During the interwar period and even the early stages of World War II the concept
of the multi-turreted tank was considered by many nations. Some were small like the
American M2A2 armed only with machine guns while others were massive steel
beasts like the T-35. Today we will look at the German take on this style
in the form of a large 3 turreted tank you likely know as the Neubaufahrzeug.
Although development of the Neubaufahrzeug would not begin until October of 1932 its full history
stretches back all the way to 1926 with a project which would become known as the Grosstraktor. For
the full story of that you should follow up this video by watching the previous episode
of Cursed by Design where we discussed it in detail. From that failed project lessons were
learned and two of the three companies had proven themselves at least somewhat capable of designing
a reasonably functional vehicle, those being Krupp and Rheinmetall. Despite the issues their
previous designs had dealt with they showed enough promise to warrant further investment.
As I already mentioned this new project would begin in October, 1932 with new requirements
for a tank with a weight of around 15 tons. Sticking with the same terminology as its
predecessor this was tentatively known as the “mittlere Traktor” or medium tractor. As is
typical with any tank project this initial weight was quickly increased with the design
approaching 18 tons. Due to the success of Rheinmetalls Grosstraktor design in early
1933 they were chosen to design both a hull and turret for this new “tractor” although Krupp was
also contracted to produce a turret of their own. As the designs developed so did the name for the
vehicle. Over the course of 1933 it would be known as Grosstraktor Nachbau which translates roughly
to Grosstraktor remake then the designation would change to mittlere traktor neubau,
medium tractor new construction and then Grosstraktor Neubau meaning Grosstraktor
new construction. It wouldn’t be until October 3rd, 1933 when the name we all recognize would
finally be attached to the tank, that being Neubau Fahrzeug meaning new construction
vehicle. This would not actually be the final name it received but let's not get ahead of ourselves.
With the design of the vehicle wrapping up production contracts for soft steel prototypes
were issued. Rheinmetall was to build two chassis and a single turret with Krupp building the
turret for the second hull. The first of these was assembled with the Rheinmetall hull and turret in
1934 with the second hull receiving its turret the following year. Although both turrets housed the
same armaments they did have a few differences. Before we get into the turrets though let's take
a slight tangent and discuss the armaments in question. The primary armament of the tank would
be the same size as the previous Grosstraktor known as the 7.5cm Kw.K L/24 along with a
smaller 3.7cm Kw.K L/45. At first you may assume the larger gun was intended for an anti-tank
role with the smaller gun being used more like a coaxial machine gun for other targets. In reality
though unlike some later vehicles which mounted a smaller coaxial gun it is the other way around.
As we see with the Panzer III and Panzer IV the 37mm although not capable of large HE payloads was
superior against armor due to its higher velocity. This is why the Panzer III was originally to
engage tanks whereas the Panzer IV would support infantry. With it mounting both the Neubaufahrzeug
could theoretically perform both roles. Back to the design of the turrets, the
Rheinmetall one shown here was rounded with the 37 mounted above the 75. We can also see in several
photos that it had handles added to the turret. The Krupp one on the other hand was a more angular
design with the guns mounted side by side. The two smaller turrets mounted in front and behind the
main turret each contained a single machine gun. Initially these seem to be similar in shape to the
Rheinmetall main turret but were later redesigned which gave them an appearance similar to the
Panzer 1 turret. Each of the smaller turrets would be manned by a gunner with the primary
turret being manned by a crew of three. None of the sources I could find detail the precise roles
of these three but we can safely assume that they fulfilled the role of gunner, loader, and
commander as the two primary guns used the same elevation controls meaning two gunners controlling
them would cause nothing but confusion. Some sources name the vehicle with the
Rheinmetall turret as the Ausfurung A with the Krupp turret being the Ausfurung B. However I am
unsure if this was an official German designation or one made up post war. Regardless, the Krupp
turret was preferred over the Rheinmetall one with the remaining tanks receiving them.
Production would continue in 1935 with three more hulls ordered in the spring. Unlike the previous
ones these would now be made with armor plate. These three would finally be completed in 1936
and featured the redesigned smaller turrets. With such a large vehicle you may expect it to have
equally thick armor, but in reality the strongest armor on the tank was only 20mms thick. This may
seem extremely weak but keep in mind that at this period anti-tank guns were considerably
less powerful. Another factor to consider is that on such a large vehicle making a plate even a few
millimeters thicker quickly added weight to an already overweight machine. Remember how
I mentioned the initial weight requirement was 16 tons and then 18 tons? Well the production
vehicles were well past 23 tons when fully loaded. The addition of more weight would add protection
but likely at a further cost to mobility. Although you may think that the rest of
this story is similar to the Grosstraktor you would be wrong. Throughout the following years
the Neubaufahrzeug would indeed be used for training with the prototypes being used in
exercises in 1935 alongside their older cousins as well as the three armored vehicles serving at
Putlos to train gunnery. Unlike the Grosstraktor though this would be followed not by service as
monuments but rather service on the front lines. Before we discuss their active service though I
do need to provide a disclaimer. Information regarding the development is well detailed in
Panzer Tracts number 4 which I have so far been using primarily as my source but it unfortunately
does not go into much detail about the combat usage. With the fairly sparse information about
that portion of its story some of the details I am about to discuss may not be entirely accurate.
