>Type Assault gun
>Place of origin Nazi Germany
>In service 1940–1945 (German service)
StuG IIIs in Syria were in use until the Six-Day War (1967)
>Wars World War II, Six-Day War
>Unit cost 82,500 RM
>Number built ~10,001 StuG III ~1,299 StuH 42
>Weight 23.9 tonnes (52,690 lbs)
>Length 6.85 m (22 ft 6 in)
>Width 2.95 m (9 ft 8 in)
>Height 2.16 m (7 ft 1 in)
>Crew 4
>Armor 16 – 80 mm (.62 - 3.15 in)
>Main armament 1x 7.5 cm StuK 40 L/48 54 rounds
>Secondary armament 1x 7.92 mm Maschinengewehr 34 600 rounds
>Engine Maybach HL 120 TRM V-12 gasoline engine driving six-speed transmission 300 PS (296 hp, 221 kW)
>Power/weight 12.6 PS/tonne
>Suspension torsion bar
>range 155 km (96 mi) (.9 mpg-US (1.1 mpg-imp; 260 L/100 km) at 22 mph (35 km/h), 71 US gal (59 imp gal; 270 l) fuel)
>Speed 40 km/h (25 mph)
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The Sturmgeschütz III (StuG III) assault gun was Germany's most produced armoured fighting vehicle during World War II. It was built on the chassis of the proven Panzer III tank. Initially intended as a mobile, armoured light gun for infantry support, the StuG was continually modified and was widely employed as a tank destroyer.
Overall, Sturmgeschütz series assault guns proved very successful and served on all fronts as assault guns and tank destroyers. Although Tigers and Panthers have earned a greater notoriety, assault guns collectively destroyed more tanks. Because of their low silhouette, StuG IIIs were easy to camouflage and a difficult target. Sturmgeschütz crews were considered to be the elite of the artillery units. Sturmgeschütz units claimed to have knocked out 20,000 tanks by 1944. As of April 10, 1945, there were 1,053 StuG IIIs and 277 StuH 42s in service.
The StuG assault guns were cost-effective compared to the heavier German tanks, though in the anti-tank role they were best used defensively, as the lack of a traversable turret was a severe disadvantage in the assault role. As the German military situation deteriorated later in the war, more StuG guns were built compared to tanks, to replace losses and bolster defenses against the encroaching Allied forces.
In 1943 and 1944, the Finnish Army received a total of 59 StuG III Ausf. Gs from Germany and used them against the Soviet Union. Thirty of the vehicles were received in 1943 and 29 in 1944. The 1943 batch destroyed at least 87 enemy tanks for a loss of only 8 StuGs (some of which were destroyed by their crews to avoid capture). The 1944 batch saw no real action. After the war, the StuGs were the main combat vehicles of the Finnish Army until the early 1960s. These StuGs gained the nickname "Sturmi" which can be found in some plastic kit models.
100 StuG III Ausf. G were delivered to Romania in the autumn of 1943. They were officially known as TAs (or TAs T3 to avoid confusion with TAs T4) in the army inventory. By February 1945, 13 units were still in use with the 2nd Armoured Regiment. None of this initial batch survived the end of the war. 31 TAs were on the army inventory in November 1947. Most of them were probably StuG III Ausf. G and a small number of Panzer IV/70 (V), known as TAs T4. These TAs were supplied by the Red Army or were damaged units repaired by the Romanian Army. All German equipment was scrapped in 1954 due to the Army's decision to use Soviet armour.
StuG IIIs were also exported to other nations such as Bulgaria, Hungary, Italy, and Spain.
Many German Sturmgeschütz IIIs were stranded in Yugoslavia after the war. These were used by the Yugoslav Peoples Army until the 1950s.
After the Second World War the Soviet Union donated some of their captured German vehicles to Syria, which continued to use them along with other war surplus AFVs (like long-barreled Panzer IVs and T-34/85s) during the 1950s and up until the War over Water against Israel in the mid-1960s. By the time of the Six Days War all of them had been either destroyed, stripped for spare parts, or interred on the Golan Heights as static pillboxes.
