Pz.III J

This page is about the German medium tank Pz.III J. For other versions, see Panzer III (Family).

Pz.III J

Pz.III F

Pz.III J

Pz.III F

Germany

I Rank

Battle rating:

AB	RB	SB
2.3	2.3	2.3

Class:

Medium tank

Research:5 900

Purchase:6 300

Show in game

Description

The Panzerkampfwagen III Ausführung J (Panzer III J) (Sd.Kfz. Index: Sd.Kfz. 141) is the ninth variant of the Panzerkampfwagen III medium tank family (the "I" variant was skipped). The Panzer III J looked much like the Panzer III G. It was designed with a turret housing a 50 mm Kampfwagenkanone (KwK) 38 L/42 tank gun. It used the same Maybach HL 120 TRM petrol/gasoline 285 horsepower engine and had identical armour thickness. The hull frontal armour's basic armour thickness had increased to 50 mm. An additional armour plate was installed internally to the front of the turret in the spring of 1941, increasing it to a maximum thickness of 57 mm in places. To improve engine compartment ventilation, the structure of the chassis was extended. The armoured front brake vents were redesigned. On the roof of the turret was an armoured extractor fan. The 50 mm KwK38 L/42 tank gun was capable of firing up to 20 rounds per minute, through the use of a semi-automatic breech that opened before the end of the recoil, ejected the used casing, and allowed for fast loading of the next shell.

Introduced in Update 1.45 "Steel Generals", the Panzer III J is the next addition to the Panzer III medium tank family. The Panzer III J, armed with the already familiar 50 mm KwK38 L/42 tank gun, can readily deal with adversaries in its ranks. Increased hull frontal armour thickness allows players to take greater risks during combat. The turret traverse, on the other hand, is sluggish, owing to the lack of an electric power traverse system. This is arguably one of the most significant disadvantages of any Panzer IIIs, especially when fighting in towns or areas with a lot of cover. Players must use caution when playing in maps where enemy tanks might quickly set up ambush.

General info

Survivability and armour

Smoke grenades

Creation of a smoke screen in front of the vehicle

Armourfront / side / back

Hull53 / 30 / 53

Turret30 / 30 / 30

Crew5 people

Visibility88 %

Armour type:

• Rolled homogeneous armour
• Cast homogeneous armour (Barrel shroud, Cupola)

Armour	Front	Sides	Rear	Roof
Hull	50 mm (12°) Front plate 25 mm (86°), 50 mm (52°) Front glacis 50 mm (23-69°) Lower glacis	30 mm	50 mm (14-46°) Top 50 mm (10-66°) Bottom	15 mm
Turret	50 mm (10-25°) Turret front 50 mm (12-62°) Gun mantlet	30 mm (20-25°)	30 mm (12-15°)	10 mm
Cupola	50 mm (spherical)			10 mm

Notes:

• Suspension wheels are 15 mm thick while tracks are 20 mm thick.

Mobility

Speedforward / back

AB60 / 12 km/h

RB and SB54 / 10 km/h

Number of gears6 forward

1 back

Weight21.8 t

Engine power

AB572 hp

RB and SB300 hp

Power-to-weight ratio

AB26.2 hp/t

RB and SB13.8 hp/t

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

Modifications and economy

Repair costBasic → Reference

AB300 → 408

RB320 → 436

SB385 → 524

Total cost of modifications5 920

4 460

Talisman cost410

Crew training1 800

Experts6 300

Aces75

Research Aces135 000

Reward for battleAB / RB / SB

20 / 30 / 30 %

106 / 106 / 106 %

Modifications

Mobility	Protection	Firepower
Tracks Research: 240 Cost: 180 50 Winterketten Research: 240 Cost: 180 50 Suspension Research: 330 Cost: 250 65 Brake System Research: 330 Cost: 250 65 Filters Research: 370 Cost: 280 75 Transmission Research: 640 Cost: 480 130 Engine Research: 640 Cost: 480 130	Improved Parts Research: 240 Cost: 180 50 Improved FPE Research: 330 Cost: 250 65 Crew Replenishment Research: 370 Cost: 280 75	Horizontal Drive Research: 240 Cost: 180 50 50mm_kwk_38_39_APCR2_ammo_pack Research: 240 Cost: 180 50 Adjustment of Fire Research: 330 Cost: 250 65 Elevation Mechanism Research: 370 Cost: 280 75 Smoke grenade Research: 370 Cost: 280 75 Artillery Support Research: 640 Cost: 480 130

