LEGO® Panzer IV Ausf. F2 DAK WW2 German Medium Tank
 
By 1942 the Afrika Korp, needed updated equipment to deal with British tanks like the M3 Lee/Grant which had higher veloctiy guns. In North Africa, the Panzer IV was up-gunned with the long-barrelled 7.5cm gun and a weight of 22 tons. Off road it's maximum speed was 24.9mph/40kph which suited the open desert landscape. The larger shells and rounds needed new stowage arrangement which are installed to hold them in the hull. Inside it had a crew of 5 which was standard for the time with the co-axial machine gun operator was also the radio operator. Rommel's DAK equipment contributed to their early succes in North Africa such as the Seige or Tobruk. The Panzer IV continued to serve in the German Wehrmacht. In the later years the tank chassis was used as a base for tank destroyers like the Nashorn or the StuG IV. It was a reliable and quick to update and produce tank which formed the backbone of the German Wehrmacht.