New build vehicle

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New build vehicle
New construction vehicle No. 10 in Lillehammer on Wiesesgate between April 21 and 25, 1940

New construction vehicle No. 10 in Lillehammer on Wiesesgate between April 21 and 25, 1940
General properties
crew 6th
length 6.65 m
width 2.90 m
height 2.90 m
Dimensions 23.41 t
Armor and armament
Armor Front: 20 mm
side: 13 mm
rear: 13 mm
tower: 15 mm all around
Main armament 1 howitzer 10.5 cm (NbFz VI)
or
1 cannon 7.5 cm L / 24 (NbFz V) with 75 rounds each
Secondary armament 1 3.7 cm KwK 36 L / 46.5 with 37 rounds
5 MG 7.92 mm with a total of 6000 rounds
agility
drive BMW Va-12-cylinder aircraft engine
from mid-1937 Maybach HL108
213.29 kW (290 PS), previously 250 PS continuous output
suspension Coil springs
Top speed 30 km / h
Power / weight 12.39 hp / t
Range 120 km

The armored car Neubaufahrzeug ( "PzKpfw Nb.Fz.") was a German tank type , in 1934-35, the German State of bypassing the restrictions the Versailles Treaty was built. The vehicles were developed after tests of the forerunner large tractor near Kama ( Soviet Union ). The name served to disguise the armaments project as well as the term agricultural tractor "LaS" or "large tractor" . Only five vehicles were made.

development

After the " light tractor " and the " large tractor ", the secret development of a battle tank with three turrets began around 1933 under the cover designation "main tractor" and "new construction vehicle". The terms “new vehicle” and “Nb.Fz.” (official abbreviation in the 1935 service documents) prevailed. After 1935 the documents name the tanks “Nb.Fz. improved ". Lieutenant Colonel Ernst Volckheim , commander of the armored force in Norway in 1940, used the designation "Neubau-Panzerkampfwagen IV" in his report. In the monthly magazine Die Panzertruppe from August 1939 the term “Geschützkampfwagen” is also used.

Ten small roller carriages and four support rollers formed the drive; the silhouette was very similar to that of the Vickers Medium Mark III . They were the only rear-wheel drive German tanks.

In the large rotating turret was a 7.5 cm cannon (draft Rheinmetall, NbFz V or "draft A", two built, planned for later 10.5 cm howitzer ; draft Krupp, NbFz VI and "draft B" , three built) housed, coaxial with it, or in the Rheinmetall design above, a 3.7 cm cannon. Two smaller machine-gun turrets stood on the front right and rear left on the hull . The angular combat tower was developed by F. Krupp Grusonwerk AG in Magdeburg- Buckau . All negotiations were conducted through the Essen-based Krupp parent company. According to the construction plan that was received, the 12-cylinder BMW Va aircraft engine with 250 HP continuous output was first installed for the tanks . This was also built into the GT Rheinmetall. Probably due to the concentration of all production forces on the manufacture of aircraft engines from 1933 onwards , there were no further capacities. Therefore, after these engines had worn out, the latest Maybach engines (HL 108 and 120 TR, each with 12 cylinders) with almost 300 hp were installed. There were also petrol engines that ran with the 33 mixture. The driving noise of the tank thus corresponded roughly to the Panzer IV with a stronger noise from the fan.

The tanks had an on-board intercom and the most modern radio (10-watt long-wave transmitter and receiver) from C. Lorenz AG in Berlin . After 1935 they received VHF radios.

In the port of Oslo, April 19, 1940
Overhaul of NbFz No. 1 at Alkett Tegel-Borsigwalde, May 1939

The first tank exercise took place in Munster in August 1935 . The light tractors, large tractors and also the first two new construction vehicles took part. The tactical numbers of the PzKw can be seen in photos: light tractors with thirties numbers, large tractors with forties numbers and the main tractors (= new build vehicles) with fifties numbers. The first Nb.Fz. with the Rheinmetall tower was number 051, the later number 9 had the number 054 and the later number 10 was number 055. Nb.Fz. Type I consequently had the number 052 and the later number 8 only had the tactical number 053. No. 1 was first made with a loop antenna, which can no longer be seen on the tank on film recordings from 1938.

Vehicles No. 8 and 9 were put into service in Putlos in October 1937 . The third tank came to the Grafenwoehr training area ; in October 1937 and was the newly established 25th PzRgt. Erlangen assigned.

