Marder III H

Marder III H

StuG III A

StuH 42 G

Marder III H

StuG III A

StuH 42 G

Germany

II Rank

Battle rating:

AB	RB	SB
3.0	3.0	3.0

Class:

Tank destroyer

Research:7 900

Purchase:10 000

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Description

The PaK40/3 auf Sfl.38 Ausf. H (or Marder III H) is a Rank III German tank destroyer with a battle rating of 3.0 (AB/RB/SB). It was introduced in Update 1.47 "Big Guns".

The Marder III H is a step above the basic Marder III. As it is in Germany's open - top tank destroyer line, it's calling card is it's superb firepower; in fact, it has the most powerful gun for the battle rating 2.0 - 3.0 - 4.0 range - APCBC is almost always enough to penetrate and destroy any tank on the battlefield, and with APCR, it has the highest penetration of any tank for it's battle rating range - even at battle rating 5.0 your gun will remain competitive.

The Marder III Ausf. H mounts a 75 mm gun surpassing those on the late Panzer IV's, thus its only disadvantages are its weak armour and its open encasement.

Being a modified Pz.38(t) tank, it is one of the more mobile of the German tanks - nearly matching some Russian tanks. It has a better gun close-range wise and has better armour coverage, being curved to the sides, unlike the earlier Marder III.

General info

Survivability and armour

Armour type:

• Rolled homogeneous armour

Armour	Front (Slope angle)	Sides (Slope angle)	Rear	Roof
Hull	50 mm (19°) Front plate 12 mm (74°) Front glacis 50 mm (13°) Lower glacis	16 mm Upper 15 mm Lower	15 mm	12 mm
Turret	11 + 8 mm (31°)	11 mm (8-9°)	N/A	N/A

Note:

• Belly armour is 15 mm thick.

Mobility

Mobility characteristic
Weight (tons)	Add-on Armor weight (tons)	Max speed (km/h)
11.3	N/A	46 (AB)
		42 (RB/SB)
Engine power (horsepower)
Mode	Stock	Upgraded
Arcade	227	280
Realistic/Simulator	142	160
Power-to-weight ratio (hp/ton)
Mode	Stock	Upgraded
Arcade	20.09	24.78
Realistic/Simulator	12.57	14.16

Armaments

Main armament

75 mm PaK 40/3 L46
Capacity			Vertical guidance	Horizontal guidance	Stabilizer
38			-2°/+22°	±30°	N/A
Turret rotation speed (°/s)
Mode	Stock	Upgraded	Prior + Full crew	Prior + Expert qualif.	Prior + Ace qualif.
Arcade	7.1	9.9	__.__	__.__	__.__
Realistic	7.1	8.4	__.__	__.__	__.__
Reloading rate (seconds)
Stock	Prior + Full crew	Prior + Expert qualif.	Prior + Ace qualif.
7.6	__.__	__.__	__.__

Ammunition

Penetration statistics
Ammunition	Type of warhead	Penetration in mm @ 90°
		10m	100m	500m	1000m	1500m	2000m
PzGr 39	APCBC	147	146	133	118	105	93
Hl.Gr 38B	HEAT	80	80	80	80	80	80
PzGr 40	APCR	197	195	170	144	121	102
Sprgr. 34	HE	10	10	10	10	10	10

Shell details
Ammunition	Type of warhead	Velocity in m/s	Projectile Mass in kg	Fuse delay in m:	Fuse sensitivity in mm:	Explosive Mass in g (TNT equivalent):	Normalization At 30° from horizontal:	Ricochet:
								0%	50%	100%
PzGr 39	APCBC	792	6.8	1.3	15.0	28.9	+4°	48°	63°	71°
Hl.Gr 38B	HEAT	450	4.4	0.0	0.1	872.1	+0°	62°	69°	73°
PzGr 40	APCR	990	4.2	N/A	N/A	N/A	+1.5°	66°	70°	72°
Sprgr. 34	HE	550	5.7	0.1	0.1	686	+0°	79°	80°	81°

Ammo racks

File:Ammoracks MarderIIIH.png

Ammo racks of the Marder III H.

Full ammo	1st rack empty	2nd rack empty	3rd rack empty	4th rack empty	5th rack empty	6th rack empty	7th rack empty	Visual discrepancy
38	37 (+1)	33 (+5)	29 (+9)	25 (+13)	17 (+21)	9 (+29)	1 (+37)	No

Gun shield empty: 33 (+5)

Machine guns

7.92 mm Vz.37
Hull mount
Capacity (Belt capacity)				Fire rate (shots/minute)	Vertical guidance	Horizontal guidance
1,200 (200)				769	±10°	±10°

Usage in the battles

Since you are an unprotected tank from behind, try to be as far from the action as possible. If getting close to enemy tanks cannot be prevented (Urban maps, Allied retreat etc), then try to hide at least a part of your hull against a wall or rock.

