StuG ammo load
Posted: Thu Apr 19, 2007 2:55 pm
Yes, the published specs always said a StuG can carry 44 rounds of ammo. This has always been followed in CC, including RR and CoI, with a load of 32 HE, 8 HEAT, and 4 smoke.
However, according to James Lucus in "War on the Eastern Front" they would load up with up to 120 rounds by stacking extra rounds on the floor, etc. This would cause extra engine strain and burn more fuel, but given the odds on the Eastern front facing repeated wave attacks with only 44 rounds would have been suicidal. Additionally, the 7.5 cm L/24 seemed to have performed better than the data specs would have you believe. Stug III ausf B through E could sometimes get first round kills against T34's, and the StuGs consistently racked up more kills of Soviet armor than Panzers.
This will be key to the GD mod update since StuGs will be the only armor available through 1942. I'm not sure exactly what to set the ammo load to, but it will probably be changed to something like 40 AP, 40 HE, 4 smoke as a compromise and the 7.5 L/24's AP capabilities will be increased somewhat. Playing the mod, I'd usually get halfway through a battle before my StuGs would run out of ammo... it's interesting to see the reality was the same, and how crews adapted!
However, according to James Lucus in "War on the Eastern Front" they would load up with up to 120 rounds by stacking extra rounds on the floor, etc. This would cause extra engine strain and burn more fuel, but given the odds on the Eastern front facing repeated wave attacks with only 44 rounds would have been suicidal. Additionally, the 7.5 cm L/24 seemed to have performed better than the data specs would have you believe. Stug III ausf B through E could sometimes get first round kills against T34's, and the StuGs consistently racked up more kills of Soviet armor than Panzers.
This will be key to the GD mod update since StuGs will be the only armor available through 1942. I'm not sure exactly what to set the ammo load to, but it will probably be changed to something like 40 AP, 40 HE, 4 smoke as a compromise and the 7.5 L/24's AP capabilities will be increased somewhat. Playing the mod, I'd usually get halfway through a battle before my StuGs would run out of ammo... it's interesting to see the reality was the same, and how crews adapted!