In the spring of 1939 No. 8 was presented in Berlin at the 29th International Automobile and Motorcycle Exhibition (IAMA). It was the first heavy German battle tank to be presented to the public. Nos. 8 and 9 were presented on April 20, 1939 at the birthday parade for Adolf Hitler .

War effort

Operation Weser Exercise 1940

1940 No. 8 to 10 were in combat with the Weser Exercise company in Norway . They belonged to the tank department z. b. V. 40 ("Zug Horstmann" or "Kampfgruppe Horstmann"). Panzer 9 had the additional identifier "Z" and 10 the additional identifier "R" and the nickname "Jumbo". The whole train was nicknamed "Elephant Squadron" (see the inscription on No. 9 in Aalborg: "Greetings to the home of 3 elephants in the squadron"). Photos show the tank crews of No. 8 and 9 on April 16, 1940 in the port of Stettin on the east quay. On April 17th they were urgently requested by the Chief of Staff of Group XXIO Oslo. They arrived on April 18, 1940 in the port of Oslo on the transporter Buenos Aires under the code name “Noah's Ark 1” with the MG Btl. 13. Unloading and combat use took place immediately from April 19, 1940 with the 196th Infantry Division in Gudbransdal in Norway. The Horstmann platoon was split up: Tanks 8 and 9 were assigned to Kampfgruppe Pellenghar, and No. 10 to Kampfgruppe Fischer.

On April 21, 1940 at No. 9 the left middle roller carriage overheated. The cause was the overload when bypassing the defective bridge at Holt. The tank was parked at the Mölv exit in the direction of Rings. On April 22, 1940, at around 10:30 a.m., the Oslo Panzer Squadron towed him to Mölv station. On June 24, 1940, it was still in a Norwegian port, loaded on freight wagons. On June 29, 1940, it was unloaded in Aalborg, Denmark and then taken to Berlin to the Alkett (Altmärkische chain factory in Berlin-Borsigwalde) for repairs. In December 1940 he received a Notek camouflage searchlight.

Tanks 8 and 10 took part in the fighting in Lillehammer and Elverum with the 196th Infantry Division from April 21, 1940 . No. 10 first met British troops directly at Balberg (7 km north of Lillehammer) on April 22, 1940.

No. 8 was used in the battle in Kvam . A photo that emerged in August 2018 shows that the tank was freshly ammunitioned on April 25, 1940, 800 meters from the entrance to Kvam. The first artillery shells hit the mountainside above Kvam. British front reports indicate that on April 25, 1940, shortly after 2 p.m., the tank was firing on the main street in Kvam (now the European route) against British infantrymen and three anti-tank guns under Corporal Stokes. According to the original report of the British general No. 8 was to launch a PzII and PZI of one. 25-mm-Hotchkiss - Panzerabwehrkanone shot through the gun mantlet (Pak) to only about 140 m, wherein the commander Sergeant Faulhaber was killed. The driver, Sergeant Lührig, immediately reset the tank. On the way back, another shell struck the driver's panel and seriously wounded the driver, who died that night. He drove the tank out of range, up to the level of today's gas station. The Paks were immediately destroyed by German artillery. No. 8 could not be repaired and was blown up. One of its idlers and a roller have been preserved and can be seen today in the Kvam Museum, for example at the launch site. No. 8 was replaced on May 16 by the second tank built with a Kruppturm (No. 2).

No. 10 did not take part in the fighting in Kvam. On April 27, 1940 there was a break in combat, during which the tank was serviced. According to British sources, he was used on April 28, 1940 in the fighting in Otta - 25 kilometers north of Kvam. A little later, at the head of a small column of tanks (e.g. BV40) near Tretten, he rolled over the lead vehicle of a British column of vehicles.

The three tanks came back to Germany before October 7, 1940. Oberleutnant Karl Horstmann was promoted and transferred to another unit. The new vehicles were handed over to the Waffen SS Wiking in Heuberg . Tank No. 2 came to Berlin at the end of November 1942. At the company Alkett Betriebteil Metallwerke Löwenberg AG he was parked on the company premises on the track near Hall 12 at the tank assembly point. He stood between French, British and Soviet captured tanks. Alkett carried out tests with the foreign tanks in order to gain knowledge for the German tanks. No. 2 was scrapped.

Number 10 was least affected by outages.

