Pz.IV G (Italy)

This page is about the medium tank Pz.IV G (Italy). For other versions, see Pz.IV (Family).

▄Pz.IV G

▄Pz.IV G

Italy

III Rank

Battle rating:

AB	RB	SB
4.0	3.7	3.7

Class:

PREMIUM

Medium tank

Purchase:1 750

Description

During the advance of the Allies on Italian territory in 1943, Germany began to send different types of vehicles to Italy (RSI) to increase their effectiveness and in turn improve the defence of the territory, including aircraft, light vehicles, transport vehicles, cannons, and eventually tanks. In particular, Pz.IV G, Pz.III N and eventually StuG III G were sent, these were used in the 1st Armoured Division Black Shirts "M" formed in the same year, and divided into three companies, the first of which was equipped with 12 Pz.IV G. These Pz.IV G were the last examples to be produced, being immediately followed by production of the H and later J versions. The Italian Pz.IV G would not see combat because the division was still in training, and would eventually be recovered by the Germans, only to be captured by the Allies during the advance towards Germany.

Introduced in Update "Ixwa Strike", the Italian Pz.IV G has two particular differences compared to its German counterpart: added protection on the turret, and a longer cannon. The armament is capable of destroying any target at its level without any problems. Thanks to the smoke grenades you can run away from the enemy, confuse them or do a tactical attack. Its acceleration and speed also allow you to position yourself in places where you are sure to destroy enemies or capture points and defend them.

General info

Survivability and armour

Smoke grenades

Creation of a smoke screen in front of the vehicle

Armourfront / side / back

Hull80 / 30 / 20

Turret50 / 30 / 30

Crew5 people

Visibility99 %

The Pz.IV G has really great armour; due to it being well armoured, it can easily survive it being up tiered to rank III gameplay. This allows the Pz.IV G to perform a variety of playstyles, such as front-line assault, support, and as a flanker. Unlike the German version, this Italian variant removes the side-skirts but adds extra armour on the sides of the turret. The extra armour on the turret doesn't really help the vehicle too much in terms of protection, but it doesn't harm the vehicle by having it. Overall, the vehicle is good enough to survive encounters with formidable opponents, such as Shermans and T-34s.

Armour type:

Armour	Front (Slope angle)	Sides	Rear	Roof
Hull	88 mm	30 mm Top	20 mm	10 mm
Turret	50 mm Turret front 50 mm Gun mantlet	30 mm	30 mm	16 mm
Cupola	95 mm	95 mm	95 mm	8 mm

Notes:

Mobility

Speedforward / back

AB45 / 9 km/h

RB and SB40 / 8 km/h

Number of gears6 forward

1 back

Weight23.7 t

Engine power

AB572 hp

RB and SB300 hp

Power-to-weight ratio

AB24.1 hp/t

RB and SB12.7 hp/t

Game Mode	Max Speed (km/h)		Weight (tons)	Engine power (horsepower)		Power-to-weight ratio (hp/ton)
	Forward	Reverse		Stock	Upgraded	Stock	Upgraded
Arcade	45	9	23.7	465	572	19.62	24.14
Realistic	40	8		265	300	11.18	12.66

Modifications and economy

Repair cost

AB1 074

RB1 280

SB1 489

Crew training10 000

Experts210 000

Aces550

Research Aces790 000

Reward for battleAB / RB / SB

2 × 80 / 130 / 150 %

2 × 154 / 154 / 154 %

Modifications

Mobility	Protection	Firepower
Tracks Suspension Brake System Filters Transmission Engine	Improved Parts Improved FPE Crew Replenishment	Horizontal Drive 75mm_kwk_37_40_HEAT_ammo_pack Adjustment of Fire 75mm_kwk_40_APCR_ammo_pack Elevation Mechanism Smoke grenade Artillery Support 75mm_ger_Smoke_ammo_pack

Armaments

Main armament

75 mm KwK40 L48 cannon

Ammunition87 rounds

Reloadbasic crew → aces

7.6 → 5.9 s

Vertical guidance-10° / 20°

75 mm KwK40 L48					Turret rotation speed (°/s)					Reloading rate (seconds)
Mode	Capacity	Vertical	Horizontal	Stabilizer	Stock	Upgraded	Full	Expert	Aced	Stock	Full	Expert	Aced
Arcade	87	-10°/+20°	±180°	N/A	13.3	18.4	22.4	24.8	26.4	7.67	6.79	6.25	5.90
Realistic					8.3	9.8	11.9	13.2	14.0

