Pz.III F

Pz.III F

Pz.III B

Pz.III J

Pz.III F

Pz.III B

Pz.III J

Germany

I Rank

Battle rating:

AB	RB	SB
1.3	1.3	1.3

Class:

Medium tank

Research:4 000

Purchase:2 100

Show in game

Description

The Pz.Kpfw. III Ausf. F (Panzer III Ausf. F) is a Rank I German medium tank with a battle rating of 2.0. It was introduced in during the Closed Beta Test for Ground Forces before Update 1.41. Compared to the Panzer III Ausf. E, the Panzer III Ausf. F presents a newer 5 cm KwK 38 main gun.

In game, Ausf. F modification differs from its predeccesor - Pz.III E mostly by its new 5 cm KwK 38 L/42 gun. While it doesn't offer that much more penetration than previous gun, and has a bit longer reload, it definitely causes more damage upon successful penetration. Other than that, only the turret armour has been enhanced a bit - most of the turret front armour is now 37mm thick (was 30mm). These changes makes the tank only slightly heavier, but the effect on mobility is negligible.

General info

Survivability and armour

Armour type:

• Rolled homogeneous armour
• Cast homogeneous armour (Cupola)

Armour	Front (Slope angle)	Sides	Rear	Roof
Hull	30 mm (11°) Front plate 25 mm (85°), 30 mm (53°) Front glacis 30 mm (22-72°) Lower glacis	30 mm	10 mm (74°), 20 mm (33-70°) Top 20 mm (11-66°) Bottom	10 mm
Turret	30 mm (14-30°) Turret front 37 + 37 mm (5-52°)Gun mantlet	30 mm (17-26°)	30 mm (0-23°)	10 mm
Armour	Sides	Roof
Cupola	30 mm	10 mm

Notes:

• Suspension wheels are 15 mm thick while tracks are 20 mm thick.
• The barrel shroud around the main gun is 20 mm thick.
• Bustle racks on the rear hull sides give another 30 mm thick armour at their locations.
• Belly armour is 15 mm thick.

Mobility

Mobility characteristic
Weight (tons)	Add-on Armor weight (tons)	Max speed (km/h)
19.8	N/A	79 (AB)
		71 (RB/SB)
Engine power (horsepower)
Mode	Stock	Upgraded
Arcade	465	572
Realistic/Simulator	265	300
Power-to-weight ratio (hp/ton)
Mode	Stock	Upgraded
Arcade	23.48	28.89
Realistic/Simulator	13.38	15.15

Armaments

Main armament

50 mm KwK 38
Capacity			Vertical guidance	Horizontal guidance	Stabilizer
99			-10°/+20°	±180°	N/A
Turret rotation speed (°/s)
Mode	Stock	Upgraded	Prior + Full crew	Prior + Expert qualif.	Prior + Ace qualif.
Arcade	3.30	4.50	_.__	_.__	_.__
Realistic	3.30	3.80	_.__	_.__	_.__
Reloading rate (seconds)
Stock	Prior + Full crew	Prior + Expert qualif.	Prior + Ace qualif.
5.20	_.__	_.__	_.__

Ammunition

Penetration statistics
Ammunition	Type of warhead	Penetration in mm @ 90°
		10m	100m	500m	1000m	1500m	2000m
PzGr 39	APC	74	73	59	45	34	26
PzGr 40/1	APCR	118	117	84	56	37	25
PzGr 40	APCR	132	130	94	63	42	28

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 39	APC	685	2.1	1.2	25	28.9	+4°	48°	63°	71°
PzGr 40/1	APCR	1005	1.1	N/A	N/A	N/A	+1.5°	66°	70°	72°
PzGr 40	APCR	1050	0.92	N/A	N/A	N/A	+1.5°	66°	70°	72°

Shell types

• PzGr 39 - Armour Piercing Capped shell - This is the main ammo type, use it whenever it has enough penetration to penetrate the target. It deals most damage, because of its explosive filler. On this tank, most of the time it is not necessary to use any other type of ammo.
• PzGr 40/1 - Armour Piercing Composite Rigid shell - This type of ammo should be used if the gun is having 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. It is also much lighter than Gr 39, so it looses penetration faster over distance. It is also notable that it does not ricochet so easily from highly sloped armour.
• PzGr 40 - Armour Piercing Composite Rigid shell - this variation of APCR is even lighter, slightly faster and offers best penetration. Use these against the occasional T-34 and Sherman tanks, which have highly sloped armour and are generally very resistant to the basic APC ammo. However, don't expect it to cause any real damage upon penetration, its even worse than that of PzGr 40/1. It basically only deals damage to modules/crew straight in its path. It is therefore almost useless to fire them at things like turret cupolas, as it will usually just fly right through them without causing any damage.

