Zaloga, Steven J./Rodríguez, Felipe (Illustr.) German Marders of World War II

The Wehrmacht's prime tank destroyers

The appearance of the T-34 and KV tanks in 1941 forced the Wehrmacht to deploy a more powerful anti-tank gun, the 7.5 cm PaK 40. Although it was an excellent weapon, the towed gun was heavy, cumbersome to handle and vulnerable to enemy counterfire. At the same time, many light tanks were obsolete, even though their chassis were still serviceable. In this book, tank expert Steven J. Zaloga presents a study of how these obsolete tanks and the excellent new gun were combined to create the Marder family of tank destroyers. The Marder I used captured French Chenilette Lorraine chassis and later other French light tanks such as the Hotchkiss H39 and FCM36, while the Marder II was based on the PzKpfw II chassis. The Marder III was the most significant of the new types and was based on the Czech PzKpfw 38(t) chassis. The Marder family reached its production peak in 1942, accounting for over 18 per cent of new German tanks. Production ceased in 1944. Featuring rare photographs and original illustrations, this book examines the designs, capabilities and deployment of the Marder, as well as the little-known and largely unsuccessful attempts towards the end of the war to produce further self-propelled 7.5 cm PaK 40 vehicles on half-track, armoured car and tractor chassis.