Tank Thing: German Panzer III

Panzerkampfwagen III Medium Tank.
This tank designed in the 1930's along with the Panzer IV was to be the backbone of the German armored forces. The Panzer III was to be the lighter speedier heavy punch against mobile forces while the Panzer IV would offer up the heavy artillery of it's 75mm short barrel cannon. The design was forward thinking, though successes in the Spanish Civil war made war planners believe that 37mm cannons were sufficient for the time. The Panzer III was designed with space enough in the turret to up gun this tank to a 50mm gun with ease. (one way to tell the III from the IV models is to count the road wheeels, the Pz III had 6 vs the PZIV's 8)

Mods A, B and C were only built in limited numbers and were only different from each other in minor ways. Models D, F, G, and H were all up gunned, up engined and up armored versions of the same tank. Running into the T-34 which could shrug off their 50mm L/42 shells required the development of the J which was up gunned with the 50mm L/60 gun which was much more effective. The M and N variants carried the short barrel 75mm cannon that the Panzer IV started with.

• Pz. III Ausf F
• Armament: 1x 37mm cannon (1.46in) 2x 7.92mm MG (.312in)
• Armour: Max 30mm (1.18in)
• Crew: 5
• Weight: 19.2 tons
• SPeed: 24.8mph
• Range: 102.5 miles

I think the L model was probably the best of the lot, with 50mm of main armor upgraded with 20mm plates at strategic points, and it mounted the 50mm L/60 gun which was adaquate for it's tasks.