WormWoodTheStar on DeviantArthttps://www.deviantart.com/wormwoodthestar/art/StuG-IV-375231983WormWoodTheStar

Deviation Actions

WormWoodTheStar's avatar

StuG IV

Published:
3.9K Views

Description

A pinnacle of Museum of Armoured Warfare's collection, the Sturmgeschütz IV assault gun. It was produced by Krupp in order to increase the amount of self-propelled assault guns on the front. Production started in 1943 and lasted until the end of the war. Since Krupp only produced Panzer IV tanks, their chassis were used for the new vehicles. Though gun's traverse wasn't as great as in tank, they were lighter, more mobile and lower, so they could attack from ambush. Only 1,108 StuG IV were produced, in comparison to +9000 StuG III on Panzer III chassis.

This particular gun was used by Panzer-Jäger-Abteilung „Brandenburg” (Tank Destroyers Battalion). In winter 1945 Hitler ordered some of the German units to move from Eastern Prussia to the south to stop Soviet units marching to the west. "Brandenburg" battalion was practicing on Mława proving ground, when it was called into action and sent to the Kutno region. Between January 17th and 18th the Russians had already reached Kutno area and the battalion had to evacuate west. Some of the Sturmgeschütz IV SPGs of the Battalion's 2nd company traveled towards Grzegorzewo, where it turned out that a railway bridge over Rgilewka was blown up. One of the StuG's tried to cross the river, but it sunk, and two of the crewmen were killed. The rest escaped from the gun, but were later captured and executed by Russians.

Attempts to recover the gun were made until 1950s, when it was decided that it is impossible to haul it out of the river. Years passed, and the StuG was gradually covered by several feet of mud. Finally, in 2006, a group of enthusiasts made one final attempt to dig the gun out of the river's bottom. They failed at first, but eventually they managed to remove mud from inside the vehicle and lift it from the water. As it turned out there were still 49 shells inside the gun and they had to be removed.

Thanks to the low oxygen levels in the mud the vehicle was in pretty good shape. At first the recovery members only wanted to make it a static exhibit, but then it was decided to restore it to running conditions. Though some of the experts doubted if such reparation is possible, one of the Poznan engineers managed to restore the engine, using 98% of original parts. Piece after piece, men of Museum of Armoured Warfare repaired almost everything, using only few non-original pieces and finally, in 2009, restoration of Sturmgeschütz IV was finished. It is the only vehicle of this type in running condition, and one of three in the world - another is also in Poland, in Skarżysko-Kamienna, and the third is in Latvia. However none of them is in such good condition (they are on static display, and the one in Skarżysko-Kamienna had to be repaired using various parts from StuG III). Though one of the German military collectors estimated that StuG is worth 2 mln euro, cpt. Tomasz Ogrodniczuk, curator of Museum of Armoured Warfare, made it clear - StuG is not and will never be on sale. It'll remain in Poznań, as a pearl in MoAW's crown.

During the Child's Day, StuG was taken out of the hangar, but did not take part in the parade itself.
Image size
1024x650px 243.2 KB
Make
OLYMPUS CORPORATION
Model
C8080WZ
Shutter Speed
10/1000 second
Aperture
F/3.2
Focal Length
7 mm
ISO Speed
50
Date Taken
Nov 30, 1999, 12:00:00 AM
© 2013 - 2024 WormWoodTheStar
Comments1
Join the community to add your comment. Already a deviant? Log In
BlueFox284's avatar
Damn, that's nice. . .Kinda makes me wanna go out and get a kit of one. . .:nod: