Sturer Emil
Contents
Description
The 128 mm K.40 Panzer Selbstfahrlafette V Ausführung VK 30.01(H) (Sturer Emil) is an experimental World War II German self-propelled anti-fortification gun. It had a 128 mm Rheinmetall Kanone 40 L/61 gun (based on the 12.8 cm FlaK 40) and was based on the Henschel VK 30.01 (H) heavy tank prototype chassis. This gun has limited horizontal traverse but excellent vertical transverse, which makes it suitable to adopt a hull-down position. It had 15 rounds of ammunition for the main gun. The hulls were taken from the leftover of Henschel's proposal for the cancelled VK 30.01 heavy tank program (development of a 30-tonne tank that led to the Tiger Is), but the hull was stretched and an extra road wheel was added to its overlapped and interleaved Schachtellaufwerk roadwheel-based suspension system to accommodate the large gun breech, which was mounted on a pedestal ahead of the engine. Where the turret was supposed to go in the original design, it was redesigned and replaced with a massive open-topped fighting chamber.
Introduced in Update 1.59 "Flaming Arrows", the Sturer Emil works in the same way as other self-propelled anti-fortification guns used by the German Army ground forces, particularly the Dicker Max. With no armour, an excellent gun, and exceptional gun depression, players must play to its strengths while limiting exposure to enemies' lines of sight. To lessen the possibility of being noticed by enemy aircraft, always try to conceal or stay close to a ground structure rather than in the middle of an open field. It can be a little difficult to utilize on urban maps because of its limited horizontal gun movement, but it can still be used to guard positions as long as cover is present.
General info
Survivability and armour
The Sturer Emil is typical of the German open-topped tank destroyers: fragile and particularly vulnerable to HE shells, artillery strike and air attacks. With a maximum of 50 mm of armour, the best protection is to not get shot at in the first place.
The sides of the superstructure are covered by ammunition and any clean hit on the Sturer Emil is likely to detonate the ammunition. The loader also stands in a particularly exposed position at the back of the tank destroyer, where he is very vulnerable to stray bullets or shrapnel. The rest of the crew is fairly spread out, which means that it is not easy to get a crew knock-out with one shot.
Armour type:
- Rolled homogeneous armour
| Armour | Front (Slope angle) | Sides | Rear | Roof |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hull | 12 mm (83-88°) Front glacis 50 mm (10°) Driver/Co-driver ports 50 mm (12°) Lower glacis |
20 mm | 10 mm (47°) | 12 mm |
| Superstructure | 50 mm (16-17°) Front 50 mm (9-52°) Gun mantlet |
30 mm (11°) | 20 mm (0-12°) | 0-10 mm |
Notes:
- Suspension wheels are 15 mm thick while tracks are 20 mm thick.
- Belly armour is 10 mm thick.
- Superstructure roof armour barely covers the crew
- Tracks at the lower glacis and superstructure front provides +15 mm armour.
Mobility
Based on the VK 30.01 (H) heavy tank chassis, the Sturer Emil has very lacklustre mobility thanks to the weak engine. It is not very well suited to mobile, fast moving battles, and cannot relocate easily.
| Game Mode | Max Speed (km/h) | Weight (tons) | Engine power (horsepower) | Power-to-weight ratio (hp/ton) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Forward | Reverse | Stock | Upgraded | Stock | Upgraded | ||
| Arcade | 28 | 6 | 36.5 | 440 | 591 | 12.05 | 16.19 |
| Realistic | 26 | 5 | 274 | 310 | 7.51 | 8.49 | |
Modifications and economy
| Mobility | Protection | Firepower | ||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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Armaments
Main armament
The 128 mm K.40 is easily the most powerful gun carried by any vehicle within the Sturer Emil's BR range, and it is a very deadly threat; it is capable of frontally penetrating any vehicle the Sturer Emil faces. On top of that, the APC shells have a massive amount of explosive filler, all but guaranteeing a one-shot kill upon penetration. It should be noted, however, that the APC shells have a 19 mm fuse threshold, and are likely to penetrate lightly armoured vehicles without exploding.
Conversely, the large size and weight of the 128 mm shells result in a long reload time. If the loader is knocked out, the reload time is massively increased, crippling the tank destroyer. The vehicle is also not very spacious, resulting in an ammunition capacity of only 15 rounds. The gun also has a limited amount of elevation and traverse, which can make it rather difficult to bring the gun to bear in some situations. This, combined with the lack of any machine guns, also renders the Sturer Emil virtually helpless against aircraft.
The Sturer Emil platform also provides the gun with an excellent gun depression angles, allowing the Sturer Emil to go hull-down on relatively steep slopes while exposing very little of the vehicle. The gun is mounted near the top of the superstructure as well, which allows the Sturer Emil to use its gun while exposing very little of the vehicle.
| 128 mm K.40 | Turret rotation speed (°/s) | Reloading rate (seconds) | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mode | Capacity | Vertical | Horizontal | Stabilizer | Stock | Upgraded | Full | Expert | Aced | Stock | Full | Expert | Aced |
| Arcade | 15 | -15°/+10° | -5°/+6° | N/A | 10.6 | 14.6 | 17.8 | 19.6 | 20.9 | 19.37 | 17.14 | 15.79 | 14.90 |
| Realistic | 7.1 | 8.4 | 10.2 | 11.3 | 12.0 | ||||||||
Ammunition
With a fuse sensitivity of 19 mm, the APCBC shell may pass through very light opponents without detonating.
| Penetration statistics | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ammunition | Type of warhead |
Penetration @ 0° Angle of Attack (mm) | |||||
| 10 m | 100 m | 500 m | 1,000 m | 1,500 m | 2,000 m | ||
| PzGr | APC | 233 | 230 | 219 | 205 | 193 | 181 |
| Sprgr. L/5 | HE | 37 | 37 | 37 | 37 | 37 | 37 |
| PzGr 43 | APCBC | 248 | 245 | 234 | 220 | 207 | 195 |
| Shell details | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ammunition | Type of warhead |
Velocity (m/s) |
Projectile mass (kg) |
Fuse delay (m) |
Fuse sensitivity (mm) |
Explosive mass (TNT equivalent) (g) |
Ricochet | |||||
| 0% | 50% | 100% | ||||||||||
| PzGr | APC | 880 | 26.35 | 1.2 | 19 | 786.5 | 48° | 63° | 71° | |||
| Sprgr. L/5 | HE | 880 | 28 | 0 | 0.1 | 3,700 | 79° | 80° | 81° | |||
| PzGr 43 | APCBC | 880 | 28.3 | 1.2 | 19 | 786.5 | 48° | 63° | 71° | |||
Ammo racks
| Full ammo |
Ammo Part |
1st rack empty |
2nd rack empty |
Visual discrepancy |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 15 | Projectiles Propellants |
8 (+7) 8 (+7) |
1 (+14) 1 (+14) |
Yes |
Notes:
- The Sturer Emil uses two-piece ammunition, composed of propellant bags (orange) and projectiles (yellow). Both have separate racks.
- Arrows indicate the depletion order of each rack.
- The visual discrepancy concerns propellant bags and projectiles: 12 propellant bags are modeled for 15 available bags while 14 projectiles are modeled for 15 available.
Usage in battles
There are two ways one can use the Sturer Emil in combat:
Direct Engagement
In other words, how one would typically use a tank destroyer of this type - find a good vantage point, and use your gun's impressive long range penetration to destroy even heavy tanks. When doing so, keep in mind to make as much use of your tank's depression as possible, and backing away from the open when reloading, as that is when most tanks will attempt to take you out.
Don't even think of trying to use the Sturer Emil in an "offensive" capability, the vehicle does not have the mobility nor armour to do so. Use it in an ambush-style method and conceal the vehicle before pouncing on the enemy. A spotted Sturer Emil is vulnerable to flanking manoeuvres, artillery, and air strikes.
