Difference between revisions of "Pz.III B"

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Revision as of 05:34, 17 May 2020

RANK 6 BRITAIN
Rooikat 105 PACK
Pz.III B
germ_pzkpfw_iii_ausf_b.png
Pz.III B
AB RB SB
1.0 1.0 1.0
Class:
Research:Free
Purchase:Free
Show in game

Description

GarageImage Pz.III B.jpg


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

The Pz.III B, distinguishable from the Pz.III E by the cylindrical cupola

The Pz.III B is one of the worst starter vehicles in terms of overall survivability. The armour thickness of the hull and sides are 14.5 mm thick, with 16 mm on the turret face. This isn't even enough protection to nullify heavy machine gun fire, which leaves this vehicle almost universally vulnerable from almost all vehicles present in the lower ranks. By angling the hull, you can potentially bring the protection up to 20 mm effective on the front and sides, but this is a superficial boost to armour and will still not reliably protect the tank from any incoming rounds. The only advantage survivability wise this vehicle has is the crew count as it has 5 members. Because most of the incoming fire is going to be from low calibre AP rounds, it's very unlikely that this tank will be taken out in a single shot, though this is more of a passive advantage and not something you can actively make use of.

Armour type:

  • Rolled homogeneous armour
  • Cast homogeneous armour (Cupola)
Armour Front (Slope angle) Sides Rear Roof
Hull 14.5 mm (9°) Front plate

14.5 mm (49°) Front glacis 10 mm (15°) Lower glacis

14.5 mm 14.5 mm 10 mm
Turret 16 mm Turret front

16 mm Gun mantlet

14.5 mm (25°) 14.5 mm (20°) 10 mm
Cupola 14.5 mm 14.5 mm 14.5 mm 10 mm

Mobility

Game Mode Max Speed (km/h) Weight (tons) Engine power (horsepower) Power-to-weight ratio (hp/ton)
Forward Reverse Stock Upgraded Stock Upgraded
Arcade 40 7 16 271 477 16.94 29.81
Realistic 36 6 221 250 13.81 15.63

The Pz.III B has fairly unimpressive mobility across all fronts, it can reach a max speed of 35 km/h in RB mode, and 39 km/h in AB mode. Compared to other reserve tanks, this is on the slower side by a large margin and therefore will struggle when it comes to reaching good spots early, pushing across the map and retreating from combat. This tied with the lack of meaningful armour really hurts this tank's overall performance. The only positive aspect of this tanks mobility is its hull traverse, which can help turn the turret and cannon quicker than just using the turret traverse on its own.

Armaments

Main armament

Main article: KwK36 (37 mm)

The Pz.III B is equipped with the 37 mm KwK36, which is a fairly underwhelming weapon performance wise. It can penetrate most lower rank vehicles at close range, but at further ranges the gun really does start to struggle. It's also fairly inaccurate, which makes aiming for certain weak spots quite difficult.

It comes with two available rounds -

  • APHE- Max 47 mm penetration- Low penetration but higher damage potential
  • APCR- Max 86 mm penetration- High penetration but lower damage potential.

It's best to consider taking a mix of both types of ammunition. The APHE has the potential to one-shot some enemy tanks, but will be completely ineffective against the more heavily armoured vehicles; for these tanks, it's best to use APCR and aim for flat surfaces. The APCR does very little damage internally, so try to aim for crew members if possible.

37 mm KwK36 Turret rotation speed (°/s) Reloading rate (seconds)
Mode Capacity Vertical Horizontal Stabilizer Stock Upgraded Full Expert Aced Stock Full Expert Aced
Arcade 121 -10°/+20° ±180° N/A 16.1 22.2 __._ __._ __._ 3.7 _._ _._ 2.9
Realistic 3.6 4.2 __._ __._ 6.0

Ammunition

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 APHE 47 44 31 21 14 9
PzGr 40 APCR 86 77 47 26 14 8
Shell details
Ammunition Type of
warhead
Velocity
(m/s)
Projectile
Mass (kg)
Fuse delay
(m)
Fuse sensitivity
(mm)
Explosive Mass
(TNT equivalent) (g)
Normalisation at 30°
from horizontal
Ricochet
0% 50% 100%
PzGr APHE 745 0.685 1.2 9.0 22.1 -1.0° 47° 60° 65°
PzGr 40 APCR 1,020 0.368 N/A N/A N/A +1.5° 66° 70° 72°

Ammo racks

Full
ammo
1st
rack empty
2nd
rack empty
3rd
rack empty
4th
rack empty
5th
rack empty
6th
rack empty
7th
rack empty
Visual
discrepancy
121 117 (+4) 99 (+22) 79 (+42) 61 (+60) 41 (+80) 21 (+100) (+120) Yes

Machine guns

Main article: MG34 (7.92 mm)

This vehicle is equipped with two coaxial 7.92 mm MG34 machine guns. As there are two of them, these machine guns are quite potent against enemy anti-air trucks and even against the slower biplane aircraft commonly encountered in lower rank battles. However, they have no functional viability against armoured vehicles and only serve as a last ditch effort to kick up dust or blind an enemy vehicle by firing at their optics.

