Marder III Ausf. M. - Walkaround - Saumur Tank Museum.

The Marder II was a German tank destroyer developed during WWII after it became evident during Operation Barbarossa that the German army needed a mobile and powerful enough anti-tank weapon.
it was decided to use surplus light tanks, like the Panzer II, and captured vehicles, like the Lorraine Schlepper, as the basis for makeshift tank destroyers. The result was the Marder series, which were armed with either the new 7.5 cm Pak 40 anti-tank guns or captured Soviet 7.62 cm F-22 Model 1936 field guns.
The Marder II came in two major versions, one based on the light Panzer II Ausf. D/E, with a new torsion bar suspension featuring four large road wheels, and would be armed with a captured Soviet 7.62 cm gun.
The second version was based on the Panzer II Ausf. F hulls. This Marder II had a redesigned fighting compartment, silhouette was lowered by about 40 cm to 2.20 m and used the German 75 mm Pak 40 anti-tank gun.
The various Marder IIs produced fought on all European fronts of the war, however, there was a large concentration of these on the Eastern Front.
Because of the combination of a high silhouette, thin armour and open-top fighting compartment made the Marder II vulnerable to indirect artillery fire, aircraft strafing, and grenades.
Despite their weaknesses, they were more effective than the towed antitank guns that they replaced
The Marder II would be produced from 1942 until 1943 and 863 were built.
The Marder III would be based onto the obsolete Panzer 38(t), the chassis was still an excellent and plentiful platform for adaptation into a tank destroyer, and production of the Marder III would start in 1942. It would have either the Soviet 76.2 mm field gun or the 7.5 cm PaK 40.
Three versions would be build the Sd.Kfz. 139, and the Sd.Kfz. 138 Ausf.H. and M.
The Ausf. H would fielded the standard 7.5 cm PaK 40 German anti-tank gun on a slightly modified Panzer 38(t) Ausf. H chassis, with the engine in the back.
The Ausf.M. was based upon the Geschützwagen 38(t) Ausf. M, again armed with the 75 mm PaK 40 anti-tank gun.

This Marder III Ausf.M. at the Saumur Tank Museum has no recorded history.
Only noteworthy thing is that it probably still has it's original paint job.

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■ Information obtained from several sites.
■ Wikipedia
■ tanks-encyclopedia
■ the.shadock.free.fr/Surviving_Panzers
■ preservedtanks
■ pantser.net
■ the.shadock.free.fr/Tanks_in_France

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