing other tanks.
Pz. IV is still one of my favorite tanks in history, and definitely my favorite WWII German tank. In War Thunder, the G variant is one of my favorite tanks in the game, and was even when it was up at 4.0 where I spaded the thing. Seeing it at 3.3 is more than a bit frustrating, since it easily holds its own at 3.7 and even 4.0. It's got crap armor against most tanks, sure, but it has good mobility for what it is and one of the most consistently powerful guns in the game relative to BR.
Mmhm, this is what I love from PZ IV, the speed easily crap some other nation tanks
German players are mostly noobs that's why it's BR is shit.
The only true BR shitshow with German vehicles happen when you pick tiger 2 and more often than not ypu have to face off against 1960 or 1970's tanks instead of IS3 or Pershing/Superpershings...
@@sosig6445 The fact the King Tigers can see whole teams of Leopards at 7.3 is fucking ridiculous. I get that they're capable of surviving and destroying tanks at that BR, but holy fuck, does Gaijin really not see how powerful the HEATFS and mobility combo is?
Pz. IV is beautiful - this is why you love it.
The PZ IV is the BF-109 of the panzerwaffe in that the Germans kept improving the design until it was at its absolute limit. Sad that its often overshadowed by Panther and Tiger.
What i like the most about the PZ IV is that the design even in 1945 was still competitive against M4 75mm and cromwells.Both tanks designed during the war, despite itself being a design from 1936. The 75mm KWK 40 gun was also capable of taking out most allied tanks except IS-2 at normal combat ranges. The fact that such an old design managed to stay relevant for so long really proves what a well balanced machine the PZ IV really was.
You can see how the Panther would be easier to produce. Just from hull forms, the Panther can be made from larger, fewer flat pieces of steel. The PzIV is made from many more smaller flats of steel, with many more places that have to be fitted together, and more angles for every aspect of the hull. That is more man hours in fitting and welding, and in terms of production, especially for Germany , man hours of skilled factory workers was probably their greatest resource restriction. It literally was a choice between having troops at the front, or in the factory. They couldn't have both. So anything that could cut the man hours in production would have an outsized economic effect over actual raw materials cost. It didnt matter that the Design B used 25% more steel than Design A, if it took only 50% of the skilled work hours, you were coming out ahead. And if you were able to get 90% of the field effectiveness of the much bigger Design T, that cost 50% more in raw materials, and 75% more on man hours, you were coming out way ahead.
I still find it so odd that both the Pz III and Pz IV were approved to go into mass production at the same time instead of just having one tank with the option to swap out the turret / cannon as required. While both tanks had fairly different requirements to fit different roles during their inspection, but by 1938/39 a lot of their characteristics converged to the point where either chassis could really do the job of the other, and it all felt rather redundant.
There were some proposals to combine the two. They drew up plans for the Pz III K which would use the Pz IV turret and gun. However due to a shift in the center of balance it would have had issues. There was also the Pz III/IV which would have combined parts more and potentially had sloped hull armor but never made it past blue print concepts.
At least the iii went to the great stugs and the iv a great tank, so made both wasnt as bad as having tigers when the panther was superior( and sure if wanted way more modificable)
Germany was ery, very inefficient. There was a lot of backstabbing, playing favorites, politics interfering etc. When Speer took over it got a bit better. See the story of the HE 219 or the Tiger and Porsche.
@@mbr5742 yeah, the porsche tiger was as i remember extremly awfull to give born one of the worst tanks, the elephants and ferdinands , and wow, poor he 219, one of my fav planes , having to pass such shit
@@mbr5742 But on the other hand got some very efficient and cheap improvised vehicles with their Stugs, tank hunters and self propelled guns.
Guderian wanted the Pzr IV upgraded and built in larger numbers, in lieu of the Tiger and Panther development. He felt that there was still room for development of the Pzr IV and he had come to realize that sufficient quantities of good enough beats shortages of somewhat better.
If the germans had fixed the main problem (final drive) of the chassis it would have been sufficient quantities of better. Building a Panther was as fast as a P4, the difference in material was smaller than the weight implies (P4 was quite ineffective). Many shortcomings and problems the germans had later with using the P4 chassis would not exist. Ie even post WW2 building a gun armed AA tank on a 30to weight limit did not work - they went with the Leopard chassis. Compare the Coelian prototype/mockup with the P4 based AA tanks. Same with the artillery - fully enclosed is not doable on the P4, Etc...
