Stug III

STUG LYFE!

As you may have read the other tank destroyer pages on this wiki, you may think to yourself, "Damn the Germans must have really hated tanks!" On the contrary, the Germans loved tanks so very very much. However, they hated everyone else's tanks, to the point they constantly devised new ways to kill, maim, and or outright annihilate enemy tanks, some more successful than others. The Sturmgeschütz III, more commonly known as the StuG III, was one of those successes, armored, low-profile, and armed with a powerful 75mm gun. The StuG III was a powerful tool in the hands of the Germans and was their most produced assault gun/tank destroyer and their second most-produced armored vehicle after the SdKfz 251.

Early War

Die Stats.

Mid War

With 11 AP and 7 frontal, expect the StuG to reliably slap the ever-loving shit out of most tanks it faces, it's also pretty good against infantry with an MG to boot. Don't expect to hold back mass assaults with a few StuGs, forward-firing WILL bite you in the ass if you manage to fuck up positioning especially in any sort of Urban Environment type of game.
Or if you're not expecting many tanks from your opponent, swap out the 75mm for a 105mm, though 'slow-firing may hurt you when you need it the least.

IRL

It's cold in Russia, okay

The StuG was developed originally to fit a niche in the German army for armored assault guns for fighting in urban environments and clearing out entrenched units. Developed on the speedy Panzer III chassis, the first StuG IIIs were equipped with puny 75mm howitzers and pintle-mounted MG34s. These assault guns weren't meant to engage enemy armor but were instead meant to breach static fortifications.

The StuG saw a complete change of service after Operation Barbarossa when German armor began engaging Soviet vehicles en masse; the first few tank battles involved Panzer IIIs (armed with long-barreled 37mm guns that the Germans used for anti-tank combat) and Panzer IVs (which filled the same anti-fortification role that the StuG had, originally armed with the same stubby 75mm that the StuG used). The Panzer III, while miles ahead of other early-war tanks, had a hard time dealing with heavier and angled Soviet armor, and its turret was too small to house the 75mm cannons they used to deal with them. And so the Germans made a decision to switch their roles, equipping Panzer IVs with 75mm cannons, and converting Panzer IIIs and StuG Bs to the StuG F, which was dedicated to the tank-destroyer role.

Later upgrades to the vehicle included the same remote-controlled MG found on the Hetzer and armored skirts called Schurzen, which Germany largely used to give their heavier tanks, added protection against hits on the side from light caliber guns, rockets, and AT-Rifle rounds.

StuGs served reliably until the end of the war and were produced until Hitler decided to ragequit life. The StuG was operated by many countries, including Bulgaria, Syria, Romania, Italy, Hungary and Finland (The Finns only got about 30 of them, but they fucking loved what they nicknamed the 'Sturmi' so hard they would continue to use casemate tank destroyers well into the nineties). Interestingly, the StuG was technically attached to German artillery companies, mostly because the tank and infantry companies couldn't afford to take any more vehicles without more manpower that they didn't have, but also because of the fact that early StuGs were considered fire support, not dedicated tanks. (And also also because of internal Wehrmacht politics.) Later in the war, StuG production was ramped up as the Germans lost valuable material and had trouble producing their more advanced heavies.