StuG III

StuG III, , 1:72 ESCI 8328.

The concept of assault artillery is largely based on the doctrine initiated by Erich von Manstein, which aimed to provide the infantry with its own heavy, armoured support weapon to provide direct fire support and thereby increase the breakthrough potential of attacking infantry.

Available Miniatures

  • Sd.Kfz. 142 – Sturmartillerie with 7.5 cm StuK 37 L/24
    • StuG. III Ausf. A, 1:76 Hinchliffe 20/188
    • StuG. III Ausf. A, 1:76 Milicast BG063
    • StuG. III Ausf. B, 1:76 MMS 941
    • StuG. III Ausf. B, 1:76 Milicast BG064
    • StuG. III Ausf. B, 1:300 Heroics & Ros G064A
    • StuG. III Ausf. C/D, 1:76 Milicast BG037
    • StuG. III Ausf. D, 1:76 Fujimi
    • StuG. III Ausf. D, 1:76 Nitto
    • StuG. III Ausf. D, 1:285 GHQ G17
    • StuG. III Ausf. E, 1:35 Bronco CB35118
    • StuG. III Ausf. E, 1:35 Dragon 6818
    • StuG. III Ausf. E, 1:72 Attack 72816
    • StuG. III Ausf. E, 1:72 Dragon 7562
    • StuG. III Ausf. E, 1:72 Trumpeter 07258
    • StuG. III Ausf. E, 1:72 UM 278
    • StuG. III Ausf. E, 1:76 Milicast BG038
    • StuG. III, 1:87 H0 ROCO 176
  • Sd.Kfz. 142/1 – Sturmgeschütz with 7.5 cm StuK 40 L/43
    • StuG. III Ausf. F, 1:76 Hinchliffe 20/l88A
    • StuG. III Ausf. F, 1:76 Milicast BG039
    • StuG. III Ausf. F, 1:285 GHQ G23
    • StuG. III Ausf. F, 1:300 Heroics & Ros G064B
  • Sd.Kfz. 142/1 – Sturmgeschütz with 7.5 cm StuK 40 L/48 (StuG. 40)
    • StuG. III Ausf. F/8, 1:76 Milicast BG040
    • StuG. III Ausf. F/8 with Schürzen, 1:76 Milicast BG054
    • StuG. III Ausf. G (early) & Kfz. 1 (Kübelwagen), 1:76 Fujimi 76011
    • StuG. III Ausf. G (early), 1:76 Hinchliffe 20/18M
    • StuG. III Ausf. G (mid), 1:76 Milicast BG043
    • StuG. III Ausf. G (Oct. 1943), 1:87 H0 ROCO 177
    • StuG. III Ausf. G (late), 1:72 Armourfast 99018
    • StuG. III Ausf. G (late), 1:72 ESCI 8328
      • Ardennes 1944, Conversion Kit, 1:72 MR
    • StuG. III Ausf. G (late), 1:72 Revell 03132
    • StuG. III Ausf. G (late), 1:76 Airfix 01306
    • StuG. III Ausf. G (late), 1:76 Hinchliffe 20/188C
    • StuG. III Ausf. G (late), 1:76 Milicast BG044
    • StuG. III Ausf. G (late) with Schürzen, 1:76 Milicast BG065
    • StuG. III Ausf. G with Schürzen, 1:285 GHQ G578
    • StuG. III Ausf. G, 1:300 Heroics & Ros G064
  • Sd.Kfz. 142/2 – Sturmhaubitze with 10.5 cm StuH 42
    • StuG. 42 Ausf. F/8 with Schürzen, 1:76 Milicast BG055
    • StuH. 42 Ausf. G, 1:72 Armourfast 99023
    • StuH. 42 Ausf. G, 1:72 ESCI 8328
    • StuH. 42, 1:72 Revell 03132
    • StuH. 42 Ausf. G, 1:76 Hinchliffe 20/188D
    • StuH. 42 Ausf. G & Kfz. 1 (Kübelwagen), 1:76 Fujimi 76011
    • StuH. 42 Ausf. G (mid), improved Schürzen, 1:76 Milicast BG056
    • StuH. 42 Ausf. G (late), 1:76 Milicast BG045
    • StuH. 42 Ausf. G (late) with Schürzen, 1:76 Milicast BG066
    • StuH. 42 Ausf. G (late) with Pendelschürzen, 1:76 Milicast BG062
    • StuH. 42, 1:285 GHQ G84

The assault gun was designed to engage machine gun nests, field fortifications, and bunkers with direct fire, a task well-suited to the 7.5 cm L/24 Sturmkanone 37 “Stummel”. The vehicle required strong frontal armour, but a rotating turret was unnecessary, as the limited elevation and traverse of a casemated gun was perfectly adequate for this purpose. By foregoing an expensive armoured turret, assault guns could be built more cheaply on existing Panzer III chassis and armed more effectively than contemporary tanks. Their low profile also made assault guns easier to camouflage and more difficult to hit than turreted tanks.

Freed from their role as infantry support weapons, the Panzers were to form the operational Schwerpunkt, be fast, remain mobile, and exploit breakthroughs to flank and roll up the enemy, or to push on, into the depths of the his defenses.

Assault guns were initially placed under the command of the assault artillery, whose soldiers received a field-grey uniform cut like the uniforms of the Panzer troops, but with the red Waffenfarbe of the artillery.

The remarkable battlefield successes of the assault artillery led, as the war progressed, to the increasing integration of assault guns into Panzerjäger and Panzer formations to compensate for the severe shortage of dedicated tank destroyers and tanks. In this way, the Sturmgeschütz III became the most produced fully tracked armoured vehicle of the Wehrmacht.

German Miniatures of World-War Two