Panzerjager I

Panzerjäger I

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

Sd.Kfz.251/9

Panzerjäger I

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

Sd.Kfz.251/9

Germany

I Rank

Battle rating:

AB	RB	SB
1.3	1.3	1.3

Class:

Tank destroyer

Research:4 000

Purchase:2 100

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Description

The 4,7 cm Pak(t) auf Pz.I Ausf.B, otherwise known as the Panzerjäger I, is a Rank I German tank destroyer with a battle rating of 1.7. It was introduced in Update 1.57 "Battle March".

The vehicle is based on a Pzkpfw. I chassis, which is also found on the Flakpanzer I. This means it has no armour. It has a silhouette slightly resembling a Marder III, but is quite scaled down.

General info

Survivability and armour

Armour type:

• Rolled homogeneous armour

Armour	Front (Slope angle)	Sides (Slope angle)	Rear	Roof
Hull	13 mm (18°) Front plate 13 mm (72-75°) Front glacis 13 mm (26°) Lower glacis	13 mm	13 mm	8 mm
Superstructure	14 mm (26°)	14 mm (15-18°)	N/A	N/A

Notes:

• Suspension wheels and bogies are 10 mm thick while the tracks are 15 mm thick.

Any enemies at this rank can pierce your armour. However, the biggest threats are the SPAA vehicles due to their higher rate of fire with effective weapons that will absolutely rip apart the vehicle. Airplanes too are a concern, and Artillery is very deadly.

Mobility

Mobility characteristic
Weight (tons)	Add-on Armor weight (tons)	Max speed (km/h)
6.4	N/A	46 (AB)
		42 (RB/SB)
Engine power (horsepower)
Mode	Stock	Upgraded
Arcade	142	175
Realistic/Simulator	88	100
Power-to-weight ratio (hp/ton)
Mode	Stock	Upgraded
Arcade	22.19	27.34
Realistic/Simulator	13.75	15.62

Armaments

47 mm Pak(t)(Sf.)
Capacity			Vertical guidance	Horizontal guidance	Stabilizer
86			-8°/+10°	±15°	N/A
Turret rotation speed (°/s)
Mode	Stock	Upgraded	Prior + Full crew	Prior + Expert qualif.	Prior + Ace qualif.
Arcade	10.57	14.63	17.76	19.63	20.89
Realistic	7.10	8.40	10.20	11.28	12.0
Reloading rate (seconds)
Stock	Prior + Full crew	Prior + Expert qualif.	Prior + Ace qualif.
3.90	3.49	3.33	3.0

Ammunition

Penetration statistics
Ammunition	Type of warhead	Penetration in mm @ 90°
		10m	100m	500m	1000m	1500m	2000m
Pzgr.36(t)	APC	77	74	59	45	34	26
Pzgr.40	APCR	103	102	73	49	32	22

Shell details
Ammunition	Type of warhead	Velocity in m/s	Projectile Mass in kg	Fuse delay in m:	Fuse sensitivity in mm:	Explosive Mass in g (TNT equivalent):	Normalization At 30° from horizontal:	Ricochet:
								0%	50%	100%
Pzgr.36(t)	APC	775	1.7	1.2	25.0	15	+4°	48°	63°	71°
Pzgr.40	APCR	1080	0.83	N/A	N/A	N/A	+1.5°	66°	70°	72°

Ammo racks

Ammo racks of the Panzerjäger I.

Full ammo	1st rack empty	2nd rack empty	3rd rack empty	4th rack empty	5th rack empty	Visual discrepancy
86	50 (+36)	38 (+48)	28 (+60)	10 (+76)	0 (+86)	Yes

Usage in the battles

Although virtually unarmoured, it can be used in a head-on manner. However, this is not recommended. It is much better to snipe or ambush the enemy. Its gun may have a good Rate of Fire, but many other guns of its rank, such as the British 2 pounder, will reload faster than you. Your gun is extremely powerful for its rank, which means you will go through almost anything, so there is no need to throw yourself in front of the enemy.

While the gun can be sufficient and one-shot many enemies from light to medium tanks, more heavily armoured tanks will be a problem unless using the APCR ammunition. The common enemies to be concerned about are the B1 bis, B1 ter, and Matilda Mk II if the Panzerjaeger I is used as the highest-BR option in your lineup. The B1 bis is only frontally penetratable on the turret ring or the exposed breech of the hull-mounted 75mm. The B1 ter is only penetratable in flank shots with APCR or a very lucky turret ring hit. The Matilda is only frontally penetratable on the turret ring or demands use of APCR.

