The most important of all vehicles of the Panzerartillerie will probably be the Wespe (wasp). It will be put into production in 1942 and will be built until the end of the war.It was in 1942 that studies began to equip the mobile units with a vehicle transporting the standard 105-millimeter howitzer of the German army. Based on the frame of the Panzer II model F (originally at the beginning of production, elongated at the end of series), it was preferred to a project on a Panzer III chassis.
Orders were placed and in December 1942 the first Wespe left the assembly lines.
The main plant of this assembly was in Famo, Poland, and the first models appeared the same year.
In February 1943, Hitler ordered the entire production of the Panzer II to be reserved for the construction of the Wespe and that of the PzKpfw 38 (t) for the construction of anti-tank guns.The first specimens arrived in units in the spring of 1943. The first important action of these newly formed batteries took place in June 1943 during the Battle of Kursk. The craft behaved brilliantly and the Wespe was used until the end of the war on all fronts.
It seems that the reasons for this have been the popularity of the first vehicles in service and a first attempt at normalization and, above all, the fact that the hollow-charge projectiles that have just been put into service for artillery will eventually replace To conventional anti-tank guns. Also, as of April 1943, there are only Wespe built on the chassis of PzKpfw II. As a result of the outbreak of war, their production ceased in mid-1944, but there were 682 of them constructed, as well as 158 private turret and cannon copies for the transport of ammunition.
Munitions-Selbstfahrlafette auf PzKpfw II (self-propelled caissons on PzKpfw II)
The Panzer II F chassis with a fixed casemate at the rear of the vehicle. The howitzer has a muzzle brake at its end, a support underneath the tube and a recuperator at the top. It can be confused with a Nashorn, but the undercarriage differentiates them.
The Wespe can only take 32 rounds; An ammunition carrier is required to refuel each battery.
The production of the Wespe stopped in 1944, when the factory was invaded by the Soviet armies, but the existing vehicles continued to serve until the end of the war. In addition to his main role as an armored artillery, the Wespe was engaged as an anti-tank gun, using armored piercing shells or hollow-charge projectiles.The latter made it possible to drill shields 128 mm thick over a distance of less than 100 meters.
In general, "wasps" will be used in Panzerdivisionen or Panzergrenadierdivisionen by batteries of six tubes, with two to five batteries per division.
Specifications : Crew 5 men
Max speed 40 Km / h
Autonomy 140 Km
Mass 11.0 tons / Ground pressure: 0.82 kg / cm²
Length 4.81 m
Height 2,38 m
Width 2.28 m
Shielding Min: Open / Max: 30 mm
Main armament : canon de 105 mm leFH 18M L/28 (dotation de 40 coups)
Production 676 units from February 1943 to July 1944
Motorization Maybach HL 62 TR from 170 HP / Conso: 121 liters to 100 (tank of 170 liters)
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