I while back some asked about what armor the German used in Africa, I came across this image the may help people.

Hi Kevin.

Good short reference. One should add the scores of captured British vehicles. Anyhow, it seems to me that only german production front line vehicles are listed here.

Cheers,
Gabriel

Kevin;

Be cautious! For example, the nice artwork shows StuG III ausf G... NOT ever in north Africa! A total of 3 StuG III - all ausf D short-barrel units - were sent over to the DAK as part of the "Sonderverband z.v.d 288" special deployment unit. NO long-gun StuGs in NA.

Cheers!

Bob

G'day Bob

I have recently read that six F8s were shipped to NA, with four actually arriving, but I agree about no Ausf Gs. I believe they were used in Tunisia.

Regards

Rob

Also, Tigers were not assigned to the DAK. They were part of a separate unit.

Am unsure if Pz II Ausf Ds were deployed in Africa. Am quite sure though that the image depicted is not an Pz II Ausf D

It's not; the Ausf D had four road wheels per side.

StuG III F8 was used in Tunisia.

Good find, Kevin. I don't know if it matters but they forgot the "Mark III Special", the PzKfw IIIJ.

Bob, good catch on the StuG IIIG. I have only found the 3 StuG Ds.

Also, correct me if I am wrong, but I think the only Marders that made it across the Med. were the 4.7cm and 7.62cm (r) versions.

Sturmgeschutz Batterie 90 of the 10 Panzer Division received 4 of 6 StuG III F8s shipped over in November of 1942.

They fought until the end in Tunisia.

The parent organization was Sturmgeschutz Brigade 242.

G'day Ian

Yes, that is correct. A lot of the remainder of F8s were already painted in Desert Yellow ready for North Africa, but were never sent, which is why some F8s in use in Russia were seen in Desert Yellow instead of Panzer Grey, well in advance of the introduction of Dark Yellow.

Regards

Rob

Quite a few vehicles were redirected to Russia wearing tropen camouflage.

Always a good laugh at a IPMS show when you builds a Pz IV F-1 in RAL 8020/7027, with Dunlelgrau stripes and mark it for Russia.

Rob; I've searched and searched for any genuine photo of an F/8 in North Africa. While I keep seeing posts in various blogs asserting that "6 F/8 went to North Africa...", I regret to have to say that I've never read anywhere that the Brits (or the Americans) ever met or saw or recorded any long-gun StuG in North Africa. There is a fairly good photo record of the 3 short-gun D deployed in the Sonderverband 288 in NA, and we know where each was lost, and the Brits noted these 3, and the Brits actually took one of these 3 D back to UK for evaluation.... But no word nor record about having met a long-gun StuG, no photos of one by the Brits (who, after all, would likely have been VERY interested in seeing this new version with a true anti-tank weapon on it...), and no captured specimen apparently shipped to UK.

From where I sit, there seems a lot of repeated claims about there having been some F/8 shipped to NA, but I cannot seem to get beyond the repeated claims to find any "separate or independent confirmation" of their actual deployment there. The one putative "F/8 in North Africa" photo I've seen posted on the web is really, I am sure, of an F/8 in Italy - where several were sent in prep for deployment to NA...

I'm "terribly interested" in this, as at that time in history, the German long-barrel 7.5cm gun was virtually unknown by the Brits or the Americans, who had only encountered these new weapons on the few Mk IV F/2 "specials" in NA. I would expect that had one of these long-gun F/8 been met and captured, it would have made a distinct impression and there would have been some technical interest in it and some record made of it.

Cheers!

Bob

Ian;

I keep seeing this statement in various threads over the last decade - that some StuG III F/8 were shipped to North Africa and eventually destroyed (or more likely, like most other German equipment in Tunisia in spring of 1943, lost and captured by the Brits or Americans) in Tunisia in 1943.

Do you have any citations for any records of this, and do you know of any British or American photos of any of these as wrecks or captured in Tunisia? I would dearly love to see some - having searched for these things for many years ever since I first read this claim back ca 2004!

Bob