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Picture 2:
As with the Panzer III, the StuG III driver sat in the forward left side of the hull and his driving controls were also
of the Pz.III variety. In this sketch of an Ausf.C/D originally drawn by artists at the British School of Tank
Technology (but used since by a number of publishers) you can see the driver's seat, his controls, and the
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instrument panel. Directly behind the driver sat the gunner and directly behind him, the commander. The loader
was positioned to the right of the gun and he was provided with a seat bolted to the sponson. Forward of the loader
were storage racks for steel cases containing main gun ammunition. The 7.5cm weapon and floor mounted gun
cradle just about divided the hull in half but there was still room behind the recoil guard to slide from one side of
the vehicle to the other. The Ausf.C/D model was the first with the gunner's sighting aperture window removed
from the original alcove in the forward armored plate and relocated up through a special plate in the roof hatch.
This helped eliminate the shot trap of the original gunner's forward mounted sight of the Ausf.A and B models.
Picture 3:
This drawing shows a bit more of the detail of
the driver's position. He steers the vehicle with
traditional steering levers attached by linkage
to the DB/Wilson Clutch and braking system,
which is hydraulic. The transmission sits in
the middle of the front hull, to the right of the
driver, and consists of a ZF SSG 77 Aphon
unit with 6 forward and 1 reverse gears. This
simplified transmission took the place of the
Maybach SRG 328 145 unit of the Ausf.A.
Gas, brake and clutch pedals are all in the
normal position at the driver's feet (clutch to
the driver's left, brake in the middle and gas to
the right). The driver's main instrument panel
is mounted above the transmission at the right.
To change gears with this synchronized
transmission the driver shifted the preselector
lever to the desired gear and then depressed
and released the clutch pedal. The
transmission would then automatically change
to that new gear and the driver could then
select the next gear to engage by moving the gearshift lever again before pressing the clutch pedal once again.
Picture 4:
The instrument panel is dominated by a large
tachometer flanked by gages on the left for oil
pressure and temperature, and on the right for
speedometer. To the right also are 4 fuse box
covers and further right are
connections/switches for lights and the gun's
electrical system. This is the typical panel
layout for early StuGs, later versions, as with
the Pz.III, varied a bit from time to time. Above
the tachometer and speedometer are two small
horizontal lights to illuminate the panel. These
same light bulb holders can be seen elsewhere
in the vehicle for general lighting purposes,
usually attached directly to the armor.
Instrument panels were typically painted black,
or the same ivory as the interior color, and the
dials were white with black lettering. The
tachometer dial indicated dangerously high rpm
levels with colored warning bands, first yellow and then red.
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Picture 5:
This archive photo shows some detail of the
driver's forward area, including the forward
view block. The Kinon bulletproof glass block
is typical for the time and was used as the
primary viewing device during relatively safe
periods of operation. The holder and outside
armored flap is called a Fahrerseh Klappe50
and when in combat the outside armored cover
was closed over the glass block by the large
handles you can barely see on either side. The
handles are seen here near the top and the visor
cover, indicating the cover is in the closed
position. Once the Klappe50 was closed, the
driver's KFF binocular optics were swung
down into position over his glass block inside
the hull. The binocular KFF was attached to
the front armor plate above the viewing block and allowed a very restricted view through two small holes bored
through the armor just above the armored cover. At the top of the photo are the clips that hold the two telescopes
when pivoted up and not in use, in this case the KFF is the KFF2 model. Typically, there was a padded face guard
attached to keep the driver from banging his head into the optics when bouncing over the ground (not shown here).
To the left is a rubber speaking funnel and tube with elastic support band that was used to communicate with the
commander in the early vehicles that did not have an intercom system (vehicles prior to the Ausf.D). The speaking
tube system is seen occasionally in later vehicles as a back-up measure. Above the tube is the driver's left side
Kinon viewing block and holder, here painted black as are most of the mechanicals that appear dark colored in this
photo. By the time of the Ausf.G models, this left viewing block would be replaced with a simple pistol port plug.
Down below are two steering levers with black rubber hand grips and to the right is the round knobbed gear shift
lever. Also visible here is the lower left corner of the instrument panel--the remainder is blocked by part of the gun
support. The left-hand drive shaft passes through the large tube seen forward and the main brakes are housed in the
larger diameter cover seen on the left. Way down at the lower right of the photo is the handle for the starter
carburetor control with locking button at the end.
A word about StuG III interior paint is probably appropriate here. Notice that the sponson walls and floor are a
darker shade of paint than the superstructure walls in this training vehicle. In many vehicles this floor color was a
greenish gray paint, varying only slightly in the Alkett factory. At about the same time the order came to
discontinue applying zimmerit paste to assault vehicles at the factories (the fall of '44), manufacturers were also
ordered to stop over-painting interiors of vehicles Elfenbein (ivory) and allow only the original factory primer, a
fairly bright brick red, to be used. This was to cut production time and would have affected only the later StuG IIIs
(Ausf.G) or only a few earlier models that had been returned to the manufacturer for repair/rebuild. There is
evidence that suggests some early vehicle's floors were painted with this primer instead of the gray paint I
previously mentioned, but the walls and roof were painted the typical Elfenbein. There is at least one StuG III in
captivity with original paint suggesting a genuine white paint was used, even on the floor, although it is in two
slightly different shades (perhaps a rebuild or repaired vehicle). It had been sitting in a swamp for 40 years before
recovery so the actual original paint shade is debatable.
Picture 6:
Lucky for us, the German Army was proud of their engineering
skill and expertise, and extensively recorded by photographs the
interior of many of their AFVs. These next few photos are from
the Bundesarchiv and taken of a StuG III Ausf.E (with the short
L/24 gun) said to be used for crew training. Here the crew is
installed in their proper positions and the superstructure and
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Picture 7:
Here is the left side of the short 7.5cm Stuk37 L/24
gun used in the early StuG IIIs. The loader is looking
up the open breech and the gunner is to the left. In
these earlier vehicles the gun elevated -10 to +20
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Picture 8:
Another view of this vehicle, this time from the
left side, shows a bit more of the gunner's control
mechanism. The elevation hand wheel is now
clearly seen at the right while the traverse wheel
is partially visible underneath. The gun was fired
via a switch on the operating handle of the
traverse wheel. You can also find the traverse
gear on the base of the mount--the round box just
about centered at the bottom of the picture. The
gun is mounted on a traversing cradle that sits
atop large steel beams, which in turn cross the
hull from side to side along the floor. A direct fire
sight is seen here attached to the elevating gear
housing. This sight was added to the StuG C
when the sight window was removed at the front
of the vehicle. Along the side of the sight mount
can be seen the metallic ammo range rings, but
the black periscopic sight does not show well in
this photo. The sight mounting was considerably
different between the short and long gun versions
of the AFV, the early versions with ranging rings to the left of the mechanism as seen here and the later mounts
with the rings down below the mount.
Picture 9:
This view shows the gunner installing a
Selbstfahrlafetten-Zielfernrohr 1 (Sfl.ZF1) direct fire
sight into its mount (Ausf.A and B used shorter
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