Copy no. 1 with the Rheinmetall tower was used on the Putlos military training area for training purposes; Plans from 1937 for the conversion into "Nebelpanzer" (Nebel was the developer of rockets) were possibly implemented on a trial basis. So there is the PzIV smoke tank with four missiles in the launch frame. A photo document from 1939 shows the NbFz V at Alkett in Borsigwalde . The loop antenna was removed as early as 1938. In April 1939 a more powerful engine was used. The tank was massively marketed for propaganda purposes. There is also a color drawing of an American. He particularly emphasized the picture of Hitler at the end of the factory hall, which is framed with a garland of fir branches on the occasion of his 50th birthday. A year later it was selected as one of the base vehicles for the new bridge-layer together with two tanks BW II and IV. On April 19, 1940, the new bridge-laying exercise took place in Kummersdorf . After that, the “soft steel armor” was not approved for use at the front.

Eastern Front

Tank No. 9 was repaired again and was with SS-Wiking-Panzergrenadierregiment 23 "Norge". One photo (but with no. 8 in front of Kvam) bears the typewritten text “Kampf in Karpaten 1944”. The original stamp of this unit is printed on the card. Parts of this unit must have remained in Romania, because this last new vehicle was destroyed on the border with Romania during the Soviet Carpathian offensive in spring 1944.

On January 25, 1945 the sea commander Pomerania urgently requested a new construction vehicle from the 11th landing flotilla. This was in Gdynia (Gotenhafen), the staff was in Swinoujscie .

Propaganda use and effect

The effective marketing of the new construction vehicles in Oslo led to an overestimation of the occurrence of these tanks in Soviet propaganda. Some posters and all Soviet tank detection service regulations contained these tanks shortly before the start of the war: with Kruppturm and the designation "Rheinmetall". The International Motor Show in Berlin in 1939 as well as press releases and color postcards had given the impression that Germany was already mass-producing these heavy tanks. A Soviet officers' commission, which Hitler had expressly invited in the spring of 1941 to find out more about German tank production, was very upset that they had only been shown tanks I to IV, but not the new heavy vehicles.

Soviet, British and American service instructions and tank detection regulations showed the new construction vehicles until the end of the Second World War . In addition to the term pure metal in the Soviets, the Americans also use the Mark V and Mark VI typification.

The history of the tanks is extremely well documented with photographs, from the draft to the wooden model (factory photo at Rheinmetall - to the left of the model of the driver's car) to the deployment in Norway. As of May 2020, 313 photographs are known, but no images from the use from 1941 until the destruction. There are film recordings from Norway (in the Nazi propaganda film Battle for Norway ), black and white in a column (approx. 12 seconds) and in color during a river crossing (approx. 6 seconds). Both show a newly built vehicle at the top of four tanks I and II each. There is also a short film sequence of No. 1 Rheinmetall: General von Brauchitsch stands on the tank and gives a speech to the workers of an armaments factory in 1938.

Almost nothing is left of the tanks. A guide wheel with a piece of chain and a roller can still be seen in the museum in Kvam / Gudbrandsdal in Norway.

Technical specifications

  • Weight: 23.41 t
  • Length / width / height: 6.65 m / 2.90 m / 2.90 m
  • Chain width: 38 cm
  • Ground clearance : 45 cm
  • Ability to cross trenches: up to 240 cm
  • Climbing ability: up to 120 cm
  • Gradeability : max. 30 °
  • Fording depth : 80 cm
  • Falling ability: trees 20-25 cm in diameter
  • Armouring (mild steel for NbFz V):
    • Front: 20 mm
    • Side: 13 mm
    • Stern: 13 mm
    • Tower: 15 mm all around
  • Engine: liquid-cooled six-cylinder - in-line engine ( aircraft engine BMW Va with 250 hp), 1937 by twelve-cylinder - V-engine Maybach HL 108 replaces (290 hp)
  • Top speed: 30 km / h
  • Tank capacity: 457 l
  • Driving range: 120 km
  • Armament:
    • 1 × howitzer 10.5 cm (NbFz VI) or 1 × cannon 7.5 cm L / 24 (NbFz V) with 80 shells
    • 1 × cannon 3.7 cm L / 46.5 with 50 shells, 5 × MG 7.92 mm with a total of 6000 rounds
  • Crew: 6
  • Manufacturer: Rheinmetall and F. Krupp Grusonwerk Magdeburg

