War Thunder Hot Take - Command Tanks

I take a look at the Pz.Bef.Wg.IV Ausf. J & Pz.Bef.Wg.VI P and what their role should be in War Thunder.

Video edited by ErikT

The Panzerbefehlswagen IV is a command tank variant of the Panzer IV. While nearly the same exterior wise, the inside has been refitted with new equipment to enhance communication, thus fighting is not its purpose role. About 105 Panzerbefehlswagen IV were made during the war, with 17 from the Panzer IV Ausf. J variant and the rest from refurbished chassis adapted to the role.

The conversion allowed the tank to mount additional radio sets for communicating with the tank, infantry, and even aircraft units, or back to headquarters. The loader of the tank doubled as a radio operator as well to maintain all the radios in the tank. As well as the radios, mounting racks, transformers, junction boxes, antennas, and an auxiliary electrical engineer are also installed into the tank. This new equipment takes up space in the tank and so the ammunition stowage is reduced from the usual 87 rounds to 72 rounds, but this is mitigated by the fact that it should not be the front-line weapon against the enemy.

Other than that, the tank is nearly the same as the original Panzer IV tank. The tank featured a 75 mm KwK 40 main gun with a coaxial MG34 machine gun. The tank had about 80 mm of armour on the front hull, plus additional armour in the form of Schürzen side skirts. Unlike the Ausf. H variant, this variant had the skirts made from wire-meshes rather than metal plates to decrease weight, yet keep the same protection against HEAT rounds.

VK 45.01 (P) (Porsche Tiger) 10 VK45.01 tanks with the Krupp turrets and 8.8 cm KwK 36 guns were produced. Only one completed Tiger (P) with chassis number 150013 saw combat service as a command tank.

#WW2 #WWII #WorldWar II #WarThunder