Nb.Fz.

Nb.Fz.

Nb.Fz.

Germany

I Rank

Battle rating:

AB	RB	SB
1.3	1.3	1.3

Class:

PREMIUM

Medium tank

Purchase:1 750

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Description

The Neubaufahrzeug is a rank I German medium tank with a battle rating of 1.3 (AB/RB/SB). It was introduced in Update 1.51 "Cold Steel".

General info

Survivability and armour

The Nebaufahrzeug has even higher survivability than Panzer III/IV tanks at similar battle ratings, due to its size and relegation of crews to several turrets. The armour on it is actually rather thin, despite it looking very imposing and being trolly in layout. It has six crew, a driver, two machine gunners in small independent turrets, and a gunner, loader, and commander in the main turret where the pair of weapons are. The front armour thickness ranges from just 13mm to 20mm, making it possible to immobilize it with .50cal machine gun fire frontally.

Mobility

The top speed of the vehicle is just 28 kph, which for low ranks where non-French reserve tanks seem to move like go-karts, is quite bad. The power-to-weight ratio, on the other hand, is rather good at 11.9 hp/ton, giving it a very nice acceleration considering how large it is. It feels much like the Russian KV-1 in that regard.

Armaments

Main armament

The main armament of the Nebaufahrzeug is the KwK 37, which shoots 52 mm penetration APCBC-HE, 80 mm penetration HEAT, and smoke. Problem is, due to the current limitations of the game, it is impossible to take more than four different kinds of shells, and for multi-gun tanks, each gun can just pick two shells in its repertoire. So the practical combinations would be either APCBC+HEAT, APCBC+smoke, or HEAT+smoke.

Additional armament

The Nebaufahrzeug also has a second anti-tank gun in the main turret, a KwK 36, to the left of the 75 mm cannon. This shoots either 47 mm penetration APHE or 91 mm penetration APCR. It is decent, much like the same gun on the Pz. III B and Pz. III E, but is best used as a backup to the 75 mm between reloads on that. It shoots at far higher velocities than the 75 mm, so it is more suited to long range engagements.

Machine guns

The Nebaufahrzeug has three 7.92 mm Dryse machine guns, which are similar to the MG34 and use the same belts. At best they're good for zapping flak trucks, but in practicality, they're almost useless since the two extra MG turrets have very poor turret traverse.

Usage in battles

This vehicle may look like a heavy tank, but it is anything but. The armour is far too thin to use this thing for its armour, relegating it to a support/ambush role. By binding separate keys for the two guns, you can "one-two-punch" just about anything you encounter.

The HEAT on the 75 mm, however, is generally inadequate against the B1 bis and useless against the B1 ter. The Valentine MkI is a bit easier to pen but has a much stronger gun you want to avoid at all costs. The 37mm APCR doesn't fare that much better against any of these targets either. Frankly, just avoid these where possible.

Pros and cons

Pros:

• Can chain the two guns between reloads of each
• Both guns reload in similarly fast speeds
• High survivability due to numerous and well-spaced out crew
• More mobile than one would expect for such a large tank
• Good zoom on the guns

Cons:

• Armor is deceptively thin for such a large tank
• Top speed is nothing to write home about in this rank
• Would find its options limited when against the B1 bis, B1 ter, and Valentine Mk I
• Awful turret traverse on all three turrets makes it hard to react well to multiple enemies, let alone flak trucks
• Large target

History

Describe the history of the creation and combat usage of the ground vehicle in more detail than in the introduction. If the historical reference turns out to be too big, 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>, as well as adding them at the end of the article. This section may also include the vehicle's dev blog entry (if applicable) and the in-game encyclopedia description (under === Encyclopedia Info ===, also if applicable).

In-game description

An experimental multi-turret medium tank. The first models were built in 1934. During construction, the tank took on the designation of Neubaufahrzeug V (Nb.Fz.V) for the first two vehicles. The second series of three tanks had the designation Nb.Fz.VI.

In German military documentation the designation Panzerkampfwagen VII is also encountered; it was later replaced by Pz.Kpfw.IVnA (Panzerkampfwagen IV new Art). During the Norwegian campaign, the tanks were also referred to in documents as Neubau-Pz.Kpfw.IV.

All three tanks of the second series were used during the Norwegian operation. They were officially part of the special tank battalion Panzer Abteilung zur besonderer Vervendung 40 (Pz.Abt1. Zb.V 40). The tanks were combined into one company under the command of Lt. Hans Horstmann.

The official name of this subdivision in battalion documentation was Zug “Plutos”, but it was most commonly referred to by its commander’s name as Panzerzug “Horstmann.” The company’s emblem was a mammoth’s head located in front of the driver’s cabin.

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;
• encyclopedia page on the tank;
• other literature.