StuH 42 at AusArmourFest 2024. German SPG

The Australian Armour and Artillery Museum outside of Cairns, QLD, Australia hosted AusArmourFest once again, giving visitors an opportunity to see armour in operation on their track. The festival ran from 23-25 August 2024. This is an example of the SturmHaubitze 42, or StuH 42. The German army started deploying Stumartillerie units from 1940 with the use of the SturmGeschütz (StuG) III Ausf.A during the Battle of France. StuGs were vehicle’s mounting assault guns that were designed to support Infantry on the attack. Experience in WWI had taught the German Army that rapidly advancing Infantry would quickly outpace towed artillery mounted on carriages, and the Infantry needed supporting artillery that could keep up with them. StuGs were initially designed to be employed with closely-supporting infantry for mutual self-defence. For this reason, the gun mounted on early StuGs was chosen specifically because of its ability to fire High Explosive rounds to breakup bunkers and heavily dug in Infantry,