Die Wehrmacht 1944 Nr 4 Pt 3 - Heinz Guderian - Panzer 4 - Stug - Barbarossa - Kursk - Stalingrad

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The Panzer 4 was the brainchild of General Heinz Guderian and 8554 of them were built during the war.

The tank weighed 22 tons, it was armed with a 75mm main cannon and had 2 machine guns. It had a crew of 5.

This is nice footage showing the training of Panzermänner that was shot in occupied Poland in 1943. The film has a runtime of 18:42 seconds. If you’re a Patreon channel member then you have access to the first reel of this film. If not, please consider becoming one.

This is the periodical Die Wehrmacht Ausgabe A, from February of 1944. The article covers General Guderian and his role as the Inspector General of Armor. As we talk about his responsibilities in this role we’ll see more of the training film and clips from other sources that are related to the content.

The caption of this photo states that the General Inspector is especially interested in the training of the Panzermänner. Here he’s monitoring exercises in the box at a training center.

The tankers radio unit is made up of a microphone and a headset. The instructor explains the lay of the land, the units positioning and their objectives. The young commander switches on his radio. He orders the tanks to advance in a wedge formation and the instructor repositions the models based on his instructions.

In this photo an instructor demonstrates to the General Inspector a dummy round that is used during the training which allows the tanker to get used to firing the weapon in a realistic manner.

This newsreel footage shows General Inspector Guderian visiting a licensing training facility for tank drivers in July of 1943. The tank driver was expected to know his tank both inside and out. Here we see the trainees changing tracks. The General Inspector asks specific questions to the trainees to test the quality of their training. The driving school has specially customized vehicles for the trainees to practice driving in difficult terrain to prepare them for the front.

This photo shows General Inspector Guderian watching a demonstration of the damaged caused by new firing methods for different types of tanks.

Back to the training, the young tankers are scheduled for time on the shaking firing range. It’s obviously not the chassis of an advanced panzer type but I suppose the idea was simply to get used to firing a weapon in a less than stable environment.

In late 1941 the Americans introduced gyro stabilizers to the M3A1 light tank and by 1944 all American tanks had some form of gyro stabilizers. These stabilizers were really only effective at low speeds on level terrain but it was certainly an advantage over the Germans tanks which did’t have stabilizers.

With all the trainees gathered and called to attention, our young tankers are called forward.

The article states that the General Inspector is responsible for everything that has to do with tanks. Guderian is known for making surprise visits to factories to speak with the workers and is often present when new technologies are being tested. He personally oversees the continual improvement in efficiency of fabrication and is directly involved in the supply of tanks to the front.

He is the Führers direct advisor regarding everything that has to do with armor. Guderian often travels from the headquarters to the front in order to speak directly with the leadership involved in the operations, and then returns with up-to-date information.