Hetzer Tank Destroyer

1. Lead

The Hetzer (Jagdpanzer 38) was the German tank destroyer of the last year of the Second World War, and one of the most effective armoured fighting vehicles ever built. Small, low and cheap, it was armed with the 7.5 cm PaK 39 anti-tank gun, protected by well-sloped armour up to 60 mm thick, and built on the reliable chassis of the Czech Panzer 38(t) light tank.

It was designed for ambush: to hide in a wood, behind a wall or in a ruined building, to wait for an enemy tank to come into range, and to destroy it with a single shot. More than 2,800 Hetzers were built between April 1944 and May 1945, more than any other German tank destroyer of the war, and they fought in Normandy, in the Ardennes, in Hungary and on the Eastern Front, where they earned a reputation as a dangerous and elusive opponent.

The Hetzer’s name, which means “baiter” or “heckler” in German, was never an official designation, but it was used by the troops and it stuck. The vehicle’s official name was the Jagdpanzer 38, and it was the last of the German tank destroyers built on the Panzer 38(t) chassis, a chassis that had already served as the basis for the Marder III tank destroyer and for the Grille self-propelled gun.

The Hetzer was a product of desperation: by 1944, Germany was losing the war of production, and it needed a tank destroyer that could be built quickly, cheaply and in large numbers, using a chassis that was already in production.

The Hetzer met that need, and it did so with a design that was, in many ways, better than the vehicles it replaced, above all because its low silhouette and its sloped armour made it difficult to see and difficult to hit.

2. Key Facts

Type	Tank destroyer (Jagdpanzer)
Origin	Germany (designed and built in Czechoslovakia)
Designer	Böhmisch-Mährische Maschinenfabrik (BMM), Prague
Manufacturer	BMM, Prague; Škoda, Pilsen
In service	1944–1945 (Germany); to 1950s in Switzerland as the G-13
Produced	April 1944–May 1945; about 2,827 built
Weight	About 15.8 tonnes
Length	6.27 m (with gun); 4.83 m (hull)
Width	2.63 m
Height	2.17 m
Crew	4 (commander, gunner, loader, driver)
Armour	8–60 mm; 60 mm sloped front
Main armament	7.5 cm PaK 39 L/48 gun (41 rounds)
Secondary armament	One 7.92 mm MG 34 machine gun (remote-controlled on the roof)
Engine	Praga EPA AC/2800 six-cylinder petrol, 160 hp
Top speed	About 42 km/h on road
Range	About 180 km on road

3. Background and Development

The need for a cheap tank destroyer

By the end of 1943, the German Army was in retreat on every front, and it was losing tanks faster than it could build them. The Soviet T-34 and the American Sherman were being produced in tens of thousands, while the German Panther and Tiger I were being produced in hundreds, and the German Army needed a weapon that could destroy enemy tanks without the cost and complexity of a heavy tank.

The answer was the tank destroyer: a vehicle that carried a powerful anti-tank gun on a light chassis, without a turret, and that was cheap enough to be built in large numbers. Germany had already built several tank destroyers, including the Marder series and the StuG III, but the Marder was tall and lightly armoured, and the StuG III was built on the Panzer III chassis, which was needed for tanks.

The Army therefore asked for a new tank destroyer, built on the chassis of the Panzer 38(t), a Czech light tank that was no longer fit to fight as a tank but whose chassis was reliable and already in production.

The Panzer 38(t) was a Czech tank, the LT vz. 38, which had been built by ČKD in Prague before the war and which had been taken over by the Germans after the occupation of Czechoslovakia in 1939. It had served as a light tank in Poland, France and Russia, but by 1942 it was obsolete as a tank, and its chassis was used instead for the Marder III tank destroyer and for the Grille self-propelled gun.

The new tank destroyer, which was ordered in December 1943, was to be a complete redesign: a low, fully enclosed casemate, with sloped armour on all sides, a 7.5 cm gun mounted in the front, and a crew of four.