Pros and cons

Pros:

• Large ammo reserve of 86 rounds
• Agile vehicle
• Good power-to-weight ratio (27.34 hp/ton in AB, 15.62 hp/ton in RB/SB)
• One of the best guns in Rank I, can penetrate most things it comes up against and destroy them in 1-2 penetrating hits due to HE filler
• Access to APCR ammunition for certain targets that the APC-HE cannot penetrate reliably
• Good ballistics for 47 mm, can be used effectively at long range
• Narrow, can fit in tight spaces
• Fast reload

Cons:

• Tall profile, bigger target
• Very thin armour, maximum of 15 mm
• Crew operating the gun have no armour protection in the top and rear of their position
• Not a lot of horsepower, poor for towing downed allied vehicles
• No defensive machine gun, open-top SPAA can be a problem
• Gun quickly becomes obsolete in uptiers, it does not cope well with sloped armour

History

Development

The heavily armoured tanks in Allied inventory was considered a threat to the German armoured forces, which consisted of mostly 3.7 cm gun that were ineffective. To counter these threats, the Germans sought for a vehicle able to mount a bigger gun able to fight these tanks. It was found that they could convert obsolete chassis designs like the Panzer I to mount the guns, thus saving the design process of developing a new vehicle for the role. The Czech 4.7 cm Pak(t) anti-tank gun was chosen for this task, and was mounted on a converted Panzer I chassis with the turret removed, a gun shield was used for the mount of the gun. Between 1940 to 1941, 202 Panzer I’s were converted by Alkett and Deutz AG to these tank destroyers, designated the ‘’’Panzerjäger I‘’’, the first of its kind of tank destroyers in the war.

Combat usage

The Panzerjäger I were organised in anti-tank battalions, each having three companies with nine vehicles each. Five battalions in the war were equipped with the tank destroyer. The first usage of the Panzerjäger I was in the Battle of France, where four battalions were committed. Though, only Anti-Tank Battalion 521 saw service from the beginning to the end as the other four were still in training when the campaign started. The opinion of the crew of these vehicles were positive, saying that the weapon was adequate to distances up to 600 meters if the enemy had 45 to 50 mm of armour. However, the crew also say that the ability to observe the battle in the vehicle was terrible, the crew had to look over the shield to see what is ahead, risking themselves to injury to the head.

After the Battle of France, the Panzerjäger I's in Anti-Tank Battalion 605 were sent to the North African Campaign, though only 3 of the 27 vehicles made it as the transport freighter Castellon carrying the rest was sunk. The battalion was in full strength during the British offensive in Operation Crusader in November 1941, to which they lost 13 vehicles in the battle. Battle experience praise the accuracy the vehicle provides, but state that the vehicles were too weak for the combat conditions and the gun didn’t have enough penetration in long distance. With an APCR round, it was found it could destroy the venerable Matilda infantry tanks at distance of around 400 meters. The battalion continued this battle of attrition with reinforcement and losses that during the Second Battle of El Alamein in October 1942, only 11 Panzerjäger I’s were left in the battalion. The last two replacement vehicle were sent to the battalion in November 1942. In Operation Barbarossa, five anti-tank battalions were equipped with the Panzerjäger I’s, which made up a total of 135 vehicles. The combat experience was subpar, while the Panzerjäger I had a good effective range of up to 1,000 to 1,200 meters, but the high profile of the vehicle presented a big target to enemy anti-tank weapons and artillery, even shrapnels from high-explosive shells could penetrate the thin armour. Many Panzerjäger I’s were destroyed and by the Fall of 1942, many battalions reported to be under equipped for further action and were disbanded. At this point, better anti-tank weaponry and vehicles were more accessible and replaced the Panzerjäger I in service, notably the Marder series.

Media

An excellent addition to the article will be video guides, as well as screenshots from the game and photos.

Read also

• [Devblog] The Panzerjäger I, and announcing a branch of German SPGs with open cabins
• [Profile] Panzerjäger I - The first German Tank Hunter

Sources

Paste links to sources and external resources, such as:

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