Germany had a hugely successful range of assault guns, tank destroyers, and tank hunters, which were developed during the Second World War.
As the war progressed, the German Army had to find a use for its obsolete panzers and this gave rise to vehicles such as the turretless Sturmgeschütz, designed for an infantry support role. From 1943 Hitler’s assault guns and tank destroyers played a vital role in Nazi Germany’s increasingly defensive war.
Lacking turrets, the German assault guns, tank destroyers and tank hunters were primarily designed to support the infantry and panzergrenadier divisions, making them a distinct fighting arm from the Panzerwaffe.
Regardless of Heinz Gudarian’s reservations about the development of the Sturmgeschütz and Panzerjäger, they played a major role in the armoured battles fought by the Wehrmacht.
The Sturmartillerie crews considered themselves the elite of the artillery, and claimed to have destroyed 20,000 enemy tanks by 1944. By the end of the war, the number of surviving StuGs demonstrated that they had borne the brunt of the fighting just as much as Gudarian's panzers.
They proved ideal during the massive defensive battles fought on the Eastern Front, as well as in Italy and Normandy, and ultimately they were instrumental in delaying the defeat of Hitler’s Nazi Germany.
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