German tanks in World War II of Kursk, the largest tank battle in history. It had sloped armor which increased the effective thickness of the armor from to roughly , effectively making the front of the tank virtually impervious to enemy fire. However the sides of this tank were very vulnerable, ranging from only to of either barely sloped or completely flat armor plating. The tank carried a high-velocity 75 mm gun, which possessed more penetration than the Tiger's 88 mm gun at short range. Series production began in 1943. The tank was plagued with mechanical problems throughout its service life, several of which were never
German tanks in World War II — High Command. In actual tank-on-tank encounters the German armor performed poorly, but as a coherent unit, the combined arms tactic of the Blitzkrieg shocked the Allies. The German Panzer forces at the start of World War II were not especially impressive. Only 4% of the defense budget was spent on armored fighting vehicle (AFV) production. Guderian had planned for two main tanks: the Panzer III, which was in production; and the Panzer IV with a 75 mm gun, which did not have one. The design work for the Panzer IV had begun in 1935 and trials of prototypes were