Ammo racks

Ammo racks of the Panzer III F.

Full ammo	1st rack empty	2nd rack empty	3rd rack empty	4th rack empty	Visual discrepancy
99	75 (+24)	50 (+49)	25 (+74)	1 (+98)	yes

Turret empty: 50 (+49)

Machine guns

7.92 mm MG 34
Coaxial mount
Capacity (Belt capacity)				Fire rate (shots/minute)	Vertical guidance	Horizontal guidance
4,350 (150)				900	N/A	N/A

Usage in the battles

This tank should be played as a second line support or area denial vehicle, due to acceptable speed and accurate, potent gun, yet sluggish turret traverse even when fully upgraded. Avoid engagements at less than 500 meters, where the armour offers more protection against low-velocity guns and the 50 mm cannon retains its penetration well. Always try to use the terrain to the Panzer III's advantage, it has a very nice gun depression, so the Panzer III will have no problem with attacking over hills and various obstacles, while hiding the vulnerable hull.

At 2.0 BR, this tank does not see T-34 (1940), M4A1 (US/FR), Cromwell V, AMX-13 (FL-11), and other very potent and popular 3.3 tanks. Rather its worst opposition will be the 3.0 Churchill Mk I, the 2.3 B1 ter, the 3.0 3-inch Gun Carrier, and the 2.7 M3 Lee/Grant I (versions for US, UK, or RU). All will demand heavy use of APCR to deal with in frontal confrontations, and all but the M3 Lee clones demand APCR for even side shots.

Pros and cons

Pros:

• Accurate and decently powerful gun.
• Great gun depression.
• Very high APCR shell velocity (over 1000 m/s).
• Good mobility.
• Armour is fairly decent- will protect the tank against 37mm guns at range and 20mm cannon at all ranges if angled properly.

Cons:

• Awful turret traverse speed.
• Flat armour with little slope.
• Low reverse speed.

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 as a tank made to destroy anti-tank guns and opposing infantrymen, which the Panzer IV took up in.

Damlier-Benz, Krupp, MAN, and Rheinmetall produced prototypes meeting the specifications and the Damlier-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 combat effectiveness of the tank. Despite this rather advance 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 Ausf. A through C had 15 mm of armour on all sides with 10 mm on top and 5 mm on the bottom. This was quickly upgraded to 30 mm on front, side, and rear on the Ausf. D, E, F, and G models. The Panzer III Ausf. F featured a 50 mm KwK 38 cannon, an upgrade over the previous 37 mm KwK 36. The Panzer Ausf. F had a 300 PS Maybach HL 120 TRM engine that gave it a top speed of about 40 km/h (25 mph) with a operational range of 155 km (96 mi.).

Combat Usage

The Panzer III Ausf. F was first prompted by the German army concerns of their tank-killing tank being undergunned during the French campaign, where the appearance of the French Char B1 and British Matilda tanks proved that their current arsenal was inadequate to counter these threats. Though it was initiated during the campaign, it was over before it could be fully implemented among the armoured forces. It wasn't until Operation Barbarossa, where the appearance of the Soviet T-34 and KV-1 tanks forced the Germans to take up better weapons for their anti-tank inventory. The solution was the 50 mm KwK 38, which helped the Panzer III be able to destroy these Soviet tanks with APCR rounds. Even though the newer Soviet tanks may put the Panzer III out of frontline duties, it still stayed as the more common Soviet T-26 and BT series light tanks were more easily destroyed by the Panzer III.

The German army continued to upgrade their Panzer III to keep them in service as long as possible. The Panzer III Ausf. H featured another 30 mm of armour applied to the original 30 mm of armour on the hull. The next significant upgrade was to the Panzer III Ausf. J, which featured a solid 50 mm of frontal and rear armour plating.

Media

Skins and camouflages for the "Panzer III Ausf. F" 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

Read 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.

ETC.

Sources

Paste links to sources and external resources, such as:

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