I am trying to understand why zimmerit was not applied to all German WWII AFV's? Was it based on time period? Early Panther's had it, early Tiger's did not, early KT had it, late King Tigers did not? Sorry I am just a bit confused.

I think (no expert) that it was only used (applied) from about Dec of 1943 to Sept of 1944.

HTH,

Shaun

As Shaun said, it was down to date whether a vehicle had zimmerit. I don't have my references to hand, but the date application started looks about right to me. The order for application of zimmerit to cease immediately was issued 9/9/44.

The idea of zimmerit was that it stopped magnetic mines being attached to tanks. It was a kind of paste that contained sawdust. It easily came off the tank through comparatively minor trauma such as small arms fire. If you see pics of heavy tanks that have survived a shell hitting them, this would often blow nearly all the zim off that panel. There were rumours among panzer crews that zimmerit caught fire easily. I have not found a reference that states that this was actually the case, but nevertheless from 9/9/44 it was no longer applied.

Zimmerit was usually applied in the factory as the tanks was being built. However, it wasn't that unusual for it to be applied in field workshops. The factory applied zimmerit was usually neater and more regular than that applied in the field. The pattern in which the zimmerit was pllied tended to vary depending on the design of the tank - although you can probably make a case for a basic field application being on almost any model of panzer if you want to get creative

Click to find out all you need to know about zimmerit

Some more info...

Early Panthers did not have Zimmerit applied, viz. the Ausf Ds that were fielded at Kursk during "Zitadelle" - Zimmerit was not then in production so all tanks were innocent of it. Those Panthers and Tigers that survived "Zitadelle" and sent back for refurbishment would in all likelihood have been coated during refit, with newer machines coming off the production line receiving the application as a matter of course.

Zimmerit ceased to be used after September 1944, possibly because the risk of magnetic mines had lessened (Germany then fighting a defensive campaign so less likely to encounter anti-tank troops as they would have done in the assault), the time saved in completing tanks without it and finally, the Zimmer factory (the only source of the compound) being bombed around this time.

All of the above is written from memory as I don't have access to my books. If there are any discrepancies, please feel free to correct me on them.

From what I read on the net, tanks that participated mostly in the Russian/Polish fronts have or were given zimmerit. during the initial phase of the war. Those on other fronts that have zimmerit were mostly transferred or re-deployed from Russian/Polish fronts...

Please don't take this as gospel truth...I just read it...

Cheers

What you say is fairly accurate, but maybe a bit misleading. As it happens, when zimmerit was introduced almost all of the fighting was in the East so as a matter of course there was a high correlation of vehicles with zimmerit and those fighting in the East. And, many of the vehicles that fought in the West in 1944 were transferred from the East. However, there is no direct relationship between zimmerit application and the theater in which a vehicle was to fight. Whether or not a vehicle had zimmerit was simply a matter of when it was produced, with late 1943 (can't remember the exact month) until September 1944 being the target window.

Hi Arvin:
I don't think that what you read could be true. Most of the German armor units fought for a time on both fronts. Or perhaps one company would be in Poland while companies 2 and 3 would be sent to the Netherlands. Many units shifted and were redeployed, or pulled back for refit and rebuild. I don't see how tank production companies would be able to "reserve" non-zimm tanks for Western engagements only.

In actuality, the factories zimmed the tanks when the order was standing and didn't add zim when the order ceased. How the finished vehicles were allotted couldn't have been in the minds of the production line overseers. It doesn't make sense.

I'm not taking issue with you Arvin but I think your source is only making a wild stab at the discrepancies. To imagine such a complex order being carried out seems unlikely.

No worries... . I forgot that in the article, the author mentioned that the Russians were very very fond of putting magnetic mines compared to other opponents.

Probably a better explanation (just my opinion) would be...The Germans were afraid that during their Russian offensive, the magnetic mines that they developed would be used against them. That is probably the reason why zimmerit was first used mostly in the Russian Front compared to other fronts.

Cheers

yes zim was added to the tanks from 43 to 44.
in the factorys and it was also added to the tanks
in the feilds. thats why some times u will see german
tanks on the easten front in zimm

As a point of interest, part of the composition of Zimmerit (35%), was polyvinyl acetate, and sawdust, which both seem to be combustable material. I have no idea about the barium sulphate and zinc sulphide content. Although the material was force-dried in the factory with blowtorches, maybe it needed some sort of catylyst to combust, such as fuel spills soaking into the zimmerit surface and being ignited by HE or tracer rounds. In any event, zimmerit fires were uncommon and never conclusively proven.