The design was done by the Böhmisch-Mährische Maschinenfabrik (BMM) in Prague, the successor to ČKD, and the first prototype was ready in early 1944, only a few months after the order was placed.

From prototype to production

The prototype was tested in the spring of 1944, and it was accepted for production in April 1944, under the designation Jagdpanzer 38. Production began at once, at the BMM factory in Prague and at the Škoda factory in Pilsen, and the first vehicles were delivered to the Army in the summer of 1944, in time for the fighting in Normandy.

The Hetzer was built in large numbers: about 2,827 were built between April 1944 and May 1945, and production continued until the last days of the war, when the factories were overrun by the Soviet Army. The Hetzer’s production was a remarkable achievement, given the state of German industry in 1944 and 1945, when the factories were being bombed by the Allies and when materials and labour were in short supply, and it was made possible by the simplicity of the design and by the fact that the chassis was already in production.

The name “Hetzer”

The name “Hetzer” was never an official designation, and it does not appear in German documents of the war. The vehicle’s official name was the Jagdpanzer 38, and it was also known as the Panzerjäger 38(t). The name “Hetzer” was used by the troops, and it was popularised after the war by historians and by modellers, and it has become the name by which the vehicle is universally known.

The word “Hetzer” means “baiter” or “heckler” in German, and it is thought to have been a nickname given to the vehicle by its crews, who appreciated its low silhouette and its ability to ambush enemy tanks. The name is a reminder that the vehicles of the Second World War were often known by nicknames that were never official, and that the names by which we know them today are often the names given to them by the men who used them.

4. Design

The low silhouette and sloped armour

The Hetzer’s most distinctive feature was its low silhouette. At 2.17 metres high, it was one of the lowest armoured fighting vehicles of the war, and it was much lower than the tanks it fought against: the Sherman was 2.74 metres high, the T-34 was 2.45 metres high, and the Panther was 2.99 metres high.

The Hetzer’s low height made it difficult to see, and difficult to hit, and it allowed the vehicle to hide behind walls, in woods and in ruined buildings, where a taller vehicle would have been exposed. The Hetzer’s armour was well sloped on all sides: the front plate was 60 mm thick and sloped at 60 degrees from the vertical, which gave it an effective thickness of about 120 mm, and the side plates were 20 mm thick and sloped at 40 degrees, which gave them an effective thickness of about 26 mm.

The sloped armour was one of the Hetzer’s greatest strengths, and it was a lesson learned from the Soviet T-34, whose sloped armour had impressed the Germans in 1941.

The 7.5 cm gun and the cramped fighting compartment

The Hetzer’s main armament was the 7.5 cm PaK 39 L/48 gun, a tank version of the 7.5 cm PaK 40 anti-tank gun, which was one of the best anti-tank guns of the war. The gun could penetrate about 106 mm of armour at 500 metres and about 85 mm at 1,000 metres, using standard armour-piercing ammunition, and it could destroy any Allied tank of the war at ordinary combat ranges, with the exception of the heaviest Soviet tanks.

The gun was mounted in the front of the casemate, offset to the right of the centreline, and it had a limited traverse of 11 degrees to the left and 5 degrees to the right, which meant that the driver had to turn the whole vehicle to aim the gun.

The fighting compartment was cramped, with room for only four men, and the loader, who had to load the gun in a space that was barely a metre wide, had a particularly difficult job, while the commander, who sat behind the gunner, had to command the vehicle, to spot the targets and to operate the machine gun.

The engine, the chassis and the remote machine gun

The Hetzer was powered by a Praga EPA six-cylinder petrol engine of 160 horsepower, which was the same engine that had powered the Panzer 38(t), and it was mounted at the rear of the vehicle, with the driver at the front and the fighting compartment in the middle.

The engine gave the Hetzer a top speed of about 42 km/h on the road, which was adequate for a tank destroyer, although it was slower than the tanks it fought against, and the Hetzer’s range was about 180 km on the road.

