Several Panzer Lehr Officers and Senior NCO's go over a map. Normandy, 1944

Panzer Lehr

The Sturmgeschütz (StuG) assault guns were developed in 1936 as the German Army requested armored infantry support vehicles capable of carrying guns large enough to destroy opposing bunkers and other field fortifications. The development was done by Daimler-Benz AG, which mated 7.5-centimeter guns with the chassis of Panzer III medium tanks to come up with the answer for the German infantry. The first five examples were built in 1937, and mass production began in 1940. Although StuG assault guns were initially designed for infantry support, the German infantry did not have the resources to re-organize its units to take in these new vehicles, thus they were assigned to the artillery organizations. The German Army artillery arm developed StuG vehicles into direct-fire support vehicles, which eventually turned them into effective tank destroyers as well, especially after they became equipped with the higher velocity guns. In 1942, the variant design Sturmhaubitze 42 was developed; the StuH 42 vehicles were equipped with 105-millimeter howitzers, which re-focused their role as infantry-support vehicles. Between Oct 1942 and 1945, 1,211 StuH 42 vehicles were built. In late 1943, Germany began manufacturing assault guns based on the Panzer IV tank chassis; to distinguish the two different models, the StuG assault guns built on the Panzer III chassis were re-designated StuG III assault guns in early 1944, while the new Panzer IV-based ones were called StuG IV assault guns. They first saw action during the invasion of France in 1940. In combat, troops praised the StuG III assault guns as they were able to lay down very effective fire, even against enemy armor, while their low silhouette made them relatively difficult for the enemy to target. Between 1940 and Mar 1945, 9.408 StuG III assault guns were built (figure excludes StuH 42 production), and they accounted for 20,000 enemy tanks disabled or destroyed by spring of 1944.

American paratrooper Ed Shames of the 3rd Battalion of the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment recalled encountering a StuG III Ausf F/8 or Ausf G vehicle in Normandy, France. He recalled:

"As the [American M5] tanks came up beside me, I rose to my feet and trotted alongside, using them as a shield from the German machine gun fire.... Suddenly a couple of 75mm rounds went through the lead vehicle and into the tank directly behind it. The shots had been fired at point blank range and the lightly armored M5s didn't stand a chance.... The third tank started backing out and as it did so I picked myself up and ran."

In 1944, the Finnish Army received 29 StuG III assault guns from Germany for use against Russia. Together with the 30 StuG IV assault guns also given at the same time, the 59 assault guns destroyed 87 Russian tanks at the loss of only 8 StuG vehicles. After WW2, they remained in Finnish service until the 1960s. A few StuG III assault guns were also exported to other German-friendly nations such as Bulgaria, Hungary, Italy, Romania, and Spain.

A number of StuG III assault guns were captured by Yugoslav partisans during and after the European War. The Yugoslav Peoples Army used some of these captured vehicles until the 1950s. During the course of the war, Russia also captured a number of StuG III assault guns; some of the Russian-captured examples were given to Syria, who used them during the Six Days War of 1967. 

[High Resolution]

StuG III Ausf G [HR]

Panther from the 1st Battalion, 6th Panzer Regiment, Panzer Lehr Division, Normandy 1944. 