StuG (Flamm) in an excellent factory photograph; this vehicle clearly uses a hull from the StuG III Ausf. F/8; source: Flickr.com, edited

StuG III Instead of Panzer III

In early December 1942, Hitler ordered an evaluation conversion of ten StuG III assault guns into self-propelled flamethrowers. At first glance this decision might seem to lack logic. By December 1942, intensive preparations were already underway for the series production of the Panzer III (Flamm) flame tank. Of all Germany's Flammpanzers, this was the most technically advanced type and was simultaneously set to become the most numerous – an order for one hundred vehicles had been placed. Everything pointed to the Panzer III (Flamm) becoming the standard flame tank of the German army. Why, in these circumstances, develop yet another type that would not even be technically superior – but rather the opposite, since it would lack a rotating turret?

There is, however, a sensible answer to this question. As early as the beginning of 1942, it had been decided that production of the Panzer III tank would be gradually wound down and eventually cease altogether, with the freed-up manufacturing capacity redirected to the StuG III assault gun. The further development of the flame tank therefore had to follow the same path, whether anyone liked it or not – meaning the base vehicle would no longer be the soon-to-be-phased-out Panzer III, but the longer-term StuG III.

Evaluation Series

The ordered ten-vehicle series was to be built using older hulls from vehicles returning from the front for major overhaul. For reasons that are not entirely clear, these machines were not to be fitted with flamethrowers from the firm Koebe (as used on the already-mentioned Panzer III (Flamm)), but instead with flamethrowers developed by Otto Schwade & Co. of Erfurt – a manufacturer of industrial pumps, among other things.

StuG (Flamm) at a military equipment display; although the image quality is poor, the vehicle appears to be built on an Ausf. F hull; source: Flickr.com, edited

The first nine completed StuG (Flamm) vehicles were accepted by the army in May 1943, with the tenth and final one following a month later. All ten were subsequently handed over to the Panzertruppenschule I training centre in Munster for testing. The technical details of their construction are unfortunately not known. We do know that each vehicle had a three-man crew consisting of a driver, a radio operator, and a commander who also operated the flamethrower. The flamethrower nozzle was concealed inside a tube that was presumably intended to imitate the barrel of a standard gun. The front plate of the fighting compartment had evidently been modified to some extent. No dedicated aiming periscope is visible in any of the photographs; it is possible that one was housed somewhere within the aperture in the front plate directly above the flamethrower barrel.

Very few photographs of the flame StuGs have survived. Apart from the reasonably good factory image, there is a series of snapshots from a military equipment display, in which one StuG (Flamm) can be spotted among other vehicles. While the flame Sturmgeschütz in the factory photograph is clearly built on an Ausf. F/8 hull, the one from the display appears to have an older Ausf. F hull – the two can be distinguished by the design of the towing cable eyes on the front hull plate. This confirms that the vehicles were built on a variety of older hulls sourced from assault guns undergoing repair.

An Inglorious End

How the vehicles were actually used at the Panzertruppenschule is not recorded anywhere. It is, however, very likely that their use was limited to non-combat testing – meaning none of them ever reached the front or took part in actual fighting. In January 1944, the Panzertruppenschule returned all ten flame StuGs to the ordnance depot, where they were to be converted back into standard assault guns with a 75 mm gun over the following three months. From this it can be inferred that the testing either did not go particularly well, or that the army simply had a change of heart about the whole project.

ARTICLE
CONTENTS:

STUG INSTEAD OF TANK

EVALUATION SERIES

AN INGLORIOUS END