The chassis, which was the Panzer 38(t) chassis with larger road wheels and a wider track, was reliable and easy to maintain, and it was one of the reasons why the Hetzer was built in such large numbers. The Hetzer’s secondary armament was a 7.92 mm MG 34 machine gun, mounted on the roof of the casemate and operated by remote control from inside the vehicle, which allowed the commander to fire the machine gun without exposing himself to enemy fire, although the remote control was difficult to use and the machine gun was often fired by a crew member standing in the open hatch.

5. Variants

Variant	Year	Key features	Production
Jagdpanzer 38 (Hetzer)	1944–1945	Standard tank destroyer; 7.5 cm PaK 39 gun	About 2,827
Jagdpanzer 38 Starr	1944–1945	Rigid gun mount; simpler production	About 10
Flammpanzer 38	1944–1945	Flamethrower in place of the gun	About 20
Bergepanzer 38	1944–1945	Armoured recovery vehicle	About 170
G-13 (Swiss)	1946–1950	Post-war Swiss version; 7.5 cm gun	About 158

The standard Hetzer and the Starr

The standard Hetzer, the Jagdpanzer 38, was built in large numbers, and it was the only variant that saw extensive combat. It was armed with the 7.5 cm PaK 39 gun, mounted on a recoil system that allowed the gun to move back when it fired, and it was protected by sloped armour up to 60 mm thick.

The Jagdpanzer 38 Starr was a simplified version, with the gun mounted rigidly in the casemate, without a recoil system, which made it cheaper and easier to build, but which made the gun more difficult to aim and which put more strain on the chassis when the gun fired.

Only about 10 Starrs were built, and they were used for trials, although the design was intended to simplify production and to allow more Hetzers to be built in the last months of the war, when materials and labour were in short supply.

Flamethrower, recovery and the Swiss G-13

The Flammpanzer 38 was a flamethrower version of the Hetzer, with the 7.5 cm gun replaced by a flamethrower, and it was built in small numbers, about 20, for use against bunkers and fortifications. The Bergepanzer 38 was an armoured recovery vehicle, built on the Hetzer chassis, with a crane and with towing equipment, and about 170 were built, for use by the recovery units of the Panzer divisions.

After the war, the Hetzer was built in Czechoslovakia for Switzerland, under the designation G-13, and about 158 G-13s were built between 1946 and 1950, with a 7.5 cm gun and with a Swiss engine. The G-13 served with the Swiss Army into the 1960s, and it was the longest-serving version of the Hetzer, and it is the version most often seen in museums today, because so many G-13s survive.

The G-13’s long service in Switzerland is evidence of the soundness of the Hetzer’s design, and of the reliability of its Czech chassis.

6. Operational History

Normandy, summer 1944

The Hetzer first saw action in Normandy, in the summer of 1944, where it was issued to the tank destroyer battalions of the infantry divisions and to the Panzer divisions. The Hetzers fought in the bocage, the hedgerow country of Normandy, where their low silhouette and their sloped armour made them difficult to see and difficult to hit, and where they could ambush the Allied tanks as they advanced along the narrow lanes.

The Hetzers destroyed a number of Sherman and Cromwell tanks, and they earned a reputation as a dangerous opponent, although they were outnumbered by the Allied tanks and although they were often destroyed by Allied artillery and by Allied aircraft, which were the main threat to German armour in Normandy.

The Hetzer’s first battles showed that it was a capable tank destroyer, but also that it was vulnerable to artillery and to air attack, and that it needed to be used in conjunction with the infantry and with the other arms.

The Ardennes and Hungary, 1944–1945

In the Ardennes, in December 1944, the Hetzer fought in the German offensive, where it was used by the infantry divisions and by the Panzer divisions, and where it fought in the forests and in the villages of the Ardennes, ambushing the American tanks as they advanced.

