15cm sIG 33 B Sfl

15cm sIG 33 B Sfl

Sd.Kfz.221 (s.Pz.B.41)

15cm sIG 33 B Sfl

Sd.Kfz.221 (s.Pz.B.41)

Germany

I Rank

Battle rating:

AB	RB	SB
1.0	1.0	1.0

Class:

Tank destroyer

Research:2 900

Purchase:700

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Description

The 15cm sIG 33 B Sfl is a rank I German tank destroyer with a battle rating of 1.0 (AB/RB/SB). It was introduced in Update 1.67 "Assault". Based on the Panzer II chassis, it mounted a 150 millimeter cannon and was used during the North African campaign.

General info

Survivability and armour

The Sturmpanzer II does have enough armour to stop low BR tank rounds, however it should not be relied upon to stop High Velocity or High Penetration rounds, especially from other SPGs. It is an open topped vehicle, and since it has no machine guns, it is very vulnerable to air attack.

Despite having very little armor, it does have a lot of empty space in the tank to resist multiple penetrating hits before being destroyed. However, it is hull-breakable against 75mm or larger guns with sufficient AP velocity or HEAT capability.

Mobility

The Sturmpanzer II can go up to 45 kph, but due to the low Power/Weight ratio of 17.04 hp/ton in AB and 9.74 hp/ton in RB, the practical top speed is significantly less. Reverse speed is decent, up to 8.4 kph.

Armaments

Main armament

The Sturmpanzer II mounts an S.I.G. 33 Infantry Support cannon, which can fire HEAT or HE rounds. The shell velocity is very slow (240m/s), so slow that it can be awkward to target moving targets or those at long ranges, especially with HE rounds. The calibre of the gun is 15 cm (150 mm/5.9 in). The Sturmpanzer does not have any other weapons.

The J.Gr.38 HE shell penetrates 65 mm against vertical armour and 60 mm against armour sloped back 60 degrees from vertical (30 degrees from horizontal), due to it having similar mechanics to naval Guns of the same calibre. The 8.6 kg explosive mass ensures that anything that gets penetrated is instantly knocked out or is so badly crippled that a follow-up shot is guaranteed.

- Note: the HE on this is so powerful that it can even one-shot top rank tanks reliably, but due to the huge mobility disadvantage, this is not recommended unless you know exactly what you are getting yourself into.

The J.Gr.39 HI/A HEAT shell penetrates 185 mm against vertical armor and still has a 4.16 kg TNT equivalent of explosives behind it, giving it effectively 40-45 mm penetration from the explosion splash on top of the HEAT superplastic copper jet penetration. In one of the minor updates of the game, 120mm and larger HEAT rounds were altered to act more like HE shells to benefit top rank vehicles - tanks such as the Sturmpanzer are unintentional beneficiaries of this change.

Usage in battles

The Sturmpanzer has no air defence weapons, so sticking with an SPAA tank at the back of the map is a good idea. If you want to close range brawl with low tier tanks, then sticking with another tank is a good idea since the long reload will cause you trouble if you get swarmed by lots of tanks. It has the capability to knock out much higher BR tank, so if you're uptiered, it's not the end of the world. However shoot before your opponent shoots, because if you come across a higher tier tank, you will be eliminated almost instantaneously. The best thing to do is to fire, then fall back to reload in a safe haven.

Due to the huge HE splash ability and sheer caliber of the gun, it can even be used to hull break high tier IFVs - BMP-1s at 7.3 are especially common to encounter. It does the same thing to BMP-2s, M3 Bradleys, Warriors, Centauros, and many other vehicles. The HE splash, however, is strong enough that it can oneshot the light but non-hull-breakable vehicles such as the M41A1 Bulldog, any AMX-13 variation, Crusaders in lower ranks, and many others. Purposely uptiering it can be a very effective way to earn Silver Lions with the "God Mode!" award - killing something 5 BR ranks higher (BR 7.0+) than you which nets 20,000 Silver Lions.

Pros and cons

Pros:

• Tank can eliminate most modules or crew members of a tank in one well aimed shot, if not destroying it
• Can survive hits it will take from rank 1 tanks
• Can make a fair turn at speed when driving along
• Low profile and small front make it easy to hide and easy to camouflage with bushes

Cons:

• Reload means it is inadequate for close-range combat without allied support
• HE and HEAT are both stopped by various soft debris found on most maps such as fences, concrete blocks, brick walls, wood objects, etc.
• Open-topped and very vulnerable to aircraft as a result

History

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Media

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See also

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External links

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