literature

  • Horst Scheibert: German battle tanks in color: 1934–1945; "New vehicle", Panzer I, Panzer II, Panzer III, Panzer IV, Panzer V "Panther", Panzer VI "Tiger" and others. "King Tiger", "Mouse" . Podzun-Pallas Verlag, Friedberg 1985, ISBN 3-7909-0239-X .
  • Walter J. Spielberger: The motorization of the German Reichswehr 1920–1935, pp. 332–347 u. Appendix: 9.19 . Motorbuchverlag, Stuttgart 1979, ISBN 3-87943-612-6 .
  • GI Penezko: Psano na tanku . Nase vojsko, sro, 2010, ISBN 978-80-206-1135-2 .
  • Panserkrig i Norge 1940. Issue Military History No. 3/2015, Ares-Forlag Norway, ISSN 1894-8286.
  • Werner Oswald : Motor vehicles and tanks of the Reichswehr, Wehrmacht and Bundeswehr . Motorbuchverlag, Stuttgart 1973, ISBN 3-87943-161-2 .
  • VG Tom Nielsen: Tyske Panzer under felttoget i Norge Del2: Panzerzug Horstmann & Neubaufahrzeuge, Mud and Snow. Historske Militaere Kjoretoyers Forening, 2007.
  • Fred Koch: Radios in armored vehicles of the Wehrmacht. Range weapons arsenal. Vol. 178, Podzun-Pallas-Verlag, 1999, ISBN 3-7909-0669-7 . Also sketch Nb.Fz. from article How to explain the propagation of transmission energy to the radio operator , April 1939.

Contemporary sources

German sources

  • Series Kleine Kriegshefte No. 9, from January 1941, p. 6 u. P. 15 Photos Pz NbFz No. 1
  • Postcard from the series Internationale Automobilausstellung Berlin, 1939, NbFz No. 6
  • Der Pimpf magazine from October 1939, title page, NbFz No. 2
  • Journal of the War Library of German Youth. Issue 8, 1940, 2 drawings NbFz
  • Colored song postcard: Panzerlied by Kurt Linde, 1941, with NbFz
  • Postcard painted by Victor Mundorff, Chemnitz, Verlag Traditionspflege Berlin-Charlottenburg, 1940, with NbFz
  • Advertisement in Motor und Sport magazine . 1941, drawing NbFz (piston manufacturer)
  • Tin sign piston manufacturer with tractor, sketched 2 NbFz lower left
  • Postcard from Axster-Heudtlaß with a portrait of the Pz.Soldat PzRgt6, 1940, with NbFz
  • Title page book: Friedrich Heiss: The victory in the east. 1943, 2 NbFz
  • Painting "tanks in battle" by Erich Cleff the Elder. J., Berlin, Verlag E. Klinghammer, Berlin 1941
  • Weekly newspaper Das Reich. Issue No. 7 of 7 July 1940 - picture of No. 9 in the port of Aalborg (Denmark); Caption: "With the transport ships that bring troops and material to Norway, weapons in need of repair also come back home, like this heavy armored car ..."
  • Motor und Sport magazine . Pößneck, issue 28 of July 14, 1940: same photo as in Das Reich - here under the heading “Riesenpanzer”, photo lettering in the core as above, additionally: “A battle vehicle of the 'Elefantengeschwader' ... a heavy tank with a greeting to home from the 'elephant squadron' ”; and page 27: Drawing of the NbFz in an advertisement for the well-known piston manufacturer mk.
  • Postcard of the student union Absolvia Rosenheim 1941 with a drawing of a NbFz (reversed)
  • Propaganda poster (watercolor) of Army Group A "von Kleist" from August 1942 in Russian script - top left: several new construction vehicles (command tanks with flags) drive through the steppe (printed reversed).
  • Book by Uli Huber: Battle for Norway. 2nd edition (picture NbFz has been removed compared to 1st edition), publisher: OKW, Zeitgeschichtlicher Verlag Berlin, October 1940, p. 106.
  • Die Wehrmacht magazine of February 15, 1939, p. 4: Large picture of NbFz No. 2 in Reichswehr camouflage; Article Pacemaker of modernization -… 1939 International Motor Show .
  • Magazine Die Wehrmacht No. 12, June 1940: Painting with three new vehicles in a battle against the French (which did not exist!) By Bernd Markowitz. Text: “… rolling fortresses! ... "
  • Magazine Neue Kraftfahrer-Zeitung No. 22, May 30, 1940, Stuttgart, title page: Pz No. 1 in the workshop, text: "German armored vehicles on the running belt ..."
  • Ostpreußenblatt of April 25, 1992, volume 17, p. 10: Diary of the sea transport chief.
  • Monthly magazine Die Panzertruppe , issue 8/1939, p. 274 above: Sketch of a NbFz, Verlag Mittler & Sohn, Berlin.
  • Monthly magazine Die Panzertruppe , issue 3/1939, p. 100 and p. 104: Photo NbFz 8 in exhibition IAA Berlin a. No. 2 in Munster, Mittler & Sohn publishing house, Berlin.