@@mbr5742
The germans did attempt to fix the PZ IV's main problems, but it required a complete overhaul of the tank's shape and hull.
You might as well build another tank with the time spent on modernizing the IV.
@@retardcorpsman Still leaves the problems with the suspension. That is at the maximum the leaf spring system can take at around 25-30to. Replace that and you have a new vehicle.
M BR
Pretty much.
The main things I don't like about the Pz IV series are; the Weak turret armor/gun Mantlet, ammo racks littering the sides (like many German tanks) and the weird tapered hull that makes it impossible to angle your hull.
Most tanks designed to be in frontline and face-to-face with other tanks. Just like IS family.
@@GoldMoonGuy which is stupid, the enemy is almost never just 1 tank directly in front of you, thats why modern tanks are designed to have the enemy 60 degrees to either side of the front, not just the dirrect front.
i would love to see you do a "popular lineup" or "controversial lineup" series of videos like "how good really is the -insert lineup BR and nation- lineup?" or vice versa on ones that are considered bad
i loved your tiger effect video about comparing shell impact points on matches to determine stats, so something similar would be nice with specific lineups
Panzer IV seems like it's fun to play, I wouldn't know since I don't play the German tech tree
It’s good if you know how to use it, but if you get uptiered it can be a pain since the canon won’t be as effective and it has no armor, at least that’s my experience
Yes it a very fun tank to play with I personally love the panzer IV f2 because it has good pen and it can one shot kill a lot of things at its br it's also a very good sniper I would recommend other people give it a try :p
You should german tanks are fun. I’ve been trying to get into Russian tanks and I’ve gotten to like 5.0 but I just can’t stand the terrible gun depression.
Pz IV F2 has the lowest BR with the same long 75 so it's fun to pierce anything at any range
Pz IV G has the fastest turret traverse so it's fun in urban
The rest are sort of ok
Play F2 like a tank destroyer and you're all set.
Ah, my favorite tank.
Ah yes be more specific
@@Sid-08m---8 The F2, mainly.
Bout the only tank I Spaded besides the STUG
@@redbasher636 The F2 is sweet.
My favorite is the pz. IV H cause it has 2 mgs and extra armour. With tracks it has at the front 100mm so inpenetrable for kv1
I see your a man of culture as well PZ 4 is probably my favorite tank of all time
"It's alright" - Basically how all WW2 tank videos end for the main vehicles.
Honestly much more of a Panzer IV fan than a Panther fan. Always found the latter's turret to be quite ugly for me. That and a healthy dose of GuP made me love the IV.
*drifts Panzer IV H*
@@areallyboredwriter yeaaah, damn right
IM always drifting my Panzer 4 when the enemy clearly beside me:v
The H variant is beautiful, I've always loved the spaced armor.
@@areallyboredwriter
>Sluggish handling XD
@@PyroFTB *pen that shit with the good old KwK 42* y'all hear sum?
"Good in the early and mid war, and falls off hard at the end." reminds me a lot of the A6M, really.
Could you do a 'How Bad Was The Stug III'? would love to see it as despite reading about the issues with it being on a PZ III chassi it did rather well for a Assault Gun :)
Watch this video... ''StuG III vs T-34s - How Michael Wittmann's StuG III Destroyed 6 Russian Tanks''
The Pzkfw. III and IV are just so good looking, they might not be the best ones but they have a special place in my heart.
One of my favorite tanks, the panzer IV. Love the lines and look. It was mistaken for a Tiger from time to time by the Allies. It was totally underestimated after the war with the super stars like the Tigers and Panther. It was also a great platform for many other vehicles like anti-tank guns, artillery and anti-air weapons.
Yes this is something not actually pushed here. I got told off by my Dad at my Grandad's reunion for saying there were very few Tigers on the Western Front and he explained to me that all German Tanks to an Allied soldier was a Tiger. It was the first reunion I had attended and to be fair I had good knowledge at the time about WW2 better than many people my age in the UK. I wanted to demonstrate I had paid attention and spent many hours researching what they had been up against. My Dad was like "This is not the time and the place for that". From then on I just listened to what they all had to say in the other Reunions I attended. I attended 3 in Abergavenny and I loved hearing all the stories.
This tank technically carried me through the whole German Tech tree. And it's still my favorite to play as today. It has a great b. R. And I find myself really enjoying the 75 mm.
