In an effort to get sizeable numbers of tank destroyers into service along the Eastern Front, the Waffenamt embarked upon a series of hurried improvizations throughout 1942-43. Eventually, a special weapons-carrier vehicle based on the PzKpfw IV chassis was developed, which was adapted to take the 8.8cm PaK 43 gun. The first of these so-called Nashorns ("Rhinocerous") entered service in 1943. Later knows as Hornisse (Hornet), the vehicle had an unusually high profile that was difficult to conceal, a problem increased by poor armor with only the driver being fully protected. It was therefore used as a long-range weapon, in contrast to most other tank destroyers. The powerful gun made the Nashorn a potent battlefield weapon, but it was too bulky for its prescribed role and only the lack of anything better kept it on the production line as long as it did. Some 433 were built before production ceased in 1944.

Pictured here is 1:72 scale late production German Sd. Kfz. 164 Hornisse self-propelled heavy tank destroyer in a striped camouflage pattern and nicknamed "Puma". Now in stock!

Dimensions:
Length: 4-1/2-inches
Width: 1-1/2-inches

Release Date: September 2023

Historical Account: "Soaring Sonatas" - As the Soviets advanced through Poland in late 1944, the German administration collapsed. The Communist-controlled Committee of National Liberation (PKWN, Polski Komitet Wyzwolenia Narodowego), headed by Boleslaw Bierut, was installed by the Soviet Union in July in Lublin, the first major Polish city to be liberated from the Nazis, and began to take over the administration of the country as the Germans retreated. The government in exile in London had only one card to play, the forces of the AK. This was why the government in exile was determined that the AK would cooperate with the advancing Red Army on a tactical level, while Polish civil authorities from underground took power in Allied-controlled Polish territory (see Operation Tempest) to prevent possibility of Soviets taking control over Poland. The failure of the Warsaw Uprising marked the end of any real chance that Poland would escape postwar Communist rule, especially given the unwillingness of the Western Allies to risk conflict with Soviets over Poland.