British sources

  • Picture Post newspaper from June 15, 1940, schematic sectional drawing by NbFz
  • London News: Notes on fighting tanks, drawing Three ways to deal with tanks 1940.

American sources

  • Tank recognition sheet Learn to recognize these vehicles: heavy tanks and self-propelled artillery. 1943, issued by the United States Forces Command
  • Leaflet Enemy tanks are vulnerable. 1943, published by US General Staff, 2 ills. With NbFz, drawn by Noel Sickles
  • Model of the tank No. 1 of the US company Framburg Models & Dale Model Company in cast metal, scale 1:36 for the tank detection of the US Army. Manufactured in the middle of 1940. Inscription: "Germ.Hvy.Tank Pz.KW-6".
  • Drawing of the war reporter of a propaganda company Erich Cleffs from 1941 (with one NbFz and two Pz II), used in: AFV News, March 1971, Vol. 6 No. 2 of the A Bi-Monthly Publication of the AFV Association.

Soviet sources

  • Russian-German military dictionary 1941, publisher: Soviet General Staff, photo of No. 2
  • Book on tank detection, 1941, publisher: Soviet General Staff, photo of No. 8, 9 or 10
  • Brochure on anti-tank fighting, editor of the Red Army, edition July 30, 1942, drawing and photomontage and overview of German tanks including French captured tanks in German service
  • Tank detection album, 1941, publisher: Red Army, with three-sided views
  • Propaganda film The Party Secretary : Wooden model by NbFz 1942
  • Leaflet on anti-tank fighting with details of the distances between the individual weapons
  • Leaflet with anti-tank rifle against NbFz from 1942
  • Leaflet 1942: How to destroy fascist tanks. Drawing in winter use
  • Tass poster with knights 1242 and cavalry (bottom left NbFz) from 1942
  • Tass poster No. 525 from September 1942: New construction vehicles are attacked by Soviet bombs
  • Tass poster No. 537 with soldiers fighting tanks - NbFz (with a pipe that is a little too long)
  • Leaflet for our tank soldiers to combat enemy tanks from July 25, 1942, editor: Major AF Memelkin, publisher: Defense Department of the People's Commissariat of the USSR (three sketches Nb.Fz.-combat)
  • Heft fighting the tanks of the enemy. from 1941; Fig. 8: Detail No. 8 Oslo, Fig. 9: Side view No. 2 in flecktarn, Fig. 10: Side and front view (sketch)
  • How do I recognize enemy tanks? Author: Major IW Shtrom, War Commissariat of the USSR, Editor: Lieutenant Colonel Bjalkowski; published July 13, 1941, fig. 6 (no. 8 taken from photo Oslo) and no. 7 (no. 2 side view in camouflage color), on p. 12 tactical technical information
  • Postage stamp with a face value of 20 kopecks from 1942: Russian anti-tank gun fires at two new construction vehicles.
  • Postage stamp with a face value of 60 kopecks from 1943: Five NbFz attacking Russian 28 mm anti-tank rifles in winter (supposed to show Panfilov's defense of Moscow - but is actually pure propaganda; it was replaced in 1963 by a new postage stamp with two tanks (possibly supposed to be PzIV represent) correctly set).

Web links

Commons : New  build vehicle - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

References and comments

  1. ↑ See the photo with all three tanks on the fish halls.
  2. ↑ See several photos at digitaltmuseum.no
  3. ↑ Report of May 31, 1940
  4. ↑ see Heinz G. Guderian: Memories of a soldier. Motorbuch, 1194, ISBN 978-3-87943-693-4 .