The French Panzer IVs belonged to the short-lived Besnier independent armor squadron, a hodgepodge of German, American, and French vehicles assembled during the country’s 1944-1945 liberation. (Panzer IVs of the French army’s Besnier squadron in 1945.) Some were missing equipment, notably the bow machine gun. The French tanks had seen some post-WWII use by the French army and a number had been repaired using pieces of other wrecked Panzer IVs. France’s Panzer IVs were either battlefield recoveries or captures, and all had obviously seen action during WWII. reportedly one was a “Frankenstein” with the Ausf J hull, suspension, and propulsion mated to an older Ausf D turret but with the “long-barrel version” KwK 40 shoehorned in. Yet another source says that indeed 40 were delivered, but, by the time of Syria’s second round of WWII German weapons imports later in the 1950s, only a handful of the French-delivered Panzer IVs remained functional.Īs listed in the somewhat muddled French export records, all were of the Ausf H version however some may have been of other versions. One source lists 40 being delivered, while others state the the 40-vehicle total Syria got from France was a combination of all German types including Panzer IVs, and the number of ex-French Panzer IVs was only 11 or even less than that (one source says only 5). The number of Panzer IVs from France is uncertain. The maximum speed was 26mph but by the 1960s, these tanks were rarely driven faster than 10mph due to their age and the overloaded suspensions. The Panzer IV had leaf spring suspension, which, by the time of the final versions like Syria used, was at it’s limits with the added weight of the modifications. All of the Syrian Panzer IVs had the SSG 77 six-speed transmission. The powerplant was a Maybach HL 120TRM 12-cylinder, 296hp gasoline engine. The green rustproofing paint was added by the town and is not authentic.) The Ausf J was actually a step backwards from the Ausf H version. (This Panzer IV Ausf J was captured intact by Israel in 1967 and today is a monument in Migdal Ha Emek, Israel. This version also had solid-steel roadwheels, making driving on pavement unpleasant for the crew. The Ausf J version, made by Germany late in the USA’s bombing offensive, lacked some features including the 92mm launcher and the turret drive motor relying solely on the emergency handwheel. Most military historians consider this the best of the Pz.Kpfw IV models.) (Syrian Panzer IV Ausf H captured by Israel. A snubnose 92mm barrel in the roof allowed the firing of smoke grenades or signal flares. The electrically-traversed turret was offset about 2½” to the left to counteract a slight rightwards orientation of the engine. The armor varied, being 3″ on the glacis and turret face, 1¼” on the sides, and ¾” over the engine compartment’s rear. IV weighed 27 ½ tons and was 19’5″ long (23′ including the gun barrel). A few links were carried on the right side, and more on the front glacis.) The spare tread links were both a breakdown recovery item, and added a bit of extra armor for the crew. There were two secondary machine guns, either MG-34s or MG-42s, one coaxial and one in a ball mount in the tank’s nose. The WWII-era TZF.5f gunsight was retained by the Syrians. The Panzer IVs Syria operated were of the late four versions.Īll of the Panzer IVs Syria used had the “long-barrel version” of the Rheinmetall KwK 40 gun which could penetrate a M4 Sherman’s armor at ranges up to 1,000 yards under ideal circumstances. It underwent great evolution during it’s production run, being made in ten main versions. ![]() ![]() It served the entire conflict from start to finish. This was the most common German tank during WWII. Quite improbably, Syria had assembled it’s collection of ex-Wehrmacht vehicles from a half-dozen sources over a decade and a half timeframe. The last appearance by WWII German tanks on the world’s battlefields came in 1967, when Syria’s panzer force faced off against modern Israeli armor.
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