Armaments

Main armament

50 mm KwK L/42 cannon

Ammunition99 rounds

First-order22 rounds

Reloadbasic crew → aces

5.2 → 4.0 s

Vertical guidance-10° / 20°

50 mm KwK L/42					Turret rotation speed (°/s)					Reloading rate (seconds)
Mode	Capacity	Vertical	Horizontal	Stabilizer	Stock	Upgraded	Full	Expert	Aced	Stock	Full	Expert	Aced
Arcade	99	-10°/+20°	±180°	N/A	5.2	7.2	8.8	9.7	10.4	5.20	4.60	4.24	4.00
Realistic					3.3	3.8	4.7	5.2	5.5

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	80	76	62	48	38	29
PzGr 40	APCR	116	107	74	47	30	19

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	685	2.05	1.2	9	28.9	48°	63°	71°
PzGr 40	APCR	1,050	0.9	-	-	-	66°	70°	72°

Ammo racks

Ammo racks of the Pz.III J

Full ammo	1st rack empty	2nd rack empty	3rd rack empty	4th rack empty	5th rack empty	6th rack empty	Visual discrepancy
99	78 (+21)	63 (+36)	43 (+56)	35 (+64)	23 (+76)	1 (+98)	No

Notes:

• Shells are individually modeled.
• Ready-rack only: 23 (+76) shells.

Machine guns

7.92 mm MG34 machine gun (coaxial)

Ammunition4 350 rounds

Belt capacity150 rounds

Reloadbasic crew → aces

10.4 → 8.0 s

Fire rate900 shots/min

7.92 mm MG34
Mount	Capacity (Belt)	Fire rate	Vertical	Horizontal
Coaxial	4,350 (150)	900	N/A	N/A

The small calibre of the MG34 machine gun makes it largely ineffective against all armoured vehicles but the ones with an open compartment. It still can be used to ping targets as a rangefinding help or to mow down minor obstacles blocking your line of sight.

Usage in battles

Use of this tank is similar to the Pz.III F, and while it does have significantly better armour on the front than its predecessor, the higher BR means it faces nastier opposition. T-34 (1940)s are almost impenetrable from any side except flat-on below the tracks. M4A1s are similar in speed to you, have thinner sides, are spacious, have powerful guns, and stabilizers. Cromwells are much faster than you with stronger guns. You can only hope for them to get overconfident, overextend, and shoot them in the side or rear. APCR post-penetration damage is not reliable enough to be counted upon when you need it the most, and often can't frontally penetrate a Sherman or T-34 anyway.

Furthermore, even in the best circumstances, the high fuse sensitivity makes many lightly-armoured things with strong guns your worst nightmare, since you'll over-penetrate repeatedly in most cases, allowing easy return fire from the person you failed to knock out, which more often than not cripples you. Enemy SPAAGs, in particular, are frustrating to knock out because of your 15 mm turret ring weak spot enabling them to spray all over you to incapacitate your gunner and loader.

Pros and cons

Pros:

• Accurate and decently powerful gun
• Good gun depression
• Good mobility
• APCR ammo has very high speed and good penetration, making shooting at long-range easier
• Armour is fairly decent and can protect reliably against lower-calibre guns

Cons:

• Average to low armour penetration with regular ammunition
• Poor turret traverse speed
• Flat armour with little slope, thin side armour
• Large commander's cupola which can stick out above the terrain and receive fire
• Rather high shell fuse sensitivity relative to the cannon's power

History

Development

The Panzerkampfwagen III medium tank or the Panzer III was developed in the 1930s. Starting in early 1934, Heinz Guderian set down some specifications for a new tank, which Army Weapons Department took up to design the tank to weigh no more than 24,000 kilograms with a top speed of 35 km per hour. This tank's role was to be the main tank of the German army and was expected to destroy opposing tanks, as opposed to a tank made to destroy anti-tank guns and opposing infantrymen, which the Panzer IV took up in.