The three armored vehicles would be mobilized in April of 1940 in a platoon and sent to support the
invasion of Norway. Around this time they received their final redesignation now being called the
NeuBau-Panzerkampfwagen IV. According to an article written by Mike Bennighof this was due to
the loss of nineteen tanks from the 40th Special Purpose Tank Detachment. How much combat they
would see is unclear but we know for certain they were used as one was damaged in combat. Both the
site Achtung Panzer and the previously mentioned article report this as being due to a British 25mm
anti tank gun. Although the British did not have a 25mm gun of their own this was likely a French
Hotchkiss gun. That vehicle was only temporarily disabled being recovered later however another
was eventually lost due to becoming stuck in a swampy area. Due to this it was destroyed by the
Germans. The remaining two vehicles survived the invasion and returned to Germany at the end of the
year. Some sources both claim one of the prototype vehicles was sent to replace the lost vehicle in
Norway and that the two which survived were left in Norway following the victory. These do not list
any sources though and directly contradict the information provided by Hilary Doyle and
Peter Chamberlain so I don’t entirely trust that especially considering the fact Neubaufahrzeug
are said to have been used on the Eastern front. Speaking of their potential service on the eastern
front that is another can of worms entirely. To put it bluntly, without anything to back up the
claims made by various sites I really don’t feel like I have enough information to confidently
discuss that potential usage in detail. They may have seen some service in the early invasion of
the Soviet Union with claims that German sources place them in various locations across the front
but seem to all agree that regardless of the location they were eventually taken out of action.
None of the tanks would survive the war being cut up for scrap. The only remnant of them today
is a part of the suspension located in Norway. Probably the most interesting thing about the
Neubaufahrzeug’s story is something you may have missed. Often this tank is described as a heavy
tank however as we saw today this was not actually the case and from the start it was intended as a
medium. I presume this was caused due to allied reporting that the vehicle was a heavy tank as I
alluded to in the previous video. Unfortunately for the Neubaufahrzeug one of the very companies
responsible for its creation were also the cause of its demise as the Krupp Begleitwagen which
eventually became the basis for the Panzer IV would fulfill the same role. Rather than
a complex multi-turreted vehicle which required a 6 man crew the simpler, and lighter, Panzer
IV could provide roughly the same firepower faster and with nearly the same armor protection. Clearly
Germany made the correct choice as the Panzer IV became one of the best and most plentiful vehicles
they would produce throughout the war being upgraded repeatedly as new threats emerged.
As we have seen in other videos in this series multi-turreted tanks are a concept
doomed to failure. Although they do add additional firepower to a vehicle they also add complexity,
cost, and weight. You also need to store more ammo and crew all of which either require a
larger vehicle or reduce the internal space for the crew to operate. This was only one of the
issues with the Neubaufahrzeug’s design though as it was really just a crude attempt at the
same concept that the Panzer IV would perfect. So did you learn something new in this video? If
you did let me know in the comments down below. I’d also like to thank Hilary Doyle and Thomas
Jentz who created the Panzer Tracts books as without the edition which included information
on this tank I probably would not have been able to cover it in nearly this level of detail. I
wish I could tell you to go and buy it but not only is that edition out of print but according
to their website they will be closing down at the end of 2022. However if you would like to
order the last printing of their book covering the Panzer III development and service I will
link to that below. I’m not sure if they are still accepting orders at this point but I
sadly did not learn about this until recently. If you’re watching this after the end of 2022
don’t worry though as you can still find these books commonly on third party sellers such as
Amazon or used copies on Ebay. I don’t get any sort of kickback from you buying these
I just think they are some of the best sources of information out there for German armor. If you do
want to support the channel when purchasing tank books through amazon though you can do so by using
my amazon links in all my video descriptions. I earn a small commission on any purchase you make
after clicking them so if you’re doing last minute gift shopping or even just normal purchases you
can help support my content at no cost to you. Anyways that's enough of me advertising books
to you, thank you for watching and I hope you enjoyed the video. If you did a like
and subscription would be greatly appreciated or if you feel exceptionally generous you can
leave a super thanks comment or become a channel member like these amazing people.
The year is coming to a close so only a few more uploads until 2023 but I’m going to try
to pack as many in as I can so stay tuned and I hope to see you on those future uploads.