Ammunition

• PzGr 39 - Armour-Piercing Capped Ballistic Cap shell - Use this shell as your main ammunition type, as it has a good penetration power and deals the most damage upon penetration thanks to its explosive filler.
• Hl.Gr. 38B - High Explosive Anti-Tank shell - it is recommended to completely avoid this kind of shell as its performance is vastly inferior in all aspects compared to APCBC or APCR ammo used by this tank.
• PzGr 40 - Armour-Piercing Composite Rigid shell - This type of ammo should be used when facing a heavily armoured enemy such as the Churchill VII and flanking is not an option. However, its post-penetration damage is much lower because it has no explosive filler to detonate after penetrating. Do not use the PzGr 40 against sloped armour as APCR shells have extremely poor performance against angled armour.
• SprGr. 34 - High Explosive shell - Carry only very few of these. They are useless against anything other than unarmoured AA vehicles, to which it is lethal.
• K.Gr.Rot Nb. - Smoke shell - Pack a few of these. They are useful to blind enemy vehicles that block your advance while being being too remote for you to disable.

Penetration statistics
Ammunition	Type of warhead	Penetration @ 0° Angle of Attack (mm)
		10 m	100 m	500 m	1,000 m	1,500 m	2,000 m
PzGr 39	APCBC	145	143	130	116	104	93
Hl.Gr 38B	HEAT	80	80	80	80	80	80
PzGr 40	APCR	182	177	159	140	122	107
Sprgr. 34	HE	10	10	10	10	10	10

Shell details
Ammunition	Type of warhead	Velocity (m/s)	Projectile mass (kg)	Fuse delay (m)	Fuse sensitivity (mm)	Explosive mass (TNT equivalent) (g)	Ricochet
							0%	50%	100%
PzGr 39	APCBC	770	6.8	1.2	14	28.9	48°	63°	71°
Hl.Gr 38B	HEAT	450	4.4	0.05	0.1	872.1	62°	69°	73°
PzGr 40	APCR	990	4.1	-	-	-	66°	70°	72°
Sprgr. 34	HE	550	5.74	0	0.1	686	79°	80°	81°

Smoke shell characteristics
Ammunition	Velocity (m/s)	Projectile mass (kg)	Screen radius (m)	Screen deploy time (s)	Screen hold time (s)	Explosive mass (TNT equivalent) (g)
K.Gr.Rot Nb.	540	6.2	13	5	20	50

Ammo racks

Ammo racks of the Pz.IV H (identical).

Full ammo	1st rack empty	2nd rack empty	3rd rack empty	4th rack empty	5th rack empty	6th rack empty
87	84 (+3)	82 (+5)	80 (+7)	72 (+15)	63 (+24)	54 (+33)
7th rack empty	8th rack empty	9th rack empty	10th rack empty	11th rack empty	Visual discrepancy
46 (+41)	38 (+49)	30 (+57)	24 (+63)	1 (+86)	No

Notes:

• Racks are modeled by sets of 2 and disappear after both shells in the set having been shot or loaded.
• Sides empty: 30 (+57) shells

Machine guns

7.92 mm MG34 machine gun (coaxial)

Ammunition3 000 rounds

Belt capacity150 rounds

Reloadbasic crew → aces

10.4 → 8.0 s

Fire rate900 shots/min

7.92 mm MG34
Mount	Capacity (Belt)	Fire rate	Vertical	Horizontal
Coaxial	3,000 (150)	900	N/A	N/A

Usage in battles

The Italian Pz.IV G has a very similar playstyle as its German counterpart, the vehicle can work both as a sniper and brawler, thanks to its improved armour and great gun. One of the many upsides that you'll come to enjoy is the armour, which goes hand in hand with the brawler playstyle. As a brawler you'll usually be leading the charge for your team at the start of the match, this can be a very effective way to get easy eliminations if done right. Whilst leading the charge, it is essential that you maintain situational awareness at all times, as the un-sloped armour, while it can prove to be better than other counterparts of the vehicle, might not be sufficient to provide reliable defense in surprise encounters.

In terms of armaments, the Pz.IV G is armed with the KwK40 L/43, a great weapon which is able to deal with the majority of enemies it will face. The 75 mm KwK40 L/43 gun is still also good when up-tiered, and a monster when down-tiered. A solid hit on a target's front armour that's not sloped is very likely to penetrate.

