Pz.IV (Sweden)
| This page is about the medium tank Pz.IV (Sweden). For other versions, see Pz.IV (Family). |
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Contents
Description
The ▄Pz.IV is a rank III Swedish medium tank with a battle rating of 4.0 (AB) and 3.7 (RB/SB). It was introduced in Update "Fire and Ice".
While its KwK40 L48 main gun is quite powerful for its BR, it has obvious weaknesses in its armour and should not be used as a main line tank or you will quickly be back to the hangar screen. Staying with allies to assist in finishing a tank off or staying behind to act as a sniper is this tank preferred job description.
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 | 80 mm | 30 mm | 20 mm | ___ - ___ mm |
| Turret | 50 mm Turret front ___ mm Gun mantlet |
30 mm | 30 mm | ___ - ___ mm |
| Cupola | ___ mm | ___ mm | ___ mm | ___ mm |
Notes:
Mobility
Write about the mobility of the ground vehicle. Estimate the specific power and manoeuvrability, as well as the maximum speed forwards and backwards.
| Game Mode | Max Speed (km/h) | Weight (tons) | Engine power (horsepower) | Power-to-weight ratio (hp/ton) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Forward | Reverse | Stock | Upgraded | Stock | Upgraded | ||
| Arcade | 43 | 9 | 25 | _,___ | 572 | __.__ | 22.88 |
| Realistic | 39 | 8 | _,___ | 300 | __.__ | 12 | |
Modifications and economy
| Mobility | Protection | Firepower | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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Armaments
Main armament
| 75 mm KwK40 L48 | Turret rotation speed (°/s) | Reloading rate (seconds) | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mode | Capacity | Vertical | Horizontal | Stabilizer | Stock | Upgraded | Full | Expert | Aced | Stock | Full | Expert | Aced |
| Arcade | 87 | -10°/+20° | ±180° | N/A | __._ | __._ | __._ | __._ | __._ | _.__ | _.__ | _.__ | _.__ |
| Realistic | __._ | __._ | __._ | __._ | __._ | ||||||||
Ammunition
- PzGr 39; APCBC shell - These, already available when stock, should make up the majority of one's ammo loadout. They have good penetration and decent post-penetration damage due to the explosive filler carried inside.
- Hl.Gr 38B; HEAT shell - it is recommended to completely avoid this kind of shell as its performance is vastly inferior in all aspects compared to APCBC or APCR ammo used by this tank.
- PzGr 40; APCR shell - This type of ammo should be used only if there is trouble penetrating the opponent, or trying to hit a fast moving tank at some distance. However, its damaging potential is much lower because it has no explosive filler to further enhance damage after the penetration.
- Sprgr. 34; HE shell - Carrying a few of these is recommended, as they can be very useful against open-topped vehicles due to overpressure. They should be loaded with caution though, since they're completely ineffective against any other vehicles.
- K.Gr.Rot Nb. - Smoke shells are useful to blind enemy vehicles that block your advance while being being too remote for you to disable.
| 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 | APCBC | 145 | 143 | 130 | 116 | 104 | 93 |
| Hl.Gr 38B | HEAT | 80 | 80 | 80 | 80 | 80 | 80 |
| PzGr 40 | APCR | 182 | 177 | 159 | 140 | 122 | 107 |
| Sprgr. 34 | HE | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 |
| 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 | APCBC | 770 | 6.8 | 1.2 | 14 | 17 | 48° | 63° | 71° |
| Hl.Gr 38B | HEAT | 450 | 4.4 | 0.05 | 0.1 | 872.1 | 62° | 69° | 73° |
| PzGr 40 | APCR | 990 | 4.1 | N/A | N/A | N/A | 66° | 70° | 72° |
| Sprgr. 34 | HE | 550 | 5.74 | 0 | 0.1 | 686 | 79° | 80° | 81° |
| Smoke shell characteristics | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ammunition | Velocity (m/s) |
Projectile mass (kg) |
Screen radius (m) |
Screen deploy time (s) |
Screen hold time (s) |
Explosive mass (TNT equivalent) (g) |
| K.Gr.Rot Nb. | 540 | 6.23 | 13 | 5 | 20 | 50 |
Ammo racks
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| Full ammo |
1st rack empty |
2nd rack empty |
3rd rack empty |
4th rack empty |
5th rack empty |
6th rack empty |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 87 | 84 (+3) | 82 (+5) | 80 (+7) | 72 (+15) | 63 (+24) | 54 (+33) |
| 7th rack empty |
8th rack empty |
9th rack empty |
10th rack empty |
11th rack empty |
Visual discrepancy |
|
| 46 (+41) | 38 (+49) | 30 (+57) | 24 (+63) | 1 (+86) | No |
Notes:
- Shells are modeled by sets of 2 and disappear after the last shell in the set starts being loaded.