Daimler-Benz, Krupp, MAN, and Rheinmetall produced prototypes meeting the specifications and the Daimler-Benz model was chosen after testing in 1936-1937. The Panzer III model used a leaf-spring suspension in its early models (Ausf. A - Ausf. D) before utilizing a six-wheeled torsion-bar suspension in the Ausf. E and beyond. The Panzer III had a crew of five people, the commander, gunner, loader, driver, and assistant driver. The best feature of the Panzer III during its introduction that is the most overlooked was the three-man turret, which was not as common at the time. This frees the commander to be able to effectively command the tank while maintaining situational awareness rather than be burdened by the role of a loader or gunner, improving the combat effectiveness of the tank. Despite this rather advanced design, the turret did not have a turret basket for the crew. It was a proven design and production began in May 1937. The total number of Panzer IIIs tanks constructed in its production life was 5,774 units (excluding StuG III variant).

Specifications

The Panzer III started with only 15 mm of armour on all sides, this was quickly upgraded to 30 mm on the front, side, and rear on the Ausf. D, E, F, and G models. Then the Ausf. H placed an additional 30 mm of armour onto the front hull as an interim solution before the Panzer III Ausf. J gave the Panzer III a 50 mm armour thickness on the front and rear. The Panzer III Ausf. J still retained the 50 mm KwK 38 cannon from the Ausf. F, which provided much-needed firepower over the 37 mm KwK 36. The Panzer Ausf. J had a 300 PS Maybach HL 120 TRM engine that gave it a top speed of about 40 km/h (25 mph) with an operational range of 155 km (96 mi.).

Combat usage

The Panzer III Ausf. J gave the German army better armour for their Panzer III and with a better gun. However, it was still considered under-gunned by the Soviet contemporary T-34 and KV-1 tanks as the 50 mm KwK 38 was not powerful enough to penetrate these tanks frontally with normal ammo. This requires the use of APCR, which was in low supply. The Soviet T-26 and BT series light tanks were still easily taken care of and they were still in larger quantities than the T-34s and KVs, but T-34 production was kicking off and it won't be long before the T-34 becomes the main tank of the Red Army.

The Panzer III still needed improvements if it ever was to go up against the more modern tanks and Germany needed it to stay in service as long as possible as their new tanks were being developed. The next variant featured additional armour and a better 50 mm cannon, the 50 mm KwK 39, on the Panzer III Ausf. J1. The armour had an additional 20 mm offset armour in the front hull and turret, plus the 50 mm KwK 39 featured a longer barrel than the 50 mm KwK 38, increasing its penetration values.

Archive of the in-game description

One of the serial modifications to the Pz.Kpfw.III light tank, 1,549 of these tanks were produced from March to October 1941. The armour plating installed on tanks of the Ausf. H modification was a temporary measure. Tanks of the Pz.Kpfw.III Ausf. J modification began to be released in March 1941. The thickness of the single-layer, homogeneous armour of the front and rear plates was 50 mm. The design of the spherical machine gun installation had to be modified due to the increase in the thickness of the armour plates. A large number of less significant changes were also made. The first vehicles released were added to the arsenal of the African Corps, but the overwhelming majority entered divisions that were performing combat operations in the incipient war with the Soviet Union. Towards the middle to late stages of the war, the Soviet Union captured large numbers of German vehicles including Pz.III Ausf. Js and would put them into use against their former owners.

Media

Skins

• Skins and camouflages for the Pz.III J from live.warthunder.com.

Sights

• RideR2's Realistic gunsight (TZF4a, TZF 5a/b/d/e/f/f2, TZF 9b/b1/c/d, TZF 12/a) for Pzkpfw II, Pzkpfw III, Pzkpfw IV, Pzkpfw V, Pzkpfw VI

Videos

The Shooting Range #338 - Pages of History section at 04:01 relates the Soviet assessment of the German Pz.III J.

See also

Other vehicles of the Panzer III series:

• Pz.III (Family)
  • T-III (USSR)
  • Pz.III J1

Vehicles of similar configuration:

• Pz.IV (Family)

External links

• [Development] PzKpfw III Ausf. J