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Old June 29th, 2008, 03:02 PM
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Default Re: British 75mm MkV tank gun

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Pzkfw III Ausf G onwards and IV Ausf F1 onwards had face-hardened frontal armour, except for the glacis which was homogeneous, presumably because the slope was so shallow that the extra hardness was not needed, except for the glacis on the Pzkfw IV Ausf D, which had only this plate hardened, but throughout, rather than just face-hardened. PzKfw III Ausf G onwards and IV Ausf F1 onwards had face-hardened upper and lower hull sides, but not turret sides or on any rear armour plates. The last 50% of PzKfw IV Ausf J had only homogeneous plates.
According to Spielberger: "Begleitwagen Panzerkampfwagen IV", all the 30mm thick frontal armour plates on the Ausf. D were to be facehardened. That would be the front lower hull plate and the front upper hull plate as well as the front turret. Of the additional 30mm armour plate that were bolted on to the front of the Ausf. D in the summer of 1940 the first 100 sets were face-hardened, the reminder homogenous steel.
In the Ausf. E, all 30mm plates were to be facehardened while the thinner plates as well as the 50mm plates were homogenous. It appears that this also applied to the add-on 30mm plates on the upper hull front.
In the Ausf. F, the goal was to have most front and side plates facehardened, which, judging from the British reports used by Bird & Livingston, seems to have been carried out. This reference states that the turet sides were not face-hardened, while Spielbergers book seems to indicate that they were - even the turret hatches were to be face-hardened.
The Ausf. G was basically and Ausf. F with a different gun and it seems that it carried on with the same face-hardened plates. The additional 30mm plates on the hull front were face-hardened according to Bird & Livingston, Speilberger remains somewhat unclear on the matter
The Ausf. H started out as an odd mix, as the earliest vehicles had the same front armour configuration as the Ausf. G (50mm basis with 30mm add-on armour), then gradually started to get 80mm plate on the lower front hull, then the upper front hull. These 80mm plates appear to have been for the most part homogenous plates. Ausf. H production started in May 1943 and the decision to go with 80mm homogenous plates had been made even before that.
This would appear to have left the Ausf. H with 80mm upper and lower front hull homogenous armour, face-hardened side hull armour while the turret would have the front and mantlet face-hardened and possibly also the sides.
With regards to the Ausf. J, it was ordered in June 1944 that starting August 1944, all previosly face-hardened plates should be made in homogenous steel.

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