- Racks 5 and 6 have a shell set in common.
- Carrying 30 (+57) shells leaves the sides of the hull empty.
Machine guns
The MG34 can deal with open-topped vehicles, it can also be used to assist in marking targets for friendly forces. As there is no external MG, it has a very limited use when dealing with hostile aircraft.
| 7.92 mm MG34 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mount | Capacity (Belt) | Fire rate | Vertical | Horizontal |
| Coaxial | 3,150 (150) | 900 | N/A | N/A |
Usage in battles
The Pz.IV suffers from its slow, manual turret traverse rate. This causes the Panzer IV to lose flexibility in reacting to close encounters without turning the entire hull around. As such, it is recommended not to use the Panzer IV as a front-line assaulter in combat.
Tactics-wise, the Panzer IV is perfect for sniping and ambushes, where the slower turret traverse rate affects its combat performance less. Attack from a distance, especially while that enemy is focused on other allies in the team. Ambushes can also work in close-range events when watching corners, street intersections, and choke points, but be wary of any enemies trying to outmanoeuvre the Panzer IV as it would require drastic action with the slow turret rate. Try not to engage the enemy in a straight-up front confrontation as most enemies would be able to easily cleave through the front armour and knock out your vehicle.
Although any tank of Rank III can destroy the Panzer IV pretty quickly, the tanks that mostly need to avoided in open combat are IS-2, KV-2, SU-152, Tiger H1 and Panther tanks. Most of the heavy tanks that it will face include Tigers, the last of KV series, IS-1s, and even some IS-2s. Particularly, IS-2s will be the toughest opponent and can take out the Panzer IV with one hit. Avoid frontal confrontation at all cost. Instead try to be sneaky and attack them from the sides where they become vulnerable.
Pros and cons
Pros:
- 75 mm APCBC shell has high penetration and great post-penetration, can knock out all common foes with a single shot
- -10° gun depression is very handy when fighting among hills
- Satisfactory speed (~35 km/h on average) allows it to keep up with most teammates
- Smoke grenades help to conceal the tank when needed
- 80 mm frontal hull armour may deflect some shells when angled properly
- 5 mm turret side skirt protects it from tanks using HEAT/HE shells
Cons:
- Extremely poor turret traverse, targeting process is slow and dangerous
- Weak survivability: cramped crew, thin frontal turret & side hull armour. Usually gets frontally penetrated easily
- Sluggish acceleration
- Large transmission at the front often gets broken by frontal hits, immobilising the whole tank
- APCBC struggles to penetrate well-armoured tanks at long range (>800 m)
- Low reverse speed of -8 km/h may put the player in a fatal situation
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
Paste links to sources and external resources, such as:
- topic on the official game forum;
- other literature.
| Sweden medium tanks | |
|---|---|
| Strv m/42 | Lago I · Strv m/42 EH · Ikv 73 · Strv m/42 DT · Pvkv IV |
| Centurion derivatives | Strv 81 · Strv 81 (RB 52) · Strv 101 · Strv 104 · Strv 105 |
| Strv 103 | Strv 103-0 · Strv 103A · Strv 103С |
| Strv 121/122 | Strv 121 · Christian II · Strv 122A · Strv 122B PLSS · Strv 122B+ |
| Other | Sherman III/IV · T 80 U |
| Finland | |
| WWII | ▄T-28 · ▄T-34 · ▄Pz.IV · ▄T-34-85 |
| Post War | ▄Comet I · ▄Charioteer Mk VII · ▄T-54 · ▄T-55M · ▄T-72M1 · ▄Leopard 2A4 · ▄Leopard 2A6 |
| Norway | Leopard 1A5NO2 |
