3-5 PANZER TRACKS - PANZERKAMPFWAGEN III UMBAU.pdf

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PANZER TRACTS No.3-5
Panzerkampfwagen III U mbau
Conversions to Z.W.40, Pz.Kpfw.III (T), Pz.Kpfw.III
(Funk), Pz.Kpfw.III (Fl), Pz.Beob.Wg.III, SK 1,
Brueckenmaterialtraeger, and Munitionspanzer
Created by Thomas L. Jentz
and Hilary Louis Doyle
Featuring new 1/35th scale drawings of the
Z.W.40, Pz.Kpfw.III (T) Ausf.G and H, Pz.Kpfw.III (Funk),
Pz.Kpfw.III (Fl), and Pz.Beob.Wg.III
Front Cover Photos: Pz.Kpfw.III (3.7 em) (T) Ausf.G Fgst.Nr.65118 completed by Henschel in April
1940, was modified by the end of August 1940, and issued to the 2.Kp./Pz.Abt.D -later renamed ll.Kp./
Pz.Rgt.18. (HB)
The scale prints of the converted Pz.Kpfw.lll were drawn at full scale using a CAD program and printed
at 1/35 scale.
Thanks are especially due to Marcus Jaugits (11), Henry Blanck (2), Karlheinz Muench (2), Werner
Regenberg (2), Wolfgang Schneider (2), Oyvind Leonsen (1), Lee Archer (1), and George Fancsovits
(1) for providing copies of rare and unique photos. Photos were also obtained from the Bundesarchiv-
Bildarchiv (6), Bundesarchiv-Militaerarchiv (3), National Archives (10), Ordnance Museum, Aberdeen
Proving Ground (5), Steyr-Daimler-Puch (2), Maybach Archives (2), Bavarian State Library, Munich (2),
and Archives of Modern Conflict (1).
Published by
Panzer Tracts
P.O.Box 312
Boyds, MD 20841
©
Copyright Thomas L. Jentz 2011
www.panzertracts.com
All rights reserved. No portion of this
publication may be reprinted or reproduced
in any fashion or by any means without the
express written permission of the publisher.
Introduction
Now for the first time
Panzer
Tracts
has
created
a
reliable
reference work
documenting
the
history
of
the
Panzerkampfwagen III Umbau. Information presented
in
this
Panzer
Tracts allows
the reader to
correctly
interpret
photographic content from any and all other sources.
You
can successfully identify
the type of conversion in a pho-
tograph
by using
the
key
characteristics correctly
identified
in this
Panzer
Tracts.
In
addition,
details
of what
the
far
side, top, and
rear looked like
on any given
Panzer can be
determined when you only
have
a single
photograph
of
the
Panzer that you are
interested in
.
Separate contracts were awarded to the as-
sembly firms for producing
Versuchs-Fahrzeuge
(trial
vehicles), Serie-Fertigung (mass
production), grosse
Instandsetzung
(major overhaul
- rebuild),
and
Umbau
(conversion).
The Fgst.Nr. identification,
assigned
when
a
chassis was originally
built
for a
trial
vehicle
or
as
part
of
a mass production series, remained as
the identification
for
the Panzer when it was rebuilt or converted.
Each assembly firm
had its
own system for
iden-
tifying
their Versuchs-Fahrgestell. Daimler-Benz
which
was responsible for completing
the Versuchs-Fahrgestell
for the
Pz.Kpfw.III, code named Zugfuehrerwagen
(ab-
breviated Z.W.),
started
out with
a single
digit numbering
system ofZ.W.l,
Z.W.3,
and
Z.W.4.
Then
Daimler-Benz
changed to a five
digit number
for
the three Versuchs-
Fahrgestell
for
the Z.W.38
with
Fgst.Nr.30005 to
30007.
Daimler-Benz kept this number
sequence
for their VK
2001 (D)
with
their diesel
engine installed
in Fgst.Nr.
