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| This rear view of the tank shows the large drum type exhaust baffle that was a standard fit on the panzer Iv and most of its variants, however some J model tanks did recieve and alternate twin stack exhaust system instead of the barrel.This shot also affords a good view of inside of the schurtzen, clearly demonstrating the spacing between it and the main hull, necessary to defeat Russian hollow charge weaponry. Also visible here is the large turret skirt curving around its rear, and the rather narrow battle tracks ( compare these to the Tiger and its models or the Jagdpanther). The narrowness of the tracks of the panzer IV series caused many problems on the eastern front, where the muddiness of the rasputitsa, the rainy season, and the deep snows of the winter caused the tank to belly as it sank up to the hull due to its high ground pressure. This made the tanks sitting ducks for the wide tracked, fast T34 which did not suffer from this drawback. To help remedy this, track widening kits were issued to panzer Iv, III and Stug units to lower thier ground pressure, these were called "Ostketten" and were basically clip on track links, widening the existing tracks. Unfortunately these had a tendency to break off easily and the problem of narrow tracks was never satisafactorily resolved until the arrival of the broad tracked Tiger and Panther series. |