Comparing: StuG III Ausf. B vs. StuG IV vs. StuG III Ausf. G

In 1935, Erich von Manstein of the German Army General Staff, in a letter to General Ludwig Beck, described the idea of building assault artillery to support attacking infantry units. Five prototypes of the "zero" series were manufactured in 1937. Early modifications from Ausf.A to Ausf.F/8 were produced until December 1942.

In February 1943, at the suggestion of the Ministry of Armament, the Krupp company began trials of a new vehicle with the superstructure of the updated StuG III and the new suspension of the Pz.Kpfw. IV H and J. The first vehicles were produced by December 1943. Having canceled the production of the Pz. IV, the Krupp company focused their attention on the production of the new vehicles starting in January 1944. A total of 1,108 vehicles were manufactured, with 31 more converted from existing tanks.

This vehicle first saw combat in France in 1940. It was produced, in several modifications, on the basis of the Pz. III tank until 1945. By 1944, 9,346 of these self-propelled guns destroyed about 20,000 enemy vehicles. Some vehicles were in operation until 1967 and were even deployed in the Six-Day War by some countries of the Arab world against Israel.