30009. When
a
trial
vehicle was confiscated from a
mass production
series,
it kept the
series
Fgst.Nr. Such
is the
case with
the Z.W.40 with the
single
trial
vehicle
identified by Fgst.Nr.65482, having been taken from the
6./Z.W.Serie completed by Alkett,
and
the
small
produc-
tion
series of20
Z.W.40 with Fgst.Nr.65531 to
65550
having been
completed
using the
last
20
chassis
from the
6./Z.W.Serie
completed
by Alkett.
Unfortunately
origi-
nal documents have not
survived
to
explain
why these
20
Z.W.40
all
had
7./Z.W.
turrets, but
were
not fitted or
prepared to
fit 30
mm thick
face-hardened
plates bolted
onto the front and
rear, the
same as
other late production
Pz.Kpfw.III Ausf.G.
Since
most of the original documents
and
draw-
ings
created
by the design firms
(Daim
ler-Benz
and
Krupp) did not
survive and
only
a few
production
series
modifications
were announced
in the A.H.M. or H.T.V.Bl.,
Fgst.Nr.
(chassis
numbers)
are
the
surviving
key to
solv-
ing
the
chronological
modification puzzle. By
themselves
Fgst.Nr.
can
be used to correctly
identify the
Ausf., but
additional
information is needed
to
determine the
sequence
in
which the
Panzers
were actually
produced.
Relatively
few
pre-war
records on
the develop-
ment
of the German
Panzers have
survived.
It
was
a
for-
tunate stroke of luck when we
discovered
that the details
of Krupp's
pre-war
activities survived because they were
gathered as evidence of war crimes for
the
Nuernberg tri-
als.
This
action
preserved
Krupp's annual
reports
with
details
on
their
achievements
in
weapons
design
and pro-
duction
each year.
In
addition,
production reports
from
Daimler-Benz
survived in
their
archives.
Waffenamt
reports on
production
and operational
records
on
unit
strengths were also obtained from the U.S.
National
Archives and
Bundesarchiv
Militaerarchiv.
The accurate as-built scale
drawings
in this Panzer
Tracts were created
by
taking
hundreds
of
hours
to
pre-
cisely
measure
every external
part
and then spending over
two thousand
hours
to
meticulously draw the
external fea-
tures at full scale of the
basic Pz.Kpfw.III upon
which the
conversions were based. There
is
no loss
in
detail
with the
reduction in scale from
being drawn
at
I:
I
to being printed
at
I
:35,
because
the software
now being used
to create the
printing plates draws the lines,
circles, arcs,
hexes,
and
ovals one at a
time- just like
we
did in
creating these ac-
curate as-built
drawings.
As is
our high
standard,
Panzer
Tracts are based
solely on surviving specimens, wartime
photographs,
and
the
content
of primary
source
documents written by
those
who participated in the design, production,
and employ-
ment
of the
Panzers. The
time
is
long
overdue for
those re-
al experts who
designed, produced,
and
used the Panzer-
kampfwagen III
Umbau
to
have their
say.
Examini
ng
photographs in detail,
we
found:
o
Two different designs for
sealing
the base of the Pz.
Kpfw.III
(T) turret; one
with straps and an adjustable tri-
angular support
on both turret
sides, and
the other being
a
tube
located
on the right turret rear (apparently
associated
with inflating the rubber
innertube
seal).
Both means
were
sti
ll
in
use
on
Pz.Kpfw.III
Ausf.G
and
H
modified
for
Tauch in the Spring of 1941, but
apparently
not
on
the
same
Panzer.
o A special water-proof
headlight mounted
on
the
glacis of
Pz.Kpfw.III
Ausf.F
and
G
(with both
3.7 em and
5 em
Kw.K.) modified
for
Tauch in July/August
1940.