One thing the Panzer 4 and 3 were pretty good at in comparison to other tanks of the time were crew ergonomics and crew layout from what I can remember.
It's great to finally find some criticisms of the Panzer 4. Everybody always seems to treat it as perfect
Good you mentioned that the Pz4 was not really more cost efficient than the Panther, it's rarely brought up. The production cost in Reichmarks was only about 10% more for the Panther (150% for the Tiger).
Thanks 4 always leaving the sources
"it was alright" lol for a tank brought out in 1936 I think it did bloody well for itself especially given how quickly tanks became obsolete in that era :P
What do you mean they became obsolete
@@marcoheintges7338 Well, you see, during the war, every nation was racing to make better tanks than what was already on the field, and improve on the tanks they already had. Bigger guns, more armour, whatever the criteria, they were constantly under improvement.
So a tank made in 1936 would have been underarmoured, undergunned, and altogether outdated by about 1940.
My biggest complaint always had been the transmission and the track width.
Its just terrible, but looking at how it was intended and how it got upgraded later on is more or less the reason why it was terrible.
Getting bigger guns.
Getting more than *thrice* its initial frontal armor thickness
Now I don't know exactly how much weight was added, but that cannot be good for the design.
@@MrDwarfpitcher Transmissions sucked that time for everybody.
@@vincediscombe7360 All they did was put a bigger gun on an older tank, that's all the PZ4 is really. Sherman did the same thing but better.
Spookston! Thank you so very much for doing a review on my favorite WWII tank!
04:01 for short version!
I always loved how the long barrelled Pz IV’s looked. There’s just something about them that give the classic ‘tank’ look while still being unique
The Panzer IV and Panzer III made up the bulk of the German panzers. Also, Panzer IVs were often mistaken for Tigers. The Tiger tank was actually a rare sight as it was very expensive to build and it wasn’t uncommon that it broke down before it could reach the front to reinforce it.
Love this tank!! Thank you for making a video on this!
The panzer 3 has actually always been my favorite German tank of the war. Especially the later upgunned models. Arguably the best tank in the world at the start of hostilities, it still managed to be a threat for most of the war. It was also the most sensibly designed and well layed out... Just a good solid tank
I could never understand why the germans didn't slope the extra armor on that tank
3:45 yep, even if they had leopards 2 they still would lose due to insubordination
Also of note, overtime the Pz. IV had additional armor, ammo, supplies, and troops (riding on top) added onto it, also included some Pz. IIIs that found themselves out there by late war. This extra weight was way above the design's tolerances and some examples of abandoned tanks were even found with burnt out engines etc shortly after leaving the factory to the front line.
I'd like to make just 3 suggestion to things you could bring up
Crew comfort, ergonomics, and ease of repair
The things I honestly believe could make or break any medium tank of the second world war
Any crewman will tell you tanks are concerned with just three things, FIREPOWER, MOBILITY, PROTECTION. Getting the balance of those three makes the tank. In the Gulf war you saw Challenger and M1s nail it against Soviet produced tanks.
@@peterking2651 as a leopard 2a6 driver here, those arent the only things we care about. Since you said that ANY crewman thinks like that
You have amazing taste for background music i love me some good studio ghibli and subnautica
The backbone of the war
Which one lmao
@@friedyzostas9998 I really hope your being sarcastic
@@Katster Wars don't have backbones. Armies do.
@@friedyzostas9998 True, he miss phrased it but I thought you saying "Which one lmao" was you saying was the pz 4 in WW1 WW2 Vietnam etc etc.
As if you didn't know anything
@@Katster Can't read through lines, ay?
something that struck me on a recent visit to bovington tank museum is that Panzer IV is a bodge, on top of a bodge, which was boged to bodge another bodge.
The P-IV never got enough love? No wonder it became so aggressive!
I love the Pz. I, II, and early III variants. I just love the underrated German infantry support tanks.
Could you do a cover on some Chinese armored vehicles. I love hearing the history of the tanks and planes in WT and love you content. China is my main nation and I'd like to see something covering it. Maybe an overview of the nation.
I love these info vids❤
I feel bad for how not many players do share love for this tank..
I love it so much on War Thunder that I even use it on higher tiers.
I excel at 6.7 with the panzer 4 H and panzer 4 G lok
I’ve seen someone use a Panzer IV H in a 6.7 match before but mostly in 5.7
Playing the Pz iv tank in both WoT and WT gave me consistent good games which is why the tank is my favorite German tank ever.