When playing as a sniper, the gameplay is fairly simple, find a good spot on a map, angle your tank, and wait for incoming enemies to get in your line of sight. Depending on what rounds you choose to bring, you have usually a high chance to either destroy an enemy tank or seriously injure their crew, which will hopefully give you enough time to finish them off. Although you won't need to research the engine upgrade module for the Pz.IV G, keep in mind that the mobility of the vehicle is not the best, however adequate enough to get you to where you need to be at a good pace. One of the downsides of this vehicle is mainly that it will struggle at times to penetrate heavier foes, generally speaking most of them have weak spots you can take advantage of, in which case, situational awareness is vital.

Pros and cons

Pros:

• Hard-hitting APCBC can easily knock out common foes
• High muzzle velocity and gun accuracy allow long range engagements
• Smoke charges deploy in 3 salvos, can conceal the tank 3 times
• Thick 80 mm frontal hull armour can neglect some shots when angling
• Satisfactory forward speed allows it to keep up with most teammates' advance
• Extra armoured skirt on the turret protects it from some HEAT and HE projectiles
• -10° gun depression is helpful when fighting in mountainous terrain

Cons:

• Cramped crew compartment means a penetration will incapacitate if not knock out your crew in one shot
• Poor frontal turret armour often gets penetrated in frontal engagements
• Side and rear armour is thin, making flanking shots more dangerous
• Large transmission on the lower front hull immobilises the tank once damaged
• Low mobility especially reverse speed and hull traverse

History

The story of the Pz.IV G begins in Germany during the Second World War, the Pz.Kpfw.IV's creation, which, like its predecessor the Pz.Kpfw. III, was devised by German engineer Heinz Guderian. He was one of the many German engineers who wanted to create an adequate support tank that had the dual role of being used to handle anti-tank guns and take out enemy fortifications. As a support tank, the Panzer IV was to have the short 75 mm howitzer as its main armament and also a weight limit of 24 tons. MAN, Krupp, and Rheinmetall-Borsig worked on the development of the tanks, but Krupp's model was selected for further testing. After a lot of testing, and refinement of the design, such as the addition of a leaf-spring double-bogie system for its suspension, instead of the planned torsion bar suspension system (mainly for the sake of faster production), the design went into production. Shortly after, German armoured regiments would start getting equipped with the tank, and once an adequate amount of the vehicle had been put in service, surplus vehicles would either be sold/given to other countries, or they'd be used as a base for later variants of the tank.

Pz.IV G (Div.M.) During Training

Eventually, once the vehicle had been used in active combat, some of its defects started to be revealed, mainly when facing Soviet armour, such as the T-34 and KV-1. It wasn't on par, and soon enough would see itself struggle. To amend this, the German engineers devised to upgrade the tank, mainly in its armament sector. The new tank would instead feature a much more powerful KwK40 L/43 gun, which was more than enough to deal with enemy armour at the time. The G variant also featured a stronger 80 mm thick front glacis armour with 30 mm side armour, which would really improve its overall survivability. Interestingly enough, German engineers would employ some weight-saving techniques, though even with these, the tank still weighed about 23.6 tons and put strain onto the driving system, a common issue surrounding many German vehicles at the time. Some simplification went into the tank such as the removal of the vision ports on the sides of the turret. Another armour upgrade would be the introduction of the Schürzen side armour side-skirts on the turret and hull sides.

Pz.IV G (Div.M.) During training

The Italian versions would remove this, as was the case for many Italian vehicles. In terms of the Italian story of this tank, Germany had supplied 12 units of the Panzer IV G to Italy during the late stages of the Second World War. They later joined the 1st Armored Division Black Shirts "M" (for "Mussolini"), which was established from May 1943, mainly starting from the very few survivors of the previous MVSN Battalions M who had been repatriated from the Russian front. The division was organised in 3 companies, which one of them comprising the Pz.IV G, they were slightly modified however, such as with the removal of the side-skirts and the introduction of additional armour placed around the turret. The Italian Pz.IV Gs would be painted in a light tan colour with the Divisione "M" logo usually painted on the turret. On 25 July 1943, they were transferred to the 136th Armored Division "Centauro II". They didn't see any action during the war, most of them were still undergoing training at the time and most, if not all of the tanks would end up in Allied hands shortly after the war.

Media

Skins

• Skins and camouflages for the Pz.IV G (Italy) from live.warthunder.com.

See also

Other Divison M vehicles

• Pz.III N (Italy)
• StuG III G (Italy)

External links

Paste links to sources and external resources, such as:

• topic on the official game forum;
• other literature.