A pair of French civilians push the last of their worldly possessions past an abandoned Jagdpanzer IV /70 (A) knocked out during the vicious fighting for the Colomar pocket in February 1945.
ALittle Historical Context... While defeat at the battle of Stalingrad was the first massive blow for Hitler's forces in the east, it was not until after the battle of Kursk that Germany was in effect on the back foot and constantly in retreat until the war’s end in 1945.
During Operation Citidel, the Wehrmacht deployed such vehicles as the early Panther, Tiger, Elephant, Hummel and Nashorn and much had been expected of these new wonder weapons. The Red Army's seven mile defence in depth saw to it that the German armour never achieved its aim of cutting off the Kursk salient.
Along with vast amounts of land mines, artillery and anti-tank guns, the Soviets unleashed hundreds of T-34/76s at German lines. This T-34 variant with its 76mm cannon was roughly equivalent to the Panzer IV but not in the league of larger and better armed Tigers and Panthers.
The one German weapon that did perform well in the Kursk maelstrom was the humble Stug III assault gun, in many cases doing better than the turreted Panzer IV. The simple armoured casemate mounted on a tank chassis with its low silhouette and thick frontal armour was a winning formula and cheaper and easier to produce. This simple expedient of utilizing the standard Panzer III and now Panzer IV chassis would lead to an ever evolving series of Stug variants and the emergence of the initial Jagdpanzer IV L/48 armed 7.5 cm PAK 39 L/48 . Kursk was also a turning point in terms of the Red army's tank quality and type. Having deployed a number of SU-152s ( animal hunters) during the battle the Soviets now saw the success of heavy assault guns, which would later evolve into the JS 152 and 122. While the T-34 evolved into the larger T-34 85 tank along with the SU-85 and SU-100 assault guns.