Having examined the Panzers the Germans employed during the war--and what they were like to crew and fight in--the second of this pair of books takes as its subject the other gun-armed armored vehicles: assault guns, tank destroyers and self-propeled artillery. As is so typical of the German procurement process this provided a wide range of vehicles mounting both German and captured guns. Some were developed from existing German chassis; many employed captured enemy vehicles or were built in the factories of the countries they had conquered.Originally designed as infantry support vehicles, the Sturmgeschütz arm was controlled by the artillery but ended the war having knocked out more enemy tanks than the Panzers. Mainly built on the chassis of the PzKpfw III (over 10,000 with just over 1,000 on the PzKpfw IV), particularly after it became obsolete, the StuGs proved durable and effective in infantry support and, when upgunned and even without a turret, as tank killers.As with the American M10s and M36s tank destroyers, the Germans produced a range of similar vehicles to fend off enemy armor. They mounted increasingly larger guns on any chassis the Germans could lay their hands on, often captured vehicles--the Marder series on French or Czech chassis. There was also the Jagdpanzer range, better protected with an armored casemate providing overhead armor, based on tank chassis.

Heavier Jagdpanzer were produced as the war continued the Hornisse/Nashorn (but without overhead protection), the Ferdinand/Elefant and the Jagdpanther armed with 8.8cm weapons. A few of the massive 12.8cm-armed Jagdtiger appeared before war's end.Blitzkrieg showed that the Panzer divisions needed mobile artillery support, so the Germans mounted artillery weapons on tracked chassis to provide this: PzKpfw Is and IIs to begin with and then PzKpfw IIIs and 38(t)s. The best known are the Wespe (on the PzKpfw II), the Grille (on the PzKpfw 38(t)), the Hummel (on the Geschützwagen III/IV), and the Sturmpanzer (on the PzKpfw IV).While some of the crew duties on these vehicles were similar to those of the Panzertruppen, they were completely different vehicles to fight in and fight with: strategically, operationally, tactically and logistically. This book tells the story of the soldiers who crewed these vehicles.