The Panzerkampfwagen IV Pz. Its ordnance inventory designation was Sd. The Panzer IV saw service in all combat theatres involving Germany and was the only German tank to remain in continuous production throughout the war.
However, as the Germans faced the formidable T , the Panzer IV had more development potential, with a larger turret ring to mount more powerful guns, so it swapped roles with the Panzer III whose production wound down in The Panzer IV received various upgrades and design modifications, intended to counter new threats, extending its service life. Generally, these involved increasing the armour protection or upgrading the weapons, although during the last months of the war, with Germany's pressing need for rapid replacement of losses, design changes also included simplifications to speed up the manufacturing process.
The Panzer IV was partially succeeded by the Panther medium tank, which was introduced to counter the Soviet T , although it continued to be a significant component of German armoured formations to the end of the war. It was the most widely exported tank in German service, with around sold to Finland, Romania, Spain and Bulgaria. To support the Panzer III, which would be armed with a millimetre 1. Development was carried out under the name Begleitwagen "accompanying vehicle" , [ 11 ] or BW, to disguise its actual purpose, given that Germany was still theoretically bound by the Treaty of Versailles ban on tanks.
The chassis had originally been designed with a six-wheeled Schachtellaufwerk interleaved-road wheel suspension as already adopted for German half-tracks , but the German Army amended this to a torsion bar system. Permitting greater vertical deflection of the road wheels, this was intended to improve performance and crew comfort both on- and off-road.
The prototype had a crew of five; the hull contained the engine bay to the rear, with the driver and radio operator, who doubled as the hull machine gunner, seated at the front-left and front-right, respectively. In the turret , the tank commander sat beneath his roof hatch, while the gunner was situated to the left of the gun breech and the loader to the right.