Great video, thanks!
0:13 my favorite is the panzer 3 😢. I love it but I’m a very small minority. It just looks good
F
Smoll pp gun
One of the most underrated vehicles.
Another great video, it's always nice to see people talk about something under 60 tons. I would just like to say that the way you described the upgunning of the panzer III seems to imply that it was a direct result of French tanks, when it was always planned
Good video
Hmmm
gday sir
DUDE YOU COMMENTED THIS 5 secs after upload how can you have an opinion already
Chad
I have god
I always love the subnautica music in the background
Roughly the same as the M4 and T-34, which gave parity on a 1-to-1 basis, but unfortunately the war was far from 1-to-1.
"Unfortunately" you say ...
The Panzer 4 H with turret and side skirts is the best looking tank ever. Just a gorgeous armored vehicle.
0:59 Look at the pressured smoke coming out of that hole in the Sherman! How long has that feature been there?
@Quintin Easter it's hot (despite the likelihood of not seeing it in the heat of combat)
🎉@@adamapkarian8555
I can thank Stug III F and PzIV F2 for the majority of my 60 mill SL. My favourite allround tank
I still cannot accept that F2 is 3.3
German mains are dumb,more news at 11.
Your videos are great very informative etc
My favorite German tank of WW2 has always been the Panzer 3. Don't know why, I just like it.
Same here, especially the 50mm long gun version. The proportions are just aesthetically perfect. Put schurtzen on it and it's also unbearably "cute".
The panzer 4 was the sherman at home
In my opinion, it wasn’t a bad tank. It just got surpassed incredibly quickly to a point it was pretty shit against its “equivalents”
Still, it kept fighting through the whole war, and the ability to mount better guns on it kept it at least viable through most of the war.
It could go toe-to-toe against either M4s or T-34s, so I beg to differ.
@@Zorro9129 M4A4s+ and T-34/85s could destroy any Pz4 from any distance. Which cannot be said if things were in reverse...
@@Szpareq The PaK 75 could take out either T-34s or M4s, with the exception of the "Jumbo" Sherman. Combat favored whoever could get a firing solution first.
@@Zorro9129 Soviet D-5T and American M1 guns were much more powerful guns than Pak. They would outrange Pak + both of the tanks had superior armor to all but the heaviest Panzer 4.
I love the Panzer IV ausf H because of the side skirts, they look cool on it
to me, as cool as panthers and tigers are, they're overrated. so I tend to only really play the very strange german tanks in War thunder, such as the flak bus and all, Most times or not, I seem to gravitate towards the Panzer IV, its pretty and pretty capable, if not more capable then tigers and Panthers within WT
It’s more fun to play than the Tiger 1 because the gun is better at the BR (F2) and the repair cost is lower.
It's amazing the mileage the Krauts got out of Guderian's PIV design.
(The Panther was not a significant factor until 1944, hard to believe, but true. Only ~ two hundred were active for the Ostheer 12-31-43.) (!)
Its chassis went on to roll under Hummel, Nashorn, and Jagpanzer IV guns.
The Krauts even used its chassis as an ammo wagon for its siege guns. ( Thor, etc. )
Noice
You're killing me with these videos! Lmao.
German panzer IV crews must have been horribly incompetent to find a panzer IV hard to drive. I have personally seen in documentary a group of Japanese high school girls operate on very successfully being able to take on tanks much larger than there own. Spookston needs to do better research.
Panzer 4 was designed same time as 3. panzer 3 was to be anti-tank, and panzer 4 support vehicle - to take out building/bunker. Later on the 4 was upgraded for anti-tank.
The panzer 4 is easily my favorite tank, with the stug coming at a close second.
The late-war Panzer divisions has 2 battalions of tanks, and 4 to 6 battalions of truck-mounted infantry ("panzer grenadiers"). One infantry battalion may have had Pzkw 251 "half-tracks."
One tank battalion had Panthers - probably 4 per platoon (three platoons to company with 2 at Company HQ = 14 total) -due to the production shortages - and the other Panzer IV's - with five-tank platoons (three platoons plus 2 at HQ = 17 in theory). So the Panzer IV soldiered on from the beginning, with short or "stub" 75 with good high-explosive round, to the end of the war with long 75 for anti-tank use. Admirable, adaptable design.