The Hetzers destroyed a number of American tanks, but the offensive failed, and the Hetzers were lost in large numbers during the German retreat. In Hungary, in the winter of 1944–1945, the Hetzer fought in the battles around Budapest and Lake Balaton, where it was used by the German and Hungarian forces against the Soviet Army, and where it fought in the last great German offensive of the war, Operation Spring Awakening, in March 1945.

The Hetzers fought well in Hungary, but they were outnumbered by the Soviet tanks, and they were lost in large numbers during the Soviet advance. The fighting in Hungary was among the fiercest of the war, and the Hetzer’s crews fought in conditions of extreme cold and mud.

The Eastern Front, 1944–1945

On the Eastern Front, the Hetzer fought from the summer of 1944 to the end of the war, and it was used by the infantry divisions and by the Panzer divisions, in the defensive battles that followed the Soviet offensive of June 1944.

The Hetzers fought in Poland, in East Prussia and in Czechoslovakia, and they were used to ambush the Soviet tanks as they advanced, destroying T-34s and IS-2s at close range. The Hetzer’s low silhouette and its sloped armour made it difficult for the Soviet tanks to see and to hit, and its 7.5 cm gun could penetrate the T-34’s armour at ordinary combat ranges.

The Hetzers fought well on the Eastern Front, but they were outnumbered by the Soviet tanks, and they were lost in large numbers during the Soviet advance into Germany, and the last Hetzers were destroyed or abandoned in the ruins of Berlin and in Czechoslovakia in May 1945.

The Hetzer in the last battles

In the last battles of the war, the Hetzer fought in the defence of Berlin and in the defence of Czechoslovakia, where it was used by the German forces against the Soviet Army, and where it fought in the streets and in the ruins of the cities.

The Hetzers were outnumbered and outgunned, and they were destroyed in large numbers, but they fought to the end, and they were among the last German armoured vehicles to be destroyed. The Hetzer’s last battles showed that it was a capable tank destroyer, but also that it was a weapon of a losing army, and that no tank destroyer, however good, could change the outcome of the war.

The Hetzer’s story ended in May 1945, when the war ended and the factories that built it were overrun by the Soviet Army, but its reputation as a dangerous and elusive opponent survived the war, and it is remembered today as one of the best tank destroyers of the Second World War.

7. Performance and Specifications

Specification	Hetzer (Jagdpanzer 38)
Main gun	7.5 cm PaK 39 L/48
Armour penetration (AP)	About 106 mm at 500 m; about 85 mm at 1,000 m
Armour (front)	60 mm, sloped at 60 degrees (about 120 mm effective)
Armour (side)	20 mm, sloped at 40 degrees (about 26 mm effective)
Armour (rear)	8–20 mm
Weight	About 15.8 tonnes
Engine	Praga EPA, 160 hp
Power-to-weight	About 10 hp per tonne
Top speed (road)	About 42 km/h
Range (road)	About 180 km
Fuel capacity	320 litres
Crew	4
Number built	About 2,827

Firepower and protection

The Hetzer’s firepower was excellent for a vehicle of its size and weight. Its 7.5 cm PaK 39 gun could penetrate about 106 mm of armour at 500 metres and about 85 mm at 1,000 metres, using standard armour-piercing ammunition, and it could destroy any Allied tank of the war at ordinary combat ranges, with the exception of the heaviest Soviet tanks, such as the IS-2, whose frontal armour it could not penetrate.

The Hetzer’s protection was also excellent: its front armour, 60 mm thick and sloped at 60 degrees, gave it an effective thickness of about 120 mm, which was proof against the 75 mm gun of the Sherman and the 76.2 mm gun of the T-34 at ordinary combat ranges, although it was not proof against the 17-pounder gun of the Sherman Firefly or the 85 mm gun of the T-34/85.

The Hetzer’s side armour, 20 mm thick and sloped at 40 degrees, was thinner, and it was vulnerable to fire from the side, which was why the Hetzer was used for ambush, with its front towards the enemy.

