Germany 1944-1945 – 355MB Download, please be patient!
The Hetzer was a product of desperation. The Nazi government wanted the occupied Czech factories to produce Stug III tanks, but they did not have the crane strength to lift the Stug III and its component parts. However, the factories were producing Panzer 38t light tanks, and so that design could be modified to produce the new machine by widening the body and replacing the upper superstructure with a casemate and a 75mm Pak40.
The Hetzer was a very rushed design and suffered from a number of problems. It was front heavy, the crew had very poor visibility once buttoned up, preventing the vehicle from seeing much of anything when under fire. The loader was on the wrong side of the gun and had difficulties opening the breach. However, the vehicle had heavy front armor, and a low profile, and was never the less effective