Pz.III J1 TD

Pz.III J1 TD

Pz.III J1 TD

Germany

II Rank

Battle rating:

AB	RB	SB
2.7	2.7	2.7

Class:

Medium tank

Purchase:Bundle or Gift

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Description

The Pz.III J1 TD is a gift rank II German medium tank with a battle rating of 2.7 (AB/RB/SB). It was introduced during Update "New Power" as a reward for watching War Thunder streams on Twitch.tv along with a unique skin for the vehicle.

General info

Survivability and armour

Describe armour protection. Note the most well protected and key weak areas. Appreciate the layout of modules as well as the number and location of crew members. Is the level of armour protection sufficient, is the placement of modules helpful for survival in combat? If necessary use a visual template to indicate the most secure and weak zones of the armour.

Armour type:

Armour	Front (Slope angle)	Sides	Rear	Roof
Hull	___ mm	___ mm Top ___ mm Bottom	___ mm	___ - ___ mm
Turret	___ - ___ mm Turret front ___ mm Gun mantlet	___ - ___ mm	___ - ___ mm	___ - ___ mm
Cupola	___ mm	___ mm	___ mm	___ mm

Notes:

Mobility

Game Mode	Max Speed (km/h)		Weight (tons)	Engine power (horsepower)		Power-to-weight ratio (hp/ton)
	Forward	Reverse		Stock	Upgraded	Stock	Upgraded
Arcade	60	12	21.8	465	572	21.33	26.24
Realistic	54	10		265	300	12.16	13.76

Armaments

Main armament

50 mm KwK39					Turret rotation speed (°/s)					Reloading rate (seconds)
Mode	Capacity	Vertical	Horizontal	Stabilizer	Stock	Upgraded	Full	Expert	Aced	Stock	Full	Expert	Aced
Arcade	84	-10°/+20°	±180°	N/A	13.3	18.4	22.4	24.8	26.4	4.81	4.26	3.92	3.70
Realistic					8.3	9.8	11.9	13.2	14.0

Ammunition

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 39	APC	106	102	85	68	54	43
PzGr 40/1	APCR	130	121	90	62	43	29
PzGr 40	APCR	137	126	88	56	36	23
Sprgr. 38	HE	5	5	5	5	5	5

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 39	APC	835	2.05	1.2	9	28.9	48°	63°	71°
PzGr 40/1	APCR	1,130	1.07	N/A	N/A	N/A	66°	70°	72°
PzGr 40	APCR	1,180	0.9	N/A	N/A	N/A	66°	70°	72°
Sprgr. 38	HE	550	1.81	0	0.1	170	79°	80°	81°

Ammo racks

Ammo racks of the Pz.III J1.

Full ammo	1st rack empty	2nd rack empty	3rd rack empty	4th rack empty	Visual discrepancy
84	70 (+14)	62 (+22)	34 (+50)	1 (+83)	No

Machine guns

7.92 mm MG34
Mount	Capacity (Belt)	Fire rate	Vertical	Horizontal
Coaxial	3,750 (150)	900	N/A	N/A

Usage in battles

Offensive

With this tank, you have essentially a "jack of all trades, somewhat good at all of them" kind of options set. You can stick with friendly tanks, and use the cannon's high rate-of-fire and excellent stats with APCR to nab scores from either destroying the enemy or getting team assists. Another way to go on the offensive is to go for a flanking move since at practical distances (400-1000m) the gun's penetration statistics are far less than the maximum advertised. However, the cannon still has enough power at those ranges to at least immobilize particularly important enemy tanks like a KV-1 or Churchill with a drivetrain shot. You can attempt multiple shots to destroy enemies, but by that point, you will begin receiving "responsive fire", and your tank's armour is not good enough to withstand more than 1-2 hits before being taken out.

A possible solution is to use "shoot and scoot" manoeuvres, popping out to fire and then scurrying to a different spot, but this poses issues if the terrain won't allow you to have a consistent cover (which may result in a downed tank between cover) or if there simply isn't much of any cover (like on the Kursk map's outer capture points).

Defensive

When on the defense, you have a number of advantages and some severe disadvantages - being able to hunker down and hammer in shots with the long 5 cm cannon away from the immediate frontlines mean that most tanks that you will face will likely be more focused on more offensive-oriented players in your team, which may cause them to unintentionally show their hull sides towards the Panzer III J1's position. This scenario, combined with your excellent rate of fire and penetration statistics, means you can make quick work of an unsuspecting light or medium tank, assuming you can find cover in a location the enemy will not be looking at.

If detected or ranged by a tank or tank destroyer (assuming they have an angle that negates your cover's protection), your armour will not protect you from very much, as even 20mm AP rounds can penetrate the armour plates if close enough. If you simply find yourself stuck behind cover because the enemy has your position, it is advised to pop smoke (as you have multiple use smoke-grenade launchers) and use the smoke to full effect, making it as difficult as possible for enemy tanks to get an exact bearing on your position as you try to move to better or another cover in general.

Modules

Tier	Mobility		Protection	Firepower
I	Tracks	Winterketten	Parts	Horizontal Drive	PzGr 40/1
II	Suspension	Brake System	FPE	Adjustment of Fire
III	Filters		Crew Replenishment	Elevation Mechanism	PzGr 40
IV	Transmission	Engine		Artillery Support

Pros and cons

Pros:

• High rate of fire
• High shell velocity
• Mobile and fast
• Excellent gun depression
• APCR ammo is great against moving targets
• Can be very durable at times when you angle the armour

Cons:

• Poor damage against modules and crew
• Gun lacks penetration at the range, is likely to bounce on armour slopes
• Overall weak armour
• Modules are sensitive to damage
• APCR is pathetic at long ranges and deals very little damage upon penetration

History

Describe the history of the creation and combat usage of the vehicle in more detail than in the introduction. If the historical reference turns out to be too long, take it to a separate article, taking a link to the article about the vehicle and adding a block "/History" (example: https://wiki.warthunder.com/(Vehicle-name)/History) and add a link to it here using the main template. Be sure to reference text and sources by using <ref></ref>, as well as adding them at the end of the article with <references />. This section may also include the vehicle's dev blog entry (if applicable) and the in-game encyclopedia description (under === In-game description ===, also if applicable).

Media

Excellent additions to the article would be video guides, screenshots from the game, and photos.

See 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.

External links

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