StuG Department of Corrections – MIAG zimmerit treatment – Part 2 - Inside Track | Renault TSF Tank Kent

Apart from the high-resolution images of an early 1944 MIAG captured StuG and our Black Sea and Farley Mowat machines, we had nothing else to go on for the zimmerit treatment of StuGs. The engine deck had proved to be a point of contention given that growing evidence pointed to parts or all of the engine deck being left out in the zimmerit application process. The question was how much of the engine deck was covered?. The archive images from the Tank Museum suggested none of the engine deck was covered, save for the tool box cover situated top centre between the two rear hatches carrying the spare road wheels. No zimmerit remained on either the Black Sea or Farley Mowat engine decks. The situation changed, however, when we visited the Spanish army El Goloso collection. They have a very good, original early October 1943 assembled MIAG StuG which could prove very useful in cracking the zimmerit rear deck issue. This StuG was delivered to Spain in late October 1943. It is worthwhile, at this point, revisiting the fahrgestellnummer (chassis number) issue. We know the El Goloso StuG was originally equipped with armoured hub caps thereby resolving a long-standing debate. Would it also sort out the zimmerit discussion? Its chassis number of 95783 was well within the zimmerit application period so a scan was required to see whether there was a trace of the compound anywhere on the engine deck. The first task was to confirm whether any trace of zimmerit remained on the vehicle overall. Evidence of zimmerit did emerge, although it was not present in substantial amounts as most of it had fallen off over the decades since the war. StuGs were originally delivered to Spain with the anti-magnetic mine paste already applied in 1943. What remains today is generally confined to the inaccessible areas – under the spare road wheels stowed on the engine deck and under the spare track stowed on the cabin wall rear. What could be determined from our mounting evidence of a partial covering of the engine deck? Closer examination showed traces of what appeared to be zimmerit around and in between the hatches holding the spare road wheels. There was no evidence of any treatment beyond these hatches. The outline of what remained appeared to closely match the wartime STT (School of Tank Technology) report on a captured early 1944 MIAG assembled StuG. The images of the areas in question are provided for your review. We would welcome any feedback on this. There appears to be a covering of zimmerit on the toolbox of the captured early 1944 example seen on the images provided by the Tank Museum. In summary both MIAG survivors in the collection – the Black Sea and Farley Mowat example had no evidence of any zimmerit having been applied at any time on the back deck save for the area behind and between the hatches holding the spare road wheels. This appears to be evidenced by the Black Sea StuG in the image provided. The area described is very smooth (zimmerit protected deck from corrosion) and there appears to be a clear line where it ended and the bare plate starts. This contrasts with the bare non-applied surface which is very rusty all over the hull. The zimmerit does seem to have protected the hull from corrosion. There is no evidence of having the compound applied to the rear cabin wall either. The original images of the captured StuG appear to support no back cabin wall application or rear deck apart from the area between and behind the road wheel carrying hatches. Even this appears to change when comparing this to the later captured StuG images where there appears to be even less zimmerit applied on the rear. Only the angled rear panel appears to have had an application in the photo taken from the rear. . A question we will leave open with you. Did MIAG vary the application of zimmerit over time? The early examples (zimmerit started second week of September 1943) MIAG fahrgestellnummer 95747 (mid-September) had no zimmerit. The later, possibly by 2 weeks, Spanish El Goloso 95783 and the Black Sea StuG display possible covering to the rear hatches holding the spare road wheels and the area between then just below the tool box. Later examples such as the Farley Mowat StuG display no such application - only on the rear sloped plate. We will return as more information becomes available…..

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