Indirect Fire
One of the greatest capabilities of large calibre guns on vehicles like the Sturer Emils is that they allow you to take advantage of their high angle of projectile drop. This method works great beyond 1,000 metres, but varies depending on the type of terrain and hull-down positions are available on the map.
When on long range maps like Sands of Sinai or Maginot Line, drive to places where you are on the back slope of a hill relative to potential targets. From there, do not poke out and stay behind the hill slope to use it as cover and concealment against the enemy downrange. This way, the enemy has no way of spotting/engaging the Sturer Emil from their angle, but the Sturer Emil can still certainly see and hit the enemies. To do this, use the binoculars to look over the hill for long range targets. Adjust for the range to the target from behind the hill so when you fire, the round will essentially be fired over your cover (due to the necessary adjustment to your gun's elevation to hit targets at distance), with the rate of projectile drop creating a parabola trajectory for the round to come back down from over the hilltop into the target below, allowing you to essentially hit targets who cannot even see your position.
Another benefit of this method is being able to maintain position during reloading (as opposed to receding to cover as stated in the "direct engagement" section) meaning that while you wait for reload, you can correct your aim for range and target heading, allowing you to home into where you need to aim to make accurate hits.
Pros and cons
Pros:
- Outstanding gun depression, same as the Dicker Max
- Extremely powerful gun with very lethal APHE shells for great post-penetration damages
- It is almost impossible to knock out the tank with a single shot, as the 5 crew members are well spread out.
- Good gun placement high in the superstructure
- Massive gun breech that can shield some of the crew against enemy shells
- Side armour is 30 mm thick, unusually thick for an open topped vehicle - can shrug off large calibre machine guns and even some autocannons
Cons:
- Poor mobility, can get flanked easily by other tanks
- Long reload time and limited ammunition capacity
- Exposed loader
- Very vulnerable to airstrikes due to open top
- Limited gun traverse and elevation angles
- Poor armour
History
The Selbstfahrlafette auf VK30.01(H), or better known as the Sturer Emil (Stubborn Emil), was a heavy self-propelled anti-tank gun developed by Nazi Germany sometime in 1941 and 1942. The Sturer Emil mounted the extremely large 12.8 cm gun on a extended chassis from the cancelled Henschel VK 30.01 armoured vehicle. The gun was laid on the back with the engine in the middle and the driver up front.
Not too much is known about the vehicle, only two were ever made in 1942, but they were involved in the Battle of Stalingrad. One was destroyed, but the other was captured during that battle in January 1943. When it was discovered, painting on the barrel indicates a score of 31 tank kills before its demise. The sole remaining Sturer Emil remains at the Kubinka Tank Museum in Russia.
Media
- Skins
- Videos
See also
External links
| Germany tank destroyers | |
|---|---|
| Pz. I Derivatives | Panzerjäger I |
| Pz. II Derivatives | 15cm sIG 33 B Sfl |
| Pz. 38(t) Derivatives | Marder III · Marder III H · Jagdpanzer 38(t) |
| Pz. III Derivatives | StuG III A · StuG III F · StuG III G · StuH 42 G |
| Pz. IV Derivatives | Jagdpanzer IV · Panzer IV/70(A) · Panzer IV/70(V) · Dicker Max · Nashorn · Brummbär · VFW |
| Pz. V Derivatives | Jagdpanther G1 · Bfw. Jagdpanther G1 |
| Pz. VI Derivatives | Sturer Emil · Elefant · Ferdinand · 38 cm Sturmmörser · Jagdtiger |
| Wheeled/Half-track | 8,8 cm Flak 37 Sfl. · Sd.Kfz.251/9 · Sd.Kfz.251/10 · Sd.Kfz.251/22 · Sd.Kfz.234/3 · Sd.Kfz.234/4 · 15 cm Pz.W.42 |
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| Other | Waffenträger · M109G · JPz 4-5 · Raketenautomat · VT1-2 |
