Hetzer vs SU-76M

A noted authority examines the roles played by Germany’s Hetzer tank destroyer and the Soviet SU-76M self-propelled gun during the battle for Hungary in 1945.

During World War II, Germany and the Soviet Union soon found that their light tanks were obsolete. While their small guns were no longer useful against the enemy’s armoured vehicles, the chassis allowed for installation of a larger gun at the cost of a rotating turret. Keen to utilise existing technology, Germany and the Soviet Union approached this challenge differently.

The Germans turned their PzKpfw 38(t) tank into a tank destroyer, first the open-topped Marder III and then the fully enclosed Jagdpanzer 38(t), nicknamed the Hetzer. The Soviet designers, on the other hand, turned the T-70 light tank into an infantry support gun capable of engaging enemy armour, with its open-topped fighting compartment facilitating communication with accompanying infantry.

In this study, leading armour expert Peter Samsonov’s insightful analysis is complemented by specially commissioned artwork and mapping, alongside carefully selected archive and present-day photographs. These elements reveal the origins, development, and combat performance of these two types at war. Both were widely employed amid the tank battles of early 1945, as Soviet forces reached deep into Hungary and the Axis armies mounted one last counter-offensive on the Eastern Front, Operation Spring Awakening.