Panzer III Ausf L info

[burnie43]

so there I am...getting myself all confused over where?, when? and by who ?the Panzer III Ausf L was used ?? all Most of the books that I have are on everything else except the III.....
Now I have a Tamiya Panzer III Ausf L that I just ripped into before deciding what I'm gonna do with it ( that's normal for me )...building straight from the box with a turned barrel and just the odd bit seems to be where my hands are these days...I keep dropping and losing bits !!!
Here's my point....
I'm trying to find a colour scheme that I like and what regiments/divisions used them but I can't seem to get my head around the info that I see and there is not a great deal of colour pics that float my boat.....anyone have any ideas or info that they can share ?
Thanks
Mark

[digger303]

https://www.google.com.au/search?q=germ ... YcSYjLM%3A

wiking div

[Coen]

Is there a specific time frame or region that floats your boat?
The panzer III served all over the place and the Ausf L was quite plentiful. Nearly 1500 were made and were in production for pretty much a year. The 5cm gun was a good one for some time. So it stuck.
They were in Africa Central and eastern Europe as well as France.
You picked a good machine.

[HamilkarBarkas]

Panzer III L´s were pretty common amongst many units, so you can get away with a lot of markings. I´ll list a few that come to my mind and where i have evidence in front of me right now, of course there are many more units one could name. Early types of the vehicle started to see action in Summer 1942, they usually lacked the space armour plate on the gun mantlet (the mountings were there, but no armour plate. For some reason their production/delivery was not in time). Later they came with full space armour and then with the Schürzen side skirts on the sides. You can depict a Panzer III L up to early 1944. They were most common in 1943 though.

- SS Panzergrenadierdivision "Totenkopf"
- Großdeutschland Division
- s.Pz. Abt. 502 (small buddies of the famous Tiger tanks)
- 15. Panzerdivision (North African campaign)
- 7. Panzerdivision
- 10. Panzerdivision
- Fallschirm-Panzerdivision "Hermann Göring"

Paintwork:

For a 1942 vehicle of the early type you can go panzergrey. Sometimes they had field applied camouflage as well using some sand yellow, captured Soviet paint or self made paint using dirt. Sand yellow for Afrika Korps vehicles. Winter camo, obviously.
In 1943 old vehicles were sometimes repainted with sand yellow and a camo pattern using green and brown colours, just like we know it from the later war period. Good examples for that are Panzer III´s at Kursk or Italy.

It is a very wide field, you can do lot of things with such a model. There is barely a German tank that gives you more freedom on that.

[digger303]

didn't they start to retire them late 43 to second line units, do conversions and such.

[digger303]

this gives a bit of a guide as to colors, not so much for individual units
http://www.achtungpanzer.com/panzer-col ... 4-1945.htm

[HamilkarBarkas]

didn't they start to retire them late 43 to second line units, do conversions and such.

Officially they left service in the frontline tank divisions in Summer 1944

Here is a picture of a Panzer III of the Kampfgruppe Knaust during the battle of Arnhem in 1944.


I have also seen pictures of Panzer III G´s in Normandy 1944.

It seems like Panzer III´s were used even at a later stage of the war, here a list of tanks and assault guns used by all the army groups on the 30th of December 1944(!)

from left to right... operational/in repair/on route

AG south
Pz. II 6/6/0
Pz.III 20/15/2
Pz. IV 187/127/70
Pz. V 167/180/65
Pz. VI 21/16/45
StuG 185/125/120

AG A
Pz. II 3/0/0
Pz.III 22/6/0
Pz. IV 176/20/99
Pz. V 111/6/72
Pz. VI 52/1/0
StuG 522/76/99

AG mid
Pz. II 9/1/0
Pz.III 22/13/0
Pz. IV 165/53/94
Pz. V 150/65/0
Pz. VI 118/24/3
StuG 782/71/49

AG north
Pz. II 0/0/0
Pz.III 15/3/0
Pz. IV 22/18/0
Pz. V 17/30/0
Pz. VI 18/11/0
StuG 254/156/0

Norway and Denmark
Pz. II 0/0/0
Pz.III 85/13/0
Pz. IV 30/2/0
Pz. V 0/0/0
Pz. VI 0/0/0
StuG 49/3/0

AG west
Pz. II 4/1/0
Pz.III 29/5/3
Pz. IV 345/205/176
Pz. V 240/211/162
Pz. VI 58/58/7
StuG 335/341/413

AG sout-west
Pz. II 1/0/0
Pz.III 27/8/0
Pz. IV 137/23/17
Pz. V 20/12/0
Pz. VI 28/4/0
StuG 253/95/17

AG south east
Pzs all zeros
StuG 16/8/0

[burnie43]

this is great guys..thanks
I'm gonna do something in Russia or the East somewhere me thinks...I wanted to do a grey one for a change with a bit of camo....
Cheers peeps
Mark

[mannloon]

Wow Michi.

[Coen]

Herr Barkas is the man that knows Pz IIIs.

[digger303]

didn't they start to retire them late 43 to second line units, do conversions and such.

Officially they left service in the frontline tank divisions in Summer 1944


I have also seen pictures of Panzer III G´s in Normandy 1944.

It seems like Panzer III´s were used even at a later stage of the war, here a list of tanks and assault guns used by all the army groups on the 30th of December 1944(!)

Your right .Things were pretty desperate by then and they were prepared to do anything and use whatever was on hand. The plan was to convert a lot of the panzer 3's to something more useful, AA and assault guns for instance. The war over took them and a lot remained in service or retired to behind the lines in France and then the allies invaded and they were back on the front line.
At least thats the way I understand it, but I don't have a very deep understanding of how it all unfolded.

[HamilkarBarkas]

Herr Barkas is the man that knows Pz IIIs.

i know a few things, i actually never attempted it to dive into the topic as much as the tiger tank fanatics do with their beloved machine.

so finally, a panzer III L with some stowage and furniture on the back.