13 January 2013

Panzerkampfwagen IV ausf E of 13. Panzer-Division


Image size: 1600 x 848 pixel. 475 KB
Date: Wednesday, 9 April 1941
Place: Germany
Photographer: Unknown


Panzerkampfwagen IV ausf E (SdKfz 161) from 13. Panzer-Division with additional armor bolted to its side. The ausf E was produced from September 1940 to April 1941, with 233 units manufactured by Krupp-Gruson. The ausf E added Gepack Kasten (storage bins) at the rear of the turret, an acknowledgment of how much time crews spent with their tanks during combat operations. The ausf E also had an improved drive sprocket, driver's compartment and commander's cupola. The 13. Panzer-Division was originally created in 1934 under the cover name Infanterieführer IV; it was unveiled as the 13. Infanterie-Division in 1935 when the creation of the Wehrmacht was announced. In 1937 it was motorized and subsequently renamed as the 13. Infanterie-Division (motorisiert), as which it participated in the campaigns against Poland (1939) and western Europe (1940). Following the Fall of France in June 1940, the division was reorganized as 13. Panzer-Division. It participated in Operation Barbarossa in 1941 and the advance on the Caucasus in 1942. The division suffered heavy losses in the withdrawal of 1943 and subsequent defensive actions in the south through 1944. It was partially refitted in Hungary, where it was encircled and destroyed by Allied forces in the winter of 1944-1945; fighting occurred primarily in Budapest. The unit was re-created as Panzer Division Feldherrnhalle 2 in the spring of 1945, before surrendering in Austria at the end of the war.

Source:
http://albumwar2.com/component/content/article/35-gallery/6457-german-medium-tank-pzkpfw-iv

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