Use the horizontal range of the Marder III H as much as possible - as a turret-less SPG, it has excellent - if not the best - gun traverse for any turret-less SPG. This tank destroyer can be penetrated easily; it has next to no armour at it's battle rating. keep close to other tanks to prevent this in urban maps, and stay close to cover in other maps. Also, be careful when being targeted by Artillery; one close hit on your rear and you can be destroyed by shrapnel. Another important thing to take into account is the fact that ammunition is stored in the nearly unarmoured gun shield - nearly any vehicle in the game - with the notable exception of the GAZ-AAA (4M) - can penetrate this tank with ease. To get Ammunition out of the turret, bring only 32 shells, leaving the "turret" basically empty - 32 shells is more than enough. Another fact to take into account is that nearly all shells will over penetrate the "turret", with no damage, a crewman knocked out or 2.

Modules

First off, research Parts to fix and vehicle damages, especially the gun barrel because it is very easy to get damaged in the midst of combat. Get the Horizontal Drive to move on to the next tier for the FPE. Any over penetrations will critically damage, or set alight, the engine, immobilizing you and destroying you if the fire is not put out. Lastly, go for Adjustment of fire - as one may find the gun of the Marder III H as inaccurate at times.

Pros and cons

Pros:

• Outstanding gun for its rank.
• Armour that protects crew from MG fire, but thin enough to allow normal AP rounds to over-penetrate.
• Fairly small tank destroyer, can hide behind most obstacles.
• Good gun elevation.
• Excellent horizontal arc of 30°, that allows to hide easily the tank.
• Amazing penetration with APCR ammunition.

Cons:

• Vulnerable to HE rounds.
• Not fully enclosed (Exposed crew).
• Bad gun depression.
• Extremely high penetration that it often over penetrates most light tanks that it faces.

History

Development

After the start of Operation Barbarossa, the Wehrmacht found a very dire problem of the lack of a mobile anti-tank system and adequate anti-tank weapons, especially after the appearance of the Soviet T-34 and KV-1 tanks. The only mass-issued anti-tank was the 37 mm Pak 36 and the only mobile anti-tank system widely used was the Panzerjäger I with the Czech 47 mm anti-tank gun. Modifications to current vehicles in service was done to put more self-propelled anti-tank weapons into service, which created the Marder I from the French Lorraine, the Marder II from the Panzer IIs, and the Marder III from the Czech Panzer 38(t).

Specifications

The Marder III, with the rest of the Marder series, gave the Germany forces a self-propelled gun mounting a better gun than what was available on German tanks, such as the 75 mm Pak 40 or captured Soviet 76.2 mm guns chambered for the Pak 40 ammo. All of the Marders share a lack of armour for the crew, the top and rear of the vehicle is left exposed to mortar, shrapnel, or infantry weapons. This weakness is mitigated with the fact that the Marders are suppose to be anti-tank motor carriages that are to ambush incoming enemy tanks.

The Marder III Ausf. H uses the Panzer 38(t) as it was a design going obsolete, and new large German anti-tank weapons were being produced, so they mounted these guns onto the Panzer 38(t) first. The finished self-propelled mount had a higher silhouette than the Panzer 38(t), which left it more vulnerable, but had a 75 mm Pak 40 gun and with hold 38 rounds in the vehicle. A machine gun on the hull was retained for anti-infantry purposes.

The Marder III Ausf. H predecessor, simply named as the Marder III mounted a rechambered 76.2 gun instead of a Pak 40. Another variant created, the Ausf. M, featured a lower silhouette and a better sloped armour and fighting compartment, despite only holding 27 rounds for the mounted Pak 40. A total of 3,472 Marder IIIs and its version was created or converted from Panzer 38(t) during its production life.

Combat usage

The Marder III Ausf. H fought on all front of the war, being produced from 1942 to 1945, with 450 Marder III Ausf. H with the Pak 40 converted and produced. Using the tested design of the Panzer 38(t), the Marder III experienced a reliable mechanical history, and has a gun that could take out most allied tanks in the war. The vulnerability to the crew due to lack of armour was its most pressing issue, with only a front shield plate at most 15 mm thick and side plates that can't enclose the crew. This makes it as very poor assault vehicles or tank substitutes as the open top could allow infantry to easily kill the crew from hidden areas, despite that, it is sometimes repurposed to this role to the chagrin of the crew.

As its production was underway, Germany already had a few self-propelled assault weapons being produced such as the StuG III that could have the same anti-tank capabilities, yet was fully armoured, enclosing the crew in adequate armour. This obvious advantage over the open Marder series encouraged the development of a new kind of tank destroyer from the Panzer 38(t) with better armour, which will eventually create the Jagdpanzer 38(t). Despite that, the Marders continued to serve to the end of the war.

Media

An excellent addition to the article will be video guides, as well as screenshots from the game and photos.

Read also

Links to the articles on the War Thunder Wiki that you think will be useful for the reader, for example,

• reference to the series of the vehicles;
• links to approximate analogues of other nations and research trees.

ETC.

Sources

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• topic on the official game forum;
• other literature.