 Geschützwagen | |||
|---|---|---|---|
 7,5 cm PaK40(Sf) auf Geschützwagen 39H(f) | |||
| Army | Wehrmacht | ||
| Role | Mobile Anti-Tank Gun | ||
| Unit Cost |
 280 55 8 | ||
| Upkeep per Minute |
−10.944 | ||
| Prereq. | None | ||
| Produced By | Sturm Armory | ||
| Primary armament | 7,5cm PaK40 Anti-tank gun | ||
| Health |
 375 | ||
| Armor | Light | ||
| Max. Speed | 6 m/s | ||
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The 7,5 cm PaK40(Sf) auf Geschützwagen 39H(f), also known as the Geschützwagen or Marder I, is a German tank destroyer built upon the Hotchkiss H35 hull. It is a Reward Unit for the Wehrmacht, replacing the StuG IV.
History[]
Like many of the vehicles Germany created in the second half of World War II, the Marder program began as one of duress. Experience in combat against the Soviet Union showed that weapons mounted on German vehicles were seldom able to penetrate through Russian armor, and worse yet, even the Anti-Tank guns like the PaK 38 were not sufficient. In addition, though large stocks of French vehicles the Hotchkiss had been captured from France, it was found in practice that the vehicles were becoming obsolete in even secondary supporting roles.
In May of 1941, Major Alfred Becker, an Engineer who had already designed a few Self-Propelled Guns used in Wehrmacht service, partnered with Alkett, a subdivision of Rheinmetall focused on Armored Vehicles (which had already created some Tank Destroyer and Self-Propelled Artillery designs prior), to create a series of stopgap designs in order to deal with T-34 and KV-1 tanks on the Eastern Front, as well as the M3 Lee/Grant, Valentine, and Matilda in Africa.
The result of this project was the R-35 Geschützwagen, mounting the same 47mm gun as found on the Panzerjaeger I. Though the vehicle was successfully able to penetrate most Russian armor and all British/American armor, it still struggled against the KV-1, particularly at range, and was designed from a vehicle that was not altogether too common in German stock anyway. Soon enough, more advanced designs were requested to place it, and Becker sought to address the problems with his project.
His solution was Marders, I, II, and III, all of which were designed and entered service at nearly the exact same time. Using obsolete German and French chassis, the vehicles, all very similarly designed to each other and the R-35 Geschü initially designed to carry either the PaK 40 75mm Anti Tank gun, or the Pak 36(r), an Anti-Tank gun made from parts of Russian Field Guns, however, in practice, at first only the latter was available, before stocks ran out near the end of 1942 as PaK 40 production ramped up, at which point the situation reversed.
Though the Marder I was initially built off of the Lorraine 37L, the vehicle's popularity and continued use in German services eventually gave way to it being built off of the FCM 36, and, as in Company of Heroes, the H35. Unlike many of the other German vehicles designed for destroying tanks, most German commanders resisted the urge to use the Marder I and its descendants in an Infantry Support role, and therefore, its light armor and rather slow turn speed did not become issues in its use on the Eastern Front and the Normandy landings, where it proved to be a successful tank killer design, along with its Panzer II and 38(t)-derived siblings.
Overview[]
In Company of Heroes, the Geschützwagen is, if selected to replace the StuG IV via the Tales of Valor Reward Unit system, a Light Tank Destroyer which can be built in the Sturm Armory. As one might expect from a vehicle designated as such, the Geschützwagen is a very single-minded design, built to destroy Tanks and other armored vehicles and very little else.
As a tank destroyer, the Geschützwagen lacks a turret entirely, with its main gun mounted inside of a fixed superstructure constructed above the H35 hull. The gun is afforded a very narrow cone of fire (visible when holding right click while moving the vehicle), but for the most part, the full vehicle must turn in order to aim.
Though the Geschützwagen does have armor, it is among the lightest in the entire game, being shared with the Marder III and roughly comparable to the likes of the Panzer Elite's halftracks or SdKfz 222 Armored Car. It will take damage, though negligible, even from small arms fire, and is notably vulnerable to weapons as small as the Bofors or even the American .30 Cal's Armor Piercing Rounds, both of which are a very dire threat to a non-veteran Geschützwagen. In addition, despite having a better-than-average top speed by tank standards, the Geschützwagen's horrendously slow turn speed drastically limits its mobility. Outside of maps with long straight roads like Angoville, it will often take the vehicle a long time to get anywhere due to the time every turn takes, and obviously dramatic maneuvers within a firefight is out of the question.
This is all secondary, however, to the importance of the Geschützwagen's main gun. The PaK 40 main gun of the vehicle is superior in almost every regard to every single other gun at its tier (only matched by the Panzer Elite's own Marder, which is statistically identical save for a 3.5 second longer reload time by default), and still statistically on parity with several top tier guns, with the all-around stats being superior to the likes of the Panzer IV, Cromwell, and even the Sherman with the 76mm gun upgrade. Its range is only bested by the 17 Pounder and Flak 36, its accuracy at all ranges is good, and while its fire rate is mediocre, the Rapid Fire ability and Veterancy bring it down to a very reasonable degree.
Overall, this makes employment of the Geschützwagen very simple: It is to act as an Anti-Tank Gun with an engine, attempting to engage with enemy vehicles nearly exclusively and with, as often as possible, defensive posture. Mobility makes the Geschützwagen far more easily able to make use of its long range, allowing for a forward unit to scout, the Geschützwagen to make shots from nearly maximum range, and to reverse or take cover if an enemy vehicle attempts to close the gap. While, unfortunately, the Geschützwagen's lack of turn speed makes it somewhat poor at suddenly flanking an enemy, its relatively good penetration and accuracy mean that side or rear shots are generally less necessary, though the speed it does have over AT guns makes it quite good at quickly setting up an ambush on the side, destroying a vehicle or two, and repositioning before the enemy responds.
Though the Geschützwagen receives a crewed MG42 at Veterancy 2, it is important to keep in mind that this weapon is for deterrence, not offensive use. The main gun is incredibly poorly suited for use against infantry, even in optimal conditions, and the low HP and weak armor make even weaker Infantry Anti-Tank weapons like Sticky Bombs from Riflemen a constant threat. Fortunately, the Geschützwagen's main gun is both long range and still effective at its max, so it is often possible to disengage from encounters with Infantry before critical damage is done.
Despite the mobility shortcomings, Geschützwagens are a fine long-term investment, with both their defensive and offensive capabilities strongly boosted by veterancy and a weapon capable of handling even top-tier allied vehicles like the Pershing. If used as a support vehicle with minimal independent operations, and if the vehicle's frailty and poor turn speed are kept in