I was looking at German submersible tank designs today and I realised how little is discussed about the Panzer III. This may be in part due to its short service life as an MBT or is because of its limited use against the Allies?
Anyway, I have always liked the PAnzer III and decided to bring the poor MK III back into the limelight... The following comes from Achtung PAnzer!
This U-Panzer belonged to the 18th Panzer Division's 18th Panzer Regiment. This photo was taken during the crossing of the River Bug at Patulin on 22nd June of 1941. During the preparation for invasion of England - Operation Seelöwe (Sealion), Panzer III and Panzer IV were converted into submersible tanks able to travel on the bottom of body of water at the depths of 6 to 15 meters. From June to October of 1940, 160 Panzer III Ausf F/G/H and 8 Panzerbefehlswagen III Ausf E along with 42 Panzer IV Ausf Ds were converted into U-Panzers / Tauchpanzers. After extensive tests and modifications U-Panzer were ready for action. Since Operation Sealion was never realized, Tauchpanzer IIIs and IVs were used during Operation Barbarossa (crossing river Bug at Patulin), in service with 3rd (6th Panzer Regiment) and 18th Panzer Division. It was also planned to use U-Panzers in never realized invasion on the island of Malta.
Panzerkampfwagen III saw action in small numbers during the invasion of Poland in September of 1939. Panzer III was designed as platoon commander's vehicle (Zugfuhrerwagen) and was Germany's first true main/medium battle tank. Design of Panzer III came from lessons learned from the combat tested Panzer I and Panzer II. Panzer III formed the bulk of the Panzer Divisions' strength during early years of war. By October of 1943, only five Panzer Divisions on the Eastern Front had one or more Panzer Company equipped with Panzer IIIs. By late 1944, only 79 Panzer IIIs were in service with frontline units on the Eastern Front. Number of PzKpfw IIIs remained in service until the end of the war in places like Norway and Holland.
Panzerkampfwagen III's production was slow and ceased in August of 1943. In the early years, gaps were filled with Czech PzKpfw 35(t) and PzKpfw 38(t), which possessed similar combat value. Its design was also a great help in the development of its bigger brother Panzerkampfwagen IV and shared many common parts with it.
