Tamiya 25208 German Tank Panzerkampfwagen IV Ausf.F And Motorcycle 'North Africa' 1/35 Scale. PzKpfw IV (Panzerkampfwagen IV) was a German medium tank of the Second World War. The first prototypes of the vehicle were made in 1936 and serial production continued in the period 1938-1945, ending with the production of approximately 8,600 vehicles. The D version of the tank was powered by a single Maybach HL 120 TRM engine with a capacity of 300 hp. It was armed with 1 x 75 mm KwK 37 L/24 cannon and 2 x 7.92 mm MG 34 machine guns. The PzKpfw IV was created as a result of a competition announced in late 1934 by the German Armaments Department for a medium tank weighing up to 18 tons and armed with a 75 mm gun. The competition was won by the Krupp company, whose vehicle was put into serial production - as it turned out, it was a vehicle that could be safely called the "workhorse" of the German armored forces during the Second World War and one of the most intensively developed and modernized tanks of the Wehrmacht. In the course of production, several modifications of the PzKpfw IV were created. Chronologically, the first was the version A, armed with a short-barreled 75 mm cannon and a 230 hp engine. However, versions B and C quickly appeared, in which several significant changes were made: first of all, more powerful engines (265 hp in version B and 300 hp Maybach HL 120 TRM in version C - which were installed in PzKpfw IV until 1945 year), and the armor of the entire car was improved. The F1 and F2 versions proved to be a real revolution, in which the frontal armor was increased to 60 mm and the main armament was changed to the large, long-barreled 75 mm KwK 40 L/43 gun, which in 1942 and 1943 allowed them to fight any Allied or Soviet. The most frequently produced versions of the PzKpfw IV were the G, H and J versions, which were very similar to the F1 and F2 versions. The main armament did not change significantly (it was still the KwK 40 gun), as well as the engine and chassis. On the other hand, the armor was slightly strengthened, and from the beginning of 1943 armored screens (Schurzen) were installed. Numerous other vehicles were built on the chassis of the PzKpfw IV, such as the StuG IV assault gun, the Nashorn tank destroyer or the Wirbelwind self-propelled anti-aircraft gun. PzKpfw IV tanks were used on almost all fronts of World War II - from the September Campaign in 1939, through the campaign in France in 1940, Operations Barbarossa and Typhoon in 1941, the Battle of Kursk in 1943, up to the last operations of the German Army against the USSR and the Western Allies in 1944-1945. Due to the limitations of the Treaty of Versailles of 1919, the German Army could not develop many means of reconnaissance or communications, and for this reason, among other things, in the 1920s, it placed emphasis on the development of heavy motorcycles with good to very good performance. performance on and off-road. After the Nazis came to power in 1933, the process did not stop, but actually accelerated. This led to the introduction in the 1930s and during the Second World War of successful designs such as the BMW R-12, the BMW R75 or the Zündapp KS 750. It is worth adding that motorcycles in the German army very often had a side carriage, intended for a soldier with a machine gun. Motorcycles of the German army proved to be particularly effective in the initial period of the Second World War, especially during the fighting in Poland (1939), France (1940), but also in North Africa (1941-1943). They were used mainly for reconnaissance operations, sometimes in the rear of the enemy army, and for liaison tasks. Afrika Korps (full German name: Deutsches Afrikakorps, abbreviated to DAK) is colloquially understood as the collective name of the German ground units that fought in North Africa in 1941-1943. The Afrika Korps was formed in February 1941, following the painful defeats suffered by the Italian army during the battles with the British in Africa at the turn of 1940/1941. Its main task was to come to the aid of the Italian ally and stop the advance of British troops in Libya. The commander of the unit was a general, and later a field marshal, Erwin Rommel. Initially, the DAK consisted only of the 5th Light Division (later transformed into the 21st Armored Division), in May 1941 it was joined by the 15th Armored Division and at the end of 1941 by the 90th Light Division. It is worth adding that already in mid-1941 the Panzergruppe Afrika was founded, led by Erwin Rommel, which was joined by the Afrika Korps. Despite its defensive tasks, the DAK (or more generally Panzergruppe Afrika) very quickly after the landing - on the initiative of its commander - entered into strictly offensive operations, inflicting a series of defeats in the desert on the British in 1941-1942. However, it was then that its commander was nicknamed Desert Fox. At the same time, however, from the very beginning, DAK was troubled by supply problems, which had a negative impact on its ability to conduct offensive actions. It suffered a significant defeat in the Second Battle of El Alamein (October-November 1942), which forced the DAK to retreat all the way to Tunisia, where it fought until May 1943. The box does not contain glue and paints. WE DO NOT SHIP TO THE CANARY ISLANDS
