Tankopedia
WW2Tank DestroyerGermany

Jagdpanzer 38 Hetzer

In service 1944 - 1950s

Small, cheap, heavily sloped tank destroyer built on the Panzer 38(t) chassis.

Built byBMM, Skoda

Jagdpanzer 38 Hetzer
Jagdpanzer 38(t) Hetzer — Joost J. Bakker, via Wikimedia Commons · CC BY 2.0

Development history

The Hetzer put a useful 75 mm anti-tank gun on a tiny, cheap chassis that Czech factories could turn out in quantity. Cramped, with a badly offset gun and poor visibility, it was nonetheless effective from cover and was the most numerous German tank destroyer of 1944-1945. Switzerland operated rebuilt examples as the G-13 into the 1970s.

Variants

One canonical record, 3 recorded variants.

  1. Standard Hetzer

    1944

    75 mm Pak 39 in a heavily sloped casemate.

  2. Flammpanzer 38

    1945

    Flamethrower conversion used in the Ardennes.

  3. G-13

    1947

    Post-war Swiss vehicles, later re-engined with diesel.

Notable actions

  • Eastern Front 1944-1945
  • Warsaw Uprising 1944
  • Prague Uprising 1945