Pz.III B

Pz.III B

Pz.III E

Pz.III F

Pz.III B

Pz.III E

Pz.III F

Germany

I Rank

Battle rating:

AB	RB	SB
1.0	1.0	1.0

Class:

Medium tank

Research:Free

Purchase:Free

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Description

The Pz.Kpfw. III Ausf. B is a rank I German medium tank with a battle rating of 1.0 (AB/RB/SB). It was introduced in Update 1.59 "Flaming Arrows".

General info

Survivability and armour

Like many low-BR tanks, the armour is thin enough that it can be frontally penetrable by .50 cal machine guns found on most American tanks, as well as the French P.7.T AA and the Russian GAZ-AAA DShK. Every low-rank cannon, except maybe the French 37 mm SA18 L/21, has no trouble penetrating the Pz.III B anywhere. The crew inside the Pz.III B is well-spaced out, however, so you can generally survive a frontal penetration or two.

Mobility

The Pz.III B has average to below-average mobility for low rank with 35 km/h top speed, and a usable, but not great, reverse speed of 5.5 km/h. Power/weight ratio is 20.8 hp/ton in Arcade, but only 15.62 in RB/SB, which is average to below-average.

Armaments

Main armament

The Pz.III B is the first vehicle in the German ground tree armed with the 37 mm KwK 36. This gun has two ammo types, PzGr. APHE with 46 mm penetration at point-blank range against flat armour, and the PzGr.40 with 91 mm penetration at point-blank range against flat armour.

The PzGr. APHE fires at 745 m/s and has a 13 g PETN explosive mass with a TNT equivalent of 22 g. With 46mm pen, it is sufficient to harm most things it comes across but is best used inside shots.

The PzGr.40 APCR fires at 1020 m/s and pens 91 mm.

Machine guns

This vehicle has two coaxial 7.92 mm MG34 machine guns, which helps when facing against the common flak trucks and such that you encounter at low ranks.

Usage in battles

This tank is more or less average in most respects. American and Russian reserves best it in speed. British reserves have similar speed, worse reverse, much better guns, better gun depression, and similar armour. French reserves have worse guns but nearly double the frontal armour. Japanese reserves have better speed, nearly identical guns, and much better gun depression. Italian reserves are slower, have slower fire rates, and have much better armour.

Pros and cons

Pros:

• Decent top speed of 35 km/h
• Reasonable acceleration to achieve top speed
• Gun works well enough against most things you encounter, though side shots are preferable
• Has high-penetrating APCR to deal with more irritating opponents frontally
• Fast reload

Cons:

• Weak frontal armour, easily incapacitated by .50 cal machine guns
• Only stock shell has useful post-penetration damage, but it can barely penetrate M3 Stuarts frontally
• APCR post-penetration damage is generally terrible, yet tank has to rely on this a lot of the time to penetrate front armours
• Very slow turret traverse of only 5.1 degrees/sec
• Requires APCR to penetrate even the side of the fairly common French B1 bis
• Roof armour thin enough to be penned by .50 cal machine guns

History

The Pz.III was supposed to be the main tank of Germany's Panzer Divisions at the start of the war, but its design wasn't finalized until 1939. Approximately 70 early models (A through D, varying primarily by their suspension systems) were made before full-scale production began with the Pz IIIE and F models. All these early models were withdrawn from service by April of 1940.

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

• [Devblog] PzKpfw III Ausf. B