Mobility and comparison with the Marder

The Hetzer’s mobility was adequate, but it was not its strength. Its top speed was about 42 km/h on the road, which was slower than the tanks it fought against, and its range was about 180 km on the road, which was adequate for a tank destroyer that fought from ambush.

Its engine, the Praga six-cylinder petrol engine of 160 horsepower, was reliable and easy to maintain, and its chassis, the Panzer 38(t) chassis, was one of the most reliable chassis of the war. Compared with the Marder III, which it replaced, the Hetzer was a much better vehicle: it was lower, it was better armoured, it was fully enclosed, and it was more difficult to see and to hit, although it was slower and although its gun had a more limited traverse.

Compared with the StuG III, the Hetzer was smaller and lighter, and it was cheaper to build, although its gun was the same and its armour was thinner, and the StuG III remained the more numerous German tank destroyer.

8. Operators

Germany: the infantry and Panzer divisions

The Hetzer was used by Germany, and it was issued to the tank destroyer battalions of the infantry divisions and to the Panzer divisions. The infantry divisions, which had previously used the Marder III, received the Hetzer as a replacement, and the Panzer divisions received the Hetzer as a supplement to their tanks.

The Hetzer was also issued to the Waffen-SS divisions, and to the Hungarian Army, which received a small number of Hetzers in 1944 and 1945. The Hetzer’s crews were trained at the tank destroyer schools, and they learned to use the vehicle for ambush, to hide it in woods and in buildings, and to fire at the enemy tanks from close range, where the 7.5 cm gun was most effective.

The Hetzer’s use by the infantry divisions was particularly important, because it gave the infantry a weapon that could destroy enemy tanks, and it allowed the infantry to hold their positions against armoured attacks.

Switzerland and the post-war G-13

After the war, the Hetzer was used by Switzerland, which bought the G-13, a post-war version built in Czechoslovakia, and which used it as its standard tank destroyer into the 1960s. The Swiss Army used the G-13 in its tank destroyer battalions, and it trained its crews to use the vehicle for ambush, in the mountains and in the valleys of Switzerland, where its low silhouette and its sloped armour made it difficult to see and to hit.

The G-13 was the longest-serving version of the Hetzer, and it was retired in the 1960s, when it was replaced by the Panzer 61 and by the Centurion. The Hetzer was also used by Czechoslovakia after the war, under the designation ST-I, and it served with the Czechoslovak Army into the 1950s, when it was replaced by Soviet tanks.

The Czechoslovak Army valued the Hetzer for its reliability, and it used the ST-I for training and for border defence into the 1950s.

9. Legacy and Influence

The best of the light tank destroyers

The Hetzer’s legacy is that it was the best of the light tank destroyers of the Second World War. It showed that a small, cheap and well-designed vehicle could be as effective as a large and expensive tank, and that the tank destroyer, used for ambush, could destroy enemy tanks at a fraction of the cost of a tank.

The Hetzer’s design, with its low silhouette, its sloped armour and its powerful gun, influenced the design of tank destroyers after the war, and it is still studied by military historians and by tank designers today. The Hetzer’s production, more than 2,800 vehicles in just over a year, was a remarkable achievement, and it showed that German industry, even in the last year of the war, could still produce a first-class armoured fighting vehicle in large numbers.

The Hetzer’s combination of a low silhouette, sloped armour and a powerful gun has been copied by tank destroyer designers ever since.

The Hetzer in history and memory

The Hetzer is remembered today as one of the best tank destroyers of the Second World War, and as a symbol of German engineering in the last year of the war. Its low silhouette and its sloped armour have made it one of the most recognisable armoured fighting vehicles of the war, and it is a popular subject for modellers and for historians, who study its design and its combat record.

The Hetzer’s reputation as a dangerous and elusive opponent has survived the war, and it is remembered by the Allied soldiers who fought against it as a vehicle that was difficult to see, difficult to hit and deadly when it fired.

