Pz.III B

Pz.III B

Pz.III E

Pz.III F

Pz.III B

Pz.III E

Pz.III F

Germany

I Rank

Battle rating:

AB	RB	SB
1.0	1.0	1.0

Class:

Medium tank

Research:Free

Purchase:Free

Description

The Pz.Kpfw. III Ausf. B is a rank I German medium tank with a battle rating of 1.0 (AB/RB/SB). It was introduced in Update 1.59 "Flaming Arrows".

General info

Survivability and armour

Like many low-BR tanks, the armour is thin enough that it can be frontally penetratable by .50 cal machine guns found on most American tanks, as well as the French P.7.T AA and the Russian GAZ-AAA DShK. Every low rank cannon, except maybe the French 37 mm SA18 L/21, has no trouble penetrating the Pz.III B anywhere. The crew inside the Pz.III B is well-spaced out, however, so you can generally survive a frontal penetration or two.

Mobility

The Pz.III B has average to below-average mobility for low rank with 35 km/h top speed, and a usable, but not great, reverse speed of 5.5 km/h. Power/weight ratio is 20.8 hp/ton in Arcade, but only 15.62 in RB/SB, which is average to below-average.

Armaments

Main armament

The Pz.III B is the first vehicle in the German ground tree armed with the 37 mm KwK 36. This gun has two ammo types, PzGr. APHE with 46 mm penetration at point blank range against flat armour, and the PzGr.40 with 91 mm penetration at point blank range against flat armour.

The PzGr. APHE fires at 745 m/s and has a 13 g PETN explosive mass with a TNT equivalent of 22 g. With 46mm pen, it is sufficient to harm most things it comes across, but is best used in side shots.

The PzGr.40 APCR fires at 1020 m/s and pens 91 mm.

Machine guns

This vehicle has two coaxial 7.92 mm MG34 machine guns, which helps when facing against the common flak trucks and such that you encounter at low ranks.

Usage in battles

This tank is more or less average in most respects. American and Russian reserves best it in speed. British reserves have similar speed, worse reverse, much better guns, better gun depression, and similar armour. French reserves have worse guns but nearly double the frontal armour. Japanese reserves have better speed, nearly identical guns, and much better gun depression. Italian reserves are slower, have slower fire rates, and have much better armour.

Pros and cons

Pros:

• Decent top speed of 35 km/h
• Reasonable acceleration to achieve top speed
• Gun works well enough against most things you encounter, though side shots are preferable
• Has high-penetrating APCR to deal with more irritating opponents frontally

Cons:

• Easily incapacitated by .50 cal machine guns, even frontally
• Only stock shell has useful post-penetration damage, but it can barely penetrate M3 Stuarts frontally
• APCR post-penetration damage is generally terrible, yet tank has to rely on this a lot of the time to penetrate front armours
• Slow turret traverse of only 5.1 degrees/sec
• Requires APCR to penetrate even the side of the fairly common French B1 bis
• Roof armour thin enough to be penned by .50 cal machine guns

History

The Panzer III Ausf B was the second development version of the Panzer III, and like the first was produced during 1937. The biggest changes were made to the suspension system. This time there were eight small road wheels per side, connected in pairs. The suspension was provided by a pair of long leaf springs, with a pair of road wheels at each end. The number of return rollers was also increased, to three on each time. This suspension system was no more successful than that used on the Ausf A.

Other changes were relatively minor. The commander’s cupola was replaced by the design used on the Panzer IV Ausf A and the engine exhaust and driver’s vision ports were modified. 

During 1937-38 five of the fifteen Panzer III Ausf Bs were used to develop the StuG assault gun, which would be produced in much larger numbers than the Panzer III itself. The remaining Ausf Bs joined the Panzer regiments, seeing active service in Poland in 1939. Like the Ausf A they were withdrawn in February 1940 because of their poor suspension and thin armour, and transferred to training units.  

Media

Excellent additions to the article would be video guides, screenshots from the game, and photos.

See also

Links to the articles on the War Thunder Wiki that you think will be useful for the reader, for example:

• reference to the series of the vehicles;
• links to approximate analogues of other nations and research trees.

External links

• [Devblog] PzKpfw III Ausf. B