Assembled model 1/35 tank Pz.Beob.Wg. IV Ausf. J w/Commander&Infantry Border Model BT-006 PzKpfw IV (Panzerkampfwagen IV) - a German medium tank of the Second World War. The first prototypes of the machine were created in 1936, and serial production lasted from 1938 to 1945, ending with the release of about 8,600 machines. The D version of the tank was equipped with one Maybach HL 120 TRM engine with a capacity of 300 hp. 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 Office for a medium tank weighing up to 18 tons, armed with a 75 mm gun. The contest was won by the Krupp company, whose car was launched into mass production - as it turned out, it was a car that could be safely called the "workhorse" of the German armored forces of the Second World War and one of the most intensively developed and modernized tanks of the Wehrmacht . Production resulted in numerous variants of the PzKpfw IV. Chronologically, the first was version A, armed with a 75-mm short-barreled gun and a 230 hp engine. However, versions B and C quickly appeared, which were made several significant changes: first of all, more powerful engines (265 hp in version B and Maybach HL 120 TRM with a capacity of 300 hp). in version C - which were installed on PzKpfw IV until 1945), and the booking of the entire machine was improved. The real revolution was the F1 and F2 versions, 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 with any allies or Soviet. The most commonly produced 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 (as before, the KwK 40 gun remained), as well as the engine and undercarriage. On the other hand, the armor was slightly strengthened, and from the beginning of 1943, armored screens (shurtseni) began to be installed on them. Numerous other vehicles were built on the PzKpfw IV chassis, such as the StuG IV assault weapon, 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, through 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 USSR and Western Allies in 1944-1945.
