STUG III DAK

[Scarlett]

Hi,
I am doing a DAK army for the Operation Crusader era.
I have done some reading, and seen pictures of STUG III's in North Africa.
However, they don't appear in the Army Builder?
Were they to few in number to be listed in the army builder or
are the photo's misleading?
Phil

[Steve J]

Welcome on board Phil ! From memory there were only 8 Stug III's used in North Africa and quite late on from memory.

[sultanbev]

Hello, welcome to the forum!

StuG III were certainly not used in 1941 Op Crusader.
A total of 3x StuG IIID were issued to Sonder Verband 288 and deployed from May-October 1942. SVb288 was a sort of special forces unit. In BKC terms that would be one model in the entire DAK.

Later more StuG III may have been deployed in Tunisia, but am not sure of the details.

[Scarlett]

Thanks guys,
My own view is that there were some STUG's in North Africa,
but not that many to warrant a listing on the army builder.
I did read that a company of STUG's were lost on route by ship to the DAK,
and now rest a the bottom of the med thanks to the RN.
As yet I have not seen them mentioned in any combat or army lists,
Just a few photo's.
Phil

[sultanbev]

From https://www.feldgrau.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=13502

"There were two units that deployed StuG IIIs to North Africa.

The first was Sonderverband 288 with a platoon of three StuG III in its 5th Company[anti-tank]. In addition to the StuG IIIs the platoon also had 1 SdKfz 250/6. The unit was raised on 1 July 1941 at Potsdam and was originally designed to operate in Iraq but instead was directly assigned to Panzerarmee Akfrika where it served as a regular motorized infantry regiment. On 31 October 1942 288 was redesignated as Panzergrenadier-Regiment Afrika and completely reorganized. The StuG IIIs used by 288 were a tropical modified Ausf. C/D.

The second unit to be sent to North Africa equipped with StuG IIIs was the 1st batterie of StuG Brigade 242. StuG Brigade 242 was formed on 1 November 1942 at Jüterbog in the village of Zinna and it was intended to deploy the brigade to North Africa to support Rommel who had been requesting an assault unit to lead his infantry in attack. However at the end of October 1942 the 2nd and 3rd batteries were diverted to the southeast to Hungary and then on to Russia. However the 1st batterie was sent to fight in North Africa. It was attached to the 10. Panzer-Division as the 13. Batterie to Panzer-Artillery-Regiment 90 of the 10. Panzer-Division. It was under the command of Hauptmann Ernst Benz and it was equipped with six StuG III Ausf F/8s. Transported via rail through the Brenner Pass to Naples in Italy where they were then transferred to Siebel ferries for sea transport across to Sicily. Then marching overland to the west of Sicily they arrived at Trapani where they were losaded abord ships for transport to Tunis. During this sea transport from Sicily to North Africa the ships were attacked by allied aircraft and two of the six StuG IIIs anda SdKfz 9 and SdAnh116 trailer were lost to the sea. the battery was officially renamed to StuG Battery 90 on 30 April 1943. They also supported Fallschirm-Brigade Ramcke and then Fallschirm-Regiment Barenthin while fighting to the end in Tunisia. On 11 May 1943 the remnants of the batterie surrendered to the British at Kap Bon Peninsula.. First the captured men were interned in a British POW camp at Medjez el Bab. Then some of the batteries personnel were used by the French as forced labor. At the end of July 1943 the survivors were transported to the US and to a POW camp in Texas. In February 1946 the survivors were released and in transit to Germany they were detained in Le Havre,France and uised by the French as laborers in the lead mines in the Pyrenees until released for good at the end of December 1948.

So in total seven StuG IIIs [three Ausf CDs and 4 F/8s] fought in North Africa. No replacement assault guns were ever sent and of course all seven were lost in the fighting.

There were no StuGs allocated to the HG units in North Africa but as noted above the StuGs from the 10 PD did assist the paras in several operations in Tunisia.

Ron Klages" (considered an authorative voice)
So yes, a platoon was sunk, but not a company, and those remaining were in the 10th Panzer Division in 1943 in Tunisia, not DAK, for all the difference that makes.

[Techno 3]

Welcome from me, too !

(From another Phil. )

[Scarlett]

Thanks again guys,
and for the very informative and detailed reply from Sultanbev.
I would say that answers my STUG question.
Phil

[Lord Kermit of Birkenhead]

It is of course totally round here...welcome