PZ - 4

ENG

The production of this tank, created by the Krupp company, was started in 1937 and continued throughout the Second World War. Like the T-III tank (Pz.III), the power plant is located at the rear, and the power transmission and drive wheels are located at the front. The control department housed a driver mechanic and a radio operator gunner firing from a machine gun mounted in a ball bearing. The fighting compartment was located in the middle of the hull. A multi-faceted welded tower was mounted here, in which three crew members were accommodated and weapons were installed.

T-IV tanks were produced with the following armament:

  modifications A-F, assault tank with 75 mm howitzer;
  modification G, a tank with a 75 mm gun with a barrel length of 43 caliber;
  modifications of the N-K, a tank with a 75-mm cannon with a barrel length of 48 calibers.

Due to the constant increase in the thickness of the armor, the weight of the vehicle during production increased from 17.1 tons (modification A) to 24.6 tons (modification H-K). Since 1943, armor shields for the sides of the hull and turret were installed on tanks to strengthen armor protection. Introduced on the G, H-K modifications, the long-barreled gun allowed the T-IV to withstand enemy tanks of equivalent weight (a 75-mm projectile at a range of 1000 meters pierced 110-mm thick armor), but its patency, especially over-weighted recent modifications, was unsatisfactory. In total, about 9500 T-IV tanks of all modifications were produced during the war.

The PzKpfw IV tank is designed according to the classical layout scheme with a rear engine arrangement. The commander's seat was located along the axis of the tower directly under the commander's turret, the gunner was located to the left of the breech of the gun, the loader was on the right. In the control compartment located in the front of the tank body there were jobs of the driver mechanic (to the left of the axis of the machine) and the radio operator arrow (to the right). There was a transmission between the driver's and the shooter's seats. An interesting feature of the tank's design was the displacement of the turret by about 8 cm to the left of the longitudinal axis of the machine, and the engine by 15 cm to the right to pass the shaft connecting the motor and transmission. Such a constructive decision made it possible to increase the internal reserved volume in the right part of the case for the placement of the first shots, which the loader could most easily get. The turret reversal drive is electric.

The suspension and undercarriage consisted of eight small-diameter support rollers grouped into two-wheeled trolleys suspended on leaf springs, driving wheels mounted in the stern of the sloth tank and four rollers supporting the caterpillar. Throughout the history of the operation of PzKpfw IV tanks, their chassis remained unchanged, only minor improvements were introduced. The prototype of the tank was manufactured at the Krupp plant in Essen and was tested in 1935-36.

The PzKpfw IV tank is designed according to the classical layout scheme with a rear engine arrangement. The commander's seat was located along the axis of the tower directly under the commander's turret, the gunner was located to the left of the breech of the gun, the loader was on the right. In the control compartment located in the front of the tank body there were jobs of the driver mechanic (to the left of the axis of the machine) and the radio operator arrow (to the right). There was a transmission between the driver's and the shooter's seats. An interesting feature of the tank's design was the displacement of the turret by about 8 cm to the left of the longitudinal axis of the machine, and the engine by 15 cm to the right to pass the shaft connecting the motor and transmission. Such a constructive decision made it possible to increase the internal reserved volume in the right part of the case for the placement of the first shots, which the loader could most easily get. The turret reversal drive is electric.

The suspension and undercarriage consisted of eight small-diameter support rollers grouped into two-wheeled trolleys suspended on leaf springs, driving wheels mounted in the stern of the sloth tank and four rollers supporting the caterpillar. Throughout the history of the operation of PzKpfw IV tanks, their chassis remained unchanged, only minor improvements were introduced. The prototype of the tank was manufactured at the Krupp plant in Essen and was tested in 1935-36.

Installed on early models of the PzKpfw IV tank, the 75-mm L/24 howitzer had a barrel with 28 rifling depth of 0.85 mm and a semi-automatic vertical sliding shutter. The gun was equipped with a clinometric sight, which, if necessary, allowed the tank to conduct targeted firing from closed positions. The barrel rollback cylinder protruded beyond the gun mask and covered most of the gun barrel. The cradle of the gun was heavier than required, as a result there was a slight imbalance of the turret.

The ammunition of the tank gun included high-explosive, anti-tank, smoke and buckshot shells. The gunner aimed the cannon and the machine gun paired with it at the corner of the place, rotating a special steering wheel with his left hand. It was possible to deploy the turret either by means of an electric drive by switching the toggle switch, or manually, for which a steering wheel mounted to the right of the vertical guidance mechanism of weapons was used. Both the gunner and the loader could deploy the tower manually; the maximum speed of manual rotation of the tower by the efforts of the gunner was 1.9 g/ s, the gunner - 2.6 g/ s.