PzKpfw IV (Panzerkampfwagen IV) is a German medium tank of the Second World War. The first prototypes of the car were created in 1936, and serial production continued in the period 1938-1945, ending with the release of about 8,600 cars. The D version of the tank was powered by a single 300 horsepower Maybach HL 120 TRM engine. It was armed with 1 75 mm KwK 37 L / 24 cannon and 2 7.92 mm MG 34 machine guns. The PzKpfw IV was created as a result of a competition announced at the end of 1934 by the German Armaments Department for a medium tank weighing up to 18 tons, armed with a 75 mm gun. The competition was won by the Krupp company, whose machine was put into mass production - as it turned out, it was a machine that can safely be called the "workhorse" of the German armored forces of the Second World War and one of the most intensively developed. and modernized Wehrmacht tanks. During the production process, numerous variants of the PzKpfw IV were created. Chronologically, version A was the first, armed with a 75-mm short-barreled gun and a 230 hp engine. However, the B and C versions quickly appeared, in which several significant changes were made: first of all, more powerful engines (265 hp in the B version and Maybach HL 120 TRM with 300 hp in the C version - which were installed on PzKpfw IV before 1945). year), and also the armor of the entire machine was improved. The F1 and F2 versions proved to be a real revolution, in which the frontal armor was increased to 60 mm and the main armament was replaced by a large long-barreled 75 mm KwK 40 L / 43 gun, which in 1942 and 1943 allowed them to fight any allies or Soviet troops. The most common versions of the PzKpfw IV were the G, H and J versions, which were very similar to the F1 and F2 versions. The main armament has not changed significantly (it was still the KwK 40 gun), as well as the engine and chassis. On the other hand, the armor was slightly strengthened, and from the beginning of 1943 armored screens (Schurzen) were installed on them. Many other vehicles were built on the PzKpfw IV chassis, such as the StuG IV assault gun, the Nashorn tank destroyer or the Wirbelwind self-propelled anti-aircraft gun. PzKpfw IV tanks were used on almost all fronts of the Second World War - from the September campaign of 1939, the campaign in France in 1940, operations "Barbarossa" and "Typhoon" in 1941, the Battle of Kursk in 1943 to the last operations of the German Army against the USSR and the Western Allies in 1944-1945