7.92 mm MG34
Mount Capacity
(Belt capacity)
Rate of fire
(shots/minute)
Vertical
guidance
Horizontal
guidance
Coaxial 1,800 (150) 900 N/A N/A
Coaxial 1,800 (150) 900 N/A N/A

Usage in battles

Pz.III B 1.jpg

Overall, the Pz.III B doesn't have many reliable advantages, both the armour and firepower leave a lot to be desired, although its mobility is somewhat functional. However, it just doesn't have any decent aggressive aspects to it that good mobility benefits, meaning that although it is the Pz.III Bs most functioning asset, it's still not reliable to play aggressively on the move. The Pz.III B isn't equipped with a short stabiliser, meaning that the gun will be very unstable when coming to a stop, whereas the majority of allied vehicles do have this feature. So if you were to run into one of these vehicles on the move, your enemy will likely get the first shot off, and as your armour protection is so poor they will likely deal critical damage.

A somewhat reliable way to stay alive in this tank is to play hull-down, a lot of the rounds you'll be taking will be small calibre AP shots. If only your turret is exposed, these rounds will only usually take out 2 crew members at most, allowing for you to back off, repair and re-engage. Try not to play too far away from your enemies. The performance of the gun is overall very poor at distances, so even though survivability will be increased by playing at range, firepower will be very inconsistent, so try to find a spot that isn't too far away from combat.

The turret traverse of the Pz.III B is also very poor, at 4.2 degrees a second in RB mode, because of this it's a good idea to use the hull traverse to swing the turret around faster. The hull traverse itself is fairly fast, so utilising this is a decent habit to get in to. The situation you most want to avoid is losing your driver or engine, as your mobility is the only thing that will keep you in the fight, and the way to ensure this primarily is to stay in cover and not advance too far into the map. If an enemy gets on your side or rear, there's nothing you can really do as your turret traverse is disappointingly poor, so watch your flanks and try to minimise the possibility of an enemy getting behind you.

Modules

Tier Mobility Protection Firepower
I Tracks Parts Horizontal Drive
II Suspension Brake System FPE Adjustment of Fire PzGr 40
III Filters Crew Replenishment Elevation Mechanism
IV Transmission Engine Artillery Support

Pros and cons

Pros:

  • Reasonable acceleration
  • Large crew count
  • Access to APCR
  • Fast reload

Cons:

  • Weak frontal armour
  • Vulnerable to heavy machine guns
  • Lacklustre firepower
  • Very slow turret traverse
  • No short stabiliser

History

The Panzerkampfwagen III (PzKpfw. III), also referred to as Panzer III, was a tank developed by the Germans in the 1930s and used in World War II. The PzKpfw. III was designed to take out other armored vehicles while supporting the Panzerkampfwagen IV which task was mainly to take out unarmored targets. The dome ring of the PzKpfw. III was unable to accommodate the increasingly heavy cannons needed to fight new tank types. Ultimately, the PzKpfw. III was replaced by the larger PzKpfw. IV as main battle tank. The PzKpfw. III was then delivered to some allies while the chassis was used for the very successful Sturmgeschütz III.

The suspension of the Pz.III A turned out to be too weak. The same year, a series of fifteen Ausführung B vehicles were built. The five running wheels were replaced by eight wheels with leaf springs. This increased the speed to thirtyfive km/h. With Three instead of two wheels supporting the upper of the track. These vehicles were only intended for training, but eventually had to be assigned to the combat troops. The first models (A to E) were equipped with the short 37 mm KwK / 36 L46.5 gun, which performed sufficiently during the actions in 1939 and 1940.

Media

GEN LIVE WT 1 HPL.jpg

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


Germany medium tanks
Pz.III  Pz.III B · Pz.III E · Pz.III F · Pz.III J · Pz.III J1 · Pz.III J1 TD · Pz.III L · Pz.III M · Pz.III N
Pz.IV  Pz.IV C · Pz.IV E · Pz.IV F1 · Pz.IV F2 · Pz.IV G · Pz.IV H · Pz.IV J · Pz.Bef.Wg.IV J
Pz.V  VK 3002 (M) · Panther A · Panther D · Panther F · Panther G · Ersatz M10 · Panther II
M48 upgrades  M48A2 G A2 · M48 Super
Leopard 1  Leopard I · Leopard A1A1 · Leopard A1A1 (L/44) · Leopard 1A5 · C2A1 · Turm III
Leopard 2  PT-16/T14 mod. · Leopard 2K · Leopard 2AV
  Leopard 2A4 · Leopard 2 (PzBtl 123) · Leopard 2 PL · Leopard 2A5 · Leopard 2 PSO · Leopard 2A6 · Leopard 2A7V
Trophies  ▀M4 748 (a) · ▀T 34 747 (r)
Other  Nb.Fz. · KPz-70
USA  mKPz M47 G · M48A2 C
USSR  ◊T-72M1