Jagdpanzer Hetzer Tank Destroyer

The Jagdpanzer 38(t) (Sd.Kfz. 138/2), after World War II  known as Hetzer ("baiter"), was a German Tank Destroyer of the Second World War based on a modified pre-war Czechoslovakian Panzer 38(t) chassis.
     The Jagdpanzer 38(t) was intended to be more cost-effective than the much more ambitious Jagdpanther and Jagdtiger designs of the same period.  Using a proven chassis, it avoided the mechanical problems of the larger armored vehicles.
     It was better armored than the earlier Panzerjäger Marder and Nashorn with a sloped armor front  plate of 60 mm sloped back at 60 degrees from the vertical (equivalent in protection to about 180 mm), carried a reasonably powerful gun, was mechanically reliable and small and easily concealed.  It was also cheap to build.  Its main failings were the cramped working condition of the crew and the gun mounting, which had a more limited traverse to the left.
     The Jagdpanzer 38(t) succeeded the Marder III (based on the same chassis) in production from April 1944; about 2584 were built until the end of the war. Its purpose was to equip the Panzerjägerabteilungen (tank destroyer battalions) of the infantry divisions, giving them some limited mobile anti-armor capability.