StuG's in Torch

Hi, I've managed to blue stuff tracks and hull from PSC to get 10 StuG's out of 1 box. I have 5 early versions that I was hoping to use in Torch. Are they in the army lists, and if so what version?

Thanks, Haze.

Stugs were still not so common in this theatre. 90th Light originally had around 4 . These would have been short barrel versions. By the time of Tunisia the longer barrelled F versions would have been available , again in small numbers .

Stugs were quite uncommon in Tunisia. The F was used in Tunisia,but in very small numbers,but as it is Baatkegroup which is really platoon level,then use a F,that will be fine,as the would be a restricted vehicle. In Sicily there were many more witrh the Hermann Goring Div.

Hi, thanks. I have tried to do some internet research but information was scarce, just like the StuG's then in this theatre, so I shall maybe desert up two of them and dunkelgelb the remaining three for Europe. They are F's as well. I suppose its the cross over period of PzIII conversion to StuG's.

Thanks again, Haze.

Paint them in Gelb,the vehickes sent to N.Africa from early 43 were in Gelb,I have va good book on Panzer Armee Afrika at the studio,which even in B/W you can see two vehicles next to each other,Halftracks,one is Gelb the other Desert the two colours are definatly different. So mpaint them Gelb,and dust them up,they will be perfect then.
What you needcto remember is this,The Afrika Korps took a battering at El Alamein and during the retreat,they lost one heck of a lot of material and men,it was only really the weather and a couple of other factors that saved them. Well for a while at least. So Stugs were replacements sent from factories in Germany,and most of those were sent to the east,while a few were sent to N.Africa,well Tunisia. So it would have been like this, the new stugs are being made ready to send to their units,all in a new coat of Gelb,out of say 100, 10 were sent to N.Africa seperated and sent west then south via train then ship,still in their factory applied coat of gelb. N.Africa was still a side show compared to the Easter Front,where losses for the German atmy were even worse than in Africa.

In Battlegroup terms the short barrelled Stugs for 90th light would be unique . There isn't any certainty on the numbers used by 90th Light but certainly a maximum of 4. Some commentators say 3 .For Tunisia then I would say "Restricted" category for the longer barrelled Fs .For the HG division in Italy as Ray mentioned perhaps very little restriction but it will affect your other choices if doing this division.

Hi, thanks everyone, well going gelb sorts my army organisation out. Now to find a sneaky way to convert short PzIII's barrels to long while still being able to use both versions!

Hmmm sounds like its very much going to a unique unit!

1st battery 242 StuG Brigade was deployed to Tunisia in late 1942. They had 6 F8 but 2 were lost in transit. The unit was attached to 10PD and had several changes of designation whilst in theatre.

Regarding paint scheme I suspect they would be in one of the 2 tropical schemes rather than Dunkelgelb which didn't come in to use officially until February 1943. Not beyond the realms of possibility though as yellow painted vehicles were appearing in Russia prior to this date although these may well have been tropical schemes too.

I've got a PSC F8 which I'm painting for Tunisia in a tropical scheme not that it's much different to the way I paint those in Europe. I've another which will be painted for HG in Sicily.

Going off NTMs post regarding numbers , I would also place the Tunisian Stug Fs as Unique as well .

It is the only WW2 thatre that I can think of where thwe Tiger out numbers the Stug,there were so few stugs.

Not only that Ray. You had more oddballs like Dianas than the Stugs. With the Diana at least you started with 7 . That's one of the attractions for me in Africa some of the unique kit . Some of the other interesting bits are the Panzer 2 Bisons and the Saurer SDKFz 254.

In April 1942 5./Sonderverband 288 was relocated to Africa with 3 StuG III D. It is possible that one survived till Tunesia.

I wrote a article on that unit , one was lost at Gazala,the other ran out of fuel somewhere I cannot remember where, and was abandoned one surrvived El Alamein according to my sources. And surrendered with the Axis forces at cape Bon,I think I may have a pic of it somewhere.

Well one of their StuGs has been restored in the UK.

Yes mate. I saw that on the Net,it was nice to see it restored .