C’est dans un contexte de réorganisation de toutes les forces blindées allemandes que furent livrés les premiers Marder III, à l’été 1942.
The Pz.Sfl.2 für 7,62 cm Pak 36 began to enter service in May of 1942. Unlike PzII SPGs, these vehicles were sent to tank divisions, not tank destroyer battalions. An exception was the 521st Tank Destroyer Battalion, where 12 vehicles were sent on May 27th, 1942. A tank division usually received a battery of 6 SPGs. There were, however, cases where a division received 9 (18th TD) or 12 (8th and 19th TDs) SPGs. One of the first recipients were the 15th and 21st Tank Divisions, which were fighting in North Africa. Later, 39 tank destroyers of this type were sent to North Africa. The trend of sending the Pz.Sfl.2 für 7,62 cm Pak 36 to tank divisions continued after that.
Extrait de: Marder III: German Tank Destroyer on a Czech Chassis, tankarchives.ca
« Das Reich » reçu ses premiers Marder III, le 20 juillet 1942 1, alors qu’elle était en pleine reconstruction, après de durs combats sur le Front de l’Est.
Leaving behind two battalions of the division – Kampfgruppe Ostendorff – on 1 June the division left the Eastern Front for Germany, to rest and refit, and to be rebuilt as a panzer-grenadier division. It arrived on 10 June and was subsequently rejoined by Kampfgruppe Ostendorff. Renamed SS Division Das Reich, and then, at the Fuhrer’s behest, SS Panzergrenadier Division Das Reich (this title became active from November), under this reorganisation a battalion of Panzer III and IV tanks was added, and the 3rd Battalion of Der Fuhrer and the recce unit were equipped with SPW. The latter was expanded to battalion strength and given the honour title Langemarck, but was disbanded in November. Late in the year, a final act of reorganisation was the raising of a self-propelled gun battalion.
Extrait de: Das Reich – Waffen-SS Armoured Elite, p. 36
This process was well under way by July when the Der Fuhrer Regiment moved into France, followed later by the remainder of the division, where it undertook occupation duties, initially at Le Mans. In the aftermath of the Allied landings in North-West Africa, Hitler ordered the occupation of Vichy France – Operation Anton – and from 27 November the division was at Toulon to guard against an Allied invasion of southern France, should one have been planned. These duties, a world away from the horrors witnessed the previous winter, carried over into the new year of 1943.
Bibliographie
- JENTZ, Thomas L. et Louis Doyle (2005) Panzer Tracts no.7-2: Panzerjaeger. Panzer Tracts, 100 p.
- SHARPE, Michael & Brian L. Davis (2003) Das Reich – Waffen-SS Armoured Elite. Compendium, 96 p.
Webographie
- The Tank Archives (2018, 11 mars) Marder III: German Tank Destroyer on a Czech Chassis
Wikipedia
- Marder III: German Tank Destroyer on a Czech Chassis, Wikipedia [en]