Minor German OOB error

[CharlesM]

The MG on the StuG II Ausf. G fired throuh the mantlet, and I have photos of vehicles with these fitted into the Saukopfblende (sow's head mantlet). Off-hand I cannot remember whether the modification was ever made on the composite mantlets made from flat plates. I'll check. It was Bob McNamara who spotted this feature from photos he had of StuG III Gs.

[TreadHead]

Yes, a block-style mantlet was produced with a coaxial MG for the mid-production StuG III Ausf G and was introduced in June '44. And a Saukopfblend with coaxial MG was introduced in Oct '44 on the late production vehicles. There is a more lengthy discussion on this in the thread "Stug AAMG's???".

Ross

[CharlesM]

Thanks. I did some checking. Photos of the Saukopf-mounted MG are easy enough to come by; those used in the composite mantlet less so; the one posted on the AAMG discussion is one of the few I've seen. In the Opsrey on the later StuG III and IV, Tom Jentz states that the co-ax only began to be fitted into the Saukopfblende in the Spring of 1944.