Hi. I've been looking at various photos of Stug IVs from June 1944 that were involved in the battle of Normandy (mostly from the 17th SS) and it's really difficult to tell from poor quality old photos but it looks as if some had no zimmerit while others definitely did have.

To the best of current knowledge, were all Stug IVs equipped with zimmerit during June 1944?

I intend modelling a 17th SS Stug IV (early) and would greatly appreciate the help answering this question definitively.

When did the order to apply zimmerit go into effect?

When did StuG IV production start?

Are there any relevant, documented, exceptions to the dates of the above?

Answering those questions will give you your definitive answer.

KL

The application of zimmerit began in September 1943, though the implementation of the order lagged by a number of weeks depending on the factory and type of vehicle. Similarly, the order to discontinue its application was issued in September 1944 but some factories continued to apply it into October.

The first Stug IVs were delivered in December 1943, so it's logical to assume that all of them had zimmerit.

Some Zimmerit patterns were finer than others, so a blurry and distant photo of a Zimmerited vehicle would not always be apparent. Other than that, Mr. Neil is quite right.

You could also look at which units had StuG IVs in the campaign (just 17. SS-PGD as far as I am aware) and when they were issued them.

Thanks to Martin Block (https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/missinglynx/the-almost-complete-unit-allocation-list-for-stug--t7880.html) we know that GvB received its StuG in Feb-Apr 1944, when all would have had Zimmerit.

Martin suggests that 331. ID may also have had them until destroyed in the Falaise pocket but its would have had Zimmerit too.

The apparent absence is photos is likely a function of poor image quality and possibly damage due to fire. I’ve seen several vehicle which appear to lack it until a decent resolution image appears.

I have a copy of Peter Strassner's "Vorwarts-voran,voran", a book about Panzer units of the Waffen SS. It has several clear shots of "Gotz von Berlichingen" Stug IVs during working up in the South of France. All have Zimmerit and schurtzen and appear to be painted single colour Dunkelgelb. Most of the photos from Normandy are of American provenance and show damaged or destroyed vehicles. We know from analysing similar images that tanks which have burnt frequently lose their Zimmerit coating. So we can say fairly categorically, that Stug IVs in Normandy had Zimmerit.

Thank you so much everybody for your replies and for the very helpful information.

I guess it's time to pull out the Atak Zimmerit then...