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Is the BG supposed to have a Marder III(r), as the game as the 7.62cmL51 as it's main gun..I would have assumed it would have been the more common in the West, the Marder III M w/the 7.5cmL40.

Glad to see the addition of Mielke's Pz III and Pz IVs included with KG Knaust [8D]

Marders in MG area?!? [X(] Never heard of that, is it SS or WH?

But the calibre and the theatre of war have nothing to do with each other, the Germans captured (and liked...) so many 7,62cm guns in 1941-'42 that they started their own production of ammunition.

Cheers

actually there are some differences. with the sd kfz.139(Marder III(r)) and Sd Kfz.138(Marder III H and M)..I wasn't thinking of ammo, which I knew 7.62cm PaK 36(r) were rechambered for. There is a armour thickness issue between the two, plus the M has does have some rear armour protection the (r) doesn't have at all. And the (r) has a bow mounted MG37(t) bow machine gun vs the M's le MG34/42 mounted on a bar that crosses the fighting compartment.

Marder III, Sd.Kfz. 139
While the Panzer 38(t) had largely become obsolete as a tank in early 1942, it was still an excellent platform for adaptation into a tank destroyer, among other roles. Since the Soviet 76.2 mm field gun was captured in large quantities, the decision was made to mate this gun to the Panzer 38(t).

To do so, the turret and upper superstructure of the Panzer 38 were removed and a new superstructure was bolted on to the chassis. The upper structure mounted the gun and an extended gun shield, giving very limited protection for the commander and the loader. Armour protection overall ranged from 10 to 50 mm. The gun, commander and loader were located on top of the engine deck. It had higher silhouette than Panzer 38, which made it more vulnerable to enemy fire.

The now-called 7.62 cm PaK 36(r) was rechambered to be able to use standard German 75 mm ammunition, of which 30 rounds could be carried inside the vehicle. Apart from the main gun, there was a 7.92 mm(MG37(t) czech-made) machine gun mounted in the hull.

This tank destroyer was put into production as the Panzerjäger 38(t) für 7.62 cm PaK 36(r), Sd.Kfz. 139. A total of 363 of this Marder III variant were built from April 1942 to 1943.

Marder III Ausf.M, Sd.Kfz. 138
The last Marder III variant was based on the Panzer 38(t) Ausf. M (with Ausf. M standing for Mittelmotor (middle engine), again armed with the 75 mm PaK 40 anti-tank gun. In this variant, the engine was moved from the rear to the middle between driver and the rest of the crew. Because there was no engine in the rear, the gun and the crew did not have to sit on top of the engine deck as in previous models. The fighting compartment could be lowered down to the bottom floor level where the engine used to be. This decreased crew exposure, as well as visibility. Unlike the previous two Marder Is, the fighting compartment was closed at the rear protecting the crew up to their mid-section. It stayed open-topped. It could only carry 27 rounds of ammunition. The machine gun port at the front was eliminated in the Ausf. M, instead an MG 34 or MG 42 was carried by the crew. In the previous two models, the commander served as a gunner. However, in Ausf. M, the radio man moved to the rear with the commander and gunner, serving as a loader. Combat effectiveness increased because the vehicle commander was freed from manning the gun.

The Ausf. M was the variant which was produced in the largest numbers, some 975 vehicles being manufactured in 1943 and early 1944. Its full name was the Panzerjäger 38(t) mit 7.5 cm PaK 40/3 Ausf.M, Sd.Kfz. 138. In February 1945 some 350 Ausf M were still in service.