Very cool, thank you!
on the Pz IV production difficulty, during the October 1939-May 1940 period, Germany produced 127 Pz IV (Ausf D)
in the same period of time France produced 137 S35 and 209 B1bis
now the B1bis had multiple manufacturers, but it was a notoriously difficult and expensive tank to built
Fun fact, in finland, the panzer 4´s they owned would sometimes get red glowing brake discks, giving away theire position
The Panzer IV H is definitely my favourite tank visually, it definitely looks like a little brother to the Tiger to me.
So true and thus the reason there were so many American tank or tan destroyer claimed kills of Tiger I tanks. From a distance the Pz. IV long barrel tank looks remarkably like a Tiger I.
The PzKw III is even more overshadowed, even though it (along with the Pz. II and 38(t)) was the tank they were actually using when things were going well, and taking on the French and British forces in Europe and Africa.
So really, strategically, those lesser tanks were the ones that got them to 1941 to begin with.
Average Panther Fan VS Average Panzer 1 Enjoyer
Not only producing more pz IV, also solving all the problems it have, making it better overall and more cheap to produce. The same could be said for the panther
Your assessment is exactly like another I saw on UA-cam. This guy was listing the best and worst tanks of WWII. The Panzer IV made both lists.
Long barrel Pz.IV, SdKfz 231 and 234 are my favourite AFV's of the whole WW2.
Panzer 4 with the long barrel gun is honestly my favorite German tank of WW2, especially with the added skirt armor.
Panzerkampfwagen IV is my favorite tank, because it is the model of Panzer tanks, that we have here in Finland.
the Subnautica music really slams home the point.
It's my favorite WW2 Med! Weird to learn it was harder to produce late war than the Panther...that's interesting!
never been this early. Hi Spookston!
In addition to your point on "just produce more PZ IV" just because they were smaller and required less metal to produce doesn't mean germany had the men or oil to field more units.
THIS. People keep overlooking Germany literally didn’t have the fuel or manpower to run that many tanks.
My favorite German is the Stug 3 with the long 76 mm gun and the side skirts it just looks really cool to me
I love this tank, it's a good all-rounder, it's like a buddy you can do anything with and he says yes, I'm with it xD
I absolutely love the Panzer4 especially the j and G variant F2 was great to
Panzer 4 Ausf d anko would be the favorite version of the tank for weebs
I love all tanks cause A. They where design to deal a problem that fits the requirements and B. They where the workhorse for that specific and use in variants
Nice video
You got sub for being able to pronounce 'cupola'. That's a rare talent on UA-cam!
A pertinent point, if you don't mind.
Panzer IV's number one advantage over every tank in the world until about the middle of 1943:
Ergonomic Superiority. Colonel Nick (The Chieftain), usually the first to excoriate an AFV on account of poor crew ergonomics (his scathing review of the Panther's loader position is iconic), gives both Pz III and Pz IV high marks for crewspace arrangements and task management. Ergonomics is not as sexy as the triumvirate of Gun Armor and Mobility, but it spells the difference between an alert crew and an exhausted one as the battle goes forward.
the vast majority of "tigers" encountered by the allies on the western front after d-day, were actually mark IVs. there just weren't enough mark VI and VIIs manufactured to account for even a quarter of the reported encounters.
that's the power of a reputation, folks ...
Ability to manufacture them is one thing... ability to recover damaged vehicles or ease of repair is something completely different...Germans had huge problems recovering damaged heavy tanks (Panther was heavy tank for medium companies), so they unnecessarily lost a lot of tanks they could otherwise salvage... thats where Panzer IV was better... it was 23ton tank, they could recover it a lot easier... so even if it broke up, they could recover it. when Panther broke up, chance for recovery was minimal...
and strategic mobility is another issue.. 23ton tank was a lot easier to transport where it was needed... it could drive on its own, over almost any bridge... which Panther couldnt.. most of the time, Panther units were too late if they had to meet the enemy in combat... US tank units usually ambushed them from prepared positions... at Aracourt, first german tanks in the area were mostly Panzer IVs...
Of all the tanks that ever saw service, this certainly was one of them
I think the reason pz iii and iv often got overlooked is because later German tanks has a elite impression to a lot of people, they have a more limited production and often only issued to the ace crew for best performance, while pz iii and iv are normal grunts that fill up the line, but anyone with a deeper understanding of WW2 will know they are the core of the panzer divisions most of the time.
No shit, they are supposed to be the standard medium tanks. Tigers were heavy breakthrough vehicles, so they were mostly used as such in heavy panzer battalions