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 keep pace with Soviet T-34 and KV tanks, which respectively, either had sloped armor or relatively thick armor and both shared 76 mm guns. By 1941, the Panzer III was the most numerous of German tank designs, however, during the later parts of 1943, it was largely replaced by later versions of the Panzer IV and Panzer V "Panther". Its assault gun chassis variant, the Sturmgeschütz III was, with just over 9,400 units built, the most widely produced German armored fighting vehicle of World War II. The Panzer IV was the workhorse of the German tank force during World War