Mark IVs to Moscow 10/41*
*
Date:  October 25, 1941*                     

*
Battle Type: German Assault vs. Soviet Defend*
*
Design: CB Blackard*
*                               
Description: In 1941, the Mark IV, armed with a short-barreled 75-mm gun, was the most modern tank of the German panzertruppe.  Though adequately armored and solidly built, compared to the Russian T-34 the Mark IV looked "clumsy and obsolete" in the words of one German historian.  Still, it was virtually the only German tank capable of giving the T-34 a fair battle.  The bulk of most panzer regiments, such as the 35th Panzer Regiment of the 4th Panzer Division, was made up of Czech-built light tanks such as the PzKfw.38(t) - no match at all for anything except the lightest of Russian tanks.*
*
From the opening days of Operation Barbarossa in June 1941, the Germans encountered the T-34 sporadically.  By October 1941, the fast and well-armed T-34 was appearing more and more frequently.  Thus, the burden fell to the Mark IVs to meet the threat.*
*
In this battle, Oberstleutnant von Oppeln-Bronikowski, a former gold medal winner in the 1936 Olympics and now serving with the 35th Panzer Regiment of the 4th Panzer Division, leads his Mark IVs against stiff Soviet resistance on the road to Moscow.*            
*
SOURCE: Kurowski, "Panzer Aces 2", pp. 498-504*
 
