The spare tread links were both a breakdown recovery item, and added a bit of extra armor for the crew. There were two secondary machine guns, either MG-34s or MG-42s, one coaxial and one in a ball mount in the tank’s nose. The WWII-era TZF.5f gunsight was retained by the Syrians. The Panzer IVs Syria operated were of the late four versions.Īll of the Panzer IVs Syria used had the “long-barrel version” of the Rheinmetall KwK 40 gun which could penetrate a M4 Sherman’s armor at ranges up to 1,000 yards under ideal circumstances. It underwent great evolution during it’s production run, being made in ten main versions. It served the entire conflict from start to finish. This was the most common German tank during WWII. Quite improbably, Syria had assembled it’s collection of ex-Wehrmacht vehicles from a half-dozen sources over a decade and a half timeframe. The last appearance by WWII German tanks on the world’s battlefields came in 1967, when Syria’s panzer force faced off against modern Israeli armor.

Tiger tank modernized