The Panzer
III or Panzerkampfwagen III or abbreviated to Pz.Kpfw. III Sd.Kfz. 141 When Poland
was invaded on the 1st September 1939 Panzer III's were only in service in small
numbers, at this time the Wehrmacht only had six armoured divisions, and all of
which were engaged in the Polish campaign which only lasted 18 days, although
the Panzer III only played a minimal role, but the tactics learned by general
Heinz
Guderian were to play major roles in the coming campaigns.
Development
order for a 15 ton vehicle was issued by the ordnance department in 1935 and given
to manufacturing firms
M.A.N,
Rheinmetall-Borsig,
Krupp,
Daimler-Benz,
in 1936 prototype trials took place in which
Daimler-Benz
won the production order. Much of the early development work consisted of finding
suitable suspension, and all through the different models the suspension was continually
altered.
The Panzer III was intended to be the main battle tank of the Wehrmacht.
However, once the Russian campaign had started and the German Army had encountered
the Russian T-34 it soon became apparent that the Panzer III's armament and armour
were vastly inferior to the Russian T-34
Gallery: Sources: German Military Vehicles.
ISBN-10: 087349783X
Armoured Fighting Vehicles of Germany World War II.
ISBN-10: 0214203077
Encyclopedia of German Tanks of World Two.
ISBN-10: 1854095188
For a complete list of
sources 