The Hetzer’s story is also a cautionary one: it showed that a good weapon, however well designed, cannot change the outcome of a war that is already lost, and that the tank destroyer, however effective, is no substitute for a balanced army.

10. Surviving Examples

Museums in Europe and the United States

Many Hetzers survive, more than almost any other German tank destroyer of the war, because so many were built and because so many G-13s were built after the war. In Britain, the Tank Museum at Bovington holds a Hetzer, and in France, the Musée des Blindés at Saumur holds a Hetzer, and in Germany, the Deutsches Panzermuseum at Munster holds a Hetzer, and in Russia, the Kubinka Tank Museum holds a Hetzer.

In the United States, the U.S. Army Armor and Cavalry Collection at Fort Benning, Georgia, holds a Hetzer, and the National Museum of the United States Army at Fort Belvoir, Virginia, holds a Hetzer. Many of the surviving Hetzers are G-13s, the Swiss post-war version, which are often displayed as Hetzers, although they were built after the war and although they have a Swiss engine and a different gun mantlet.

The Bovington Hetzer is displayed with its camouflage paint intact, and it is one of the most popular vehicles in the museum’s German collection.

Running Hetzers and the G-13

Many surviving Hetzers are in running order, and they are a familiar sight at military vehicle rallies and at re-enactment events, where their low silhouette and their sloped armour make them popular with their owners. The Hetzer’s small size and its light weight make it one of the easiest Second World War armoured vehicles to own and to maintain, and it is one of the most common German armoured vehicles in private collections.

The Swiss G-13s, which were built after the war and which were maintained by the Swiss Army into the 1960s, are in particularly good condition, and many of them are in running order, and they are often used in films and in television programmes about the Second World War, where they stand in for the Hetzer.

For most visitors, the easiest way to see a Hetzer is at Bovington, where the Tank Museum’s Hetzer is displayed alongside the other German armoured vehicles of the war.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the Hetzer?
The Hetzer (Jagdpanzer 38) was a German tank destroyer of the Second World War, built on the chassis of the Czech Panzer 38(t) light tank and armed with a 7.5 cm PaK 39 gun. About 2,827 were built between 1944 and 1945.

Why was the Hetzer called “Hetzer”?
“Hetzer” was never an official designation; it was a nickname used by the troops, meaning “baiter” or “heckler” in German. The vehicle’s official name was the Jagdpanzer 38.

How many Hetzers were built?
About 2,827 Hetzers were built between April 1944 and May 1945, by BMM in Prague and Škoda in Pilsen, making it the most numerous German tank destroyer of the war.

What gun did the Hetzer have?
The 7.5 cm PaK 39 L/48 gun. It could penetrate about 106 mm of armour at 500 metres, which was enough to destroy any Allied tank at ordinary combat ranges.

Where did the Hetzer fight?
The Hetzer fought in Normandy, in the Ardennes, in Hungary and on the Eastern Front, from the summer of 1944 to the end of the war in May 1945.

Where can I see a Hetzer today?
Hetzers survive at the Tank Museum in Bovington, England, at Saumur in France, at Munster in Germany, at Kubinka in Russia and at Fort Benning in the United States. Many surviving vehicles are Swiss G-13s.

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Sources

1. Wikipedia, “Hetzer” — production of about 2,827, specifications, variants and the Swiss G-13.
2. The Tank Museum, Bovington, “Jagdpanzer 38 Hetzer” — the design, the combat record and the surviving examples.
3. Thomas L. Jentz and Hilary L. Doyle, Jagdpanzer 38 Hetzer 1944–45 (Osprey Publishing, 2001) — development, production and variants.
4. Steven J. Zaloga, German Tank Destroyers (Osprey Publishing, 2008) — the Hetzer in Normandy and on the Eastern Front.
5. Walter J. Spielberger, The Hetzer (Schiffer Publishing, 1991) — the technical history of the Jagdpanzer 38.
6. Tank Encyclopedia, “Jagdpanzer 38(t) Hetzer” — specifications, operators and surviving examples.