Panzer IV

The Panzerkampfwagen IV, known as the Panzer IV and carrying the ordnance designation Sd.Kfz. 161, was a German medium tank developed in the late 1930s and used throughout the Second World War. Heinz Guderian conceived it as an infantry support tank with a short-barrelled 75 mm gun, to work beside the Panzer III. MAN, Krupp and Rheinmetall-Borsig each built prototypes in answer to a 1934 specification for a medium tractor, and Krupp design was chosen, with production beginning in 1936 at the Krupp-Gruson works in Magdeburg. Krupp was at first the sole manufacturer, and the Vomag and Nibelungenwerk plants joined later. When the Soviet T-34 appeared, the larger turret ring let the Panzer IV take longer guns and swap roles with the Panzer III. Some 8,553 were built, making it the most numerous German tank, and its chassis carried assault guns, tank destroyers and anti-aircraft vehicles.