In
addi-
tion, the
water-proof
headlight,
commonly
known
as
the
Bosch headlight, was
already
mounted on the track
guards
ofPz.Kpfw.III (T) Ausf.G
and
H in the Spring
of
1941,
but on
a
different base than was
commonly
used
for this
water-proof Bosch headlight
starting
in the Fall
of
1942.
o
Two different
armor
radio bins mounted on the
turret
rear
ofPz.Kpfw.III
(Funk) Ausf.J.
o
Two
different armor sleeves for the
flamethrower
tubes
on
Pz.Kpfw.III (FI). Originally, the
armor sleeve for
the 5
em Kw.K. L/60
was
retained
with a
tube
welded onto the
end.
During the production run, this
was changed to a
larger diameter armor
cylinder welded
to the
gun
mantle
with
a cap
bolted to the
front of the armor
cylinder.
3-5-1
Versuchs-Panzerkampfwagen Z. W.40
Z.W.38,
VK
20.01 D
The first mention of a Z. W.40 is in a request to
Krupp,
Essen
from Daimler-Benz dated 16 December
1937. In
order
to
complete
the preliminary design work on
a
Z.W.40 Fahrgestell, Daimler-Benz requested that
Krupp,
Essen
provide the clearances needed for parts of
the turret that extended down into the hull.
It
was common
practice
at
this time for Wa Pruef
6
to
select a
different de-
sign
firm for the turret than the design firm
selected
for the
hull.
In
a
list
of
their design projects Daimler-Benz in-
cluded
a
Z.W.40
(1Jun38) with a
12
cylinder
Maybach
HL 190
engine rated at
400 metric horsepower at 2400
rpm
and a
Z.W.40
(14Dec38) with a 6 cylinder
Maybach
HL 116
engine
rated
at 300
metric horsepower at 3300
rpm
.
The
Z.W.40
was
not the
same
project as the VK
20.01.
The
Z. W.40 maintained the
same
Panzerwan-
neform
(armor
hull
shape) as
the normal production
series
Z.W.38
(Pz.Kpfw.III
Ausf.E, F
,
and
G).
Utilizing
the
same
basic hull
shape,
modifications
were
made to the
sus-
pension and internal changes to the drive train. Three Ver-
suchs-Panzer Z.W.38 Fahrgestell
with
Maybach HL 120
engines were
completed by Daimler-Benz for testing
auto-
motive components, including Z.W.38 Fgst.Nr. 30005
with a May
bach
Variorex-Getriebe
(1
0 speed
semi-auto-
matic transmission) and Z.W.38 Fgst.Nr.30007
with a
Zahnradfabrik elektro-magnetischem Getriebe
(electro-
magnetic transmission). The VK 20.01 was not limited by
previous designs
concepts
-
it was to have
a
completely
changed
internal
space and
installation characteristics.
The 1. deutchen Panzerkampfwagen mit
Dieselmotor
was the
VK 2001 D, Fgst.Nr. 30009
weighing 22.3
metric
tons
with
the
Daimler-Benz-Dieselmotor
MB 809 rated
at
315
metric horsepower. VK 20.01 D Fgst.Nr.30009
with
a
Zahnradfabrik Druchluftgetriebe
(compressed air
transmission) was being tested
at
St.Johann in January
1942. By January 1945, it had been driven
6163 kilome-
ters, mostly by Daimler-Benz.
As
discussed on 15 September 1939 in
a
meeting
on
the preliminary designs
for
their VK 20.01 (IV), Krupp
was
to try
installation of
the Z.W.40 6-Rollen-Drestab-
Laufwerk
(six
roadwheel torsion bar
suspension).
In re-
sponse
to Krupp
's
request
for
measurements
and weights
for
the Z.W.40, Daimler-Benz reported on
22 September
Above:
The first diesel engine installed in a German Panzer was in this
VK
2001 D, Fgst.Nr. 30009
weighing 22.3 metric tons with the Daimler-Benz-Dieselmotor MB 809. (BAMA)
3-5-2
This Page: Daimler-Benz Werk 40 in Berlin completed three Z.W.38 Versuchs-Fahrgestell to test
automotive components like the Maybach 10-speed Variorex Getriebe in Z.W.38 Fgst.Nr.30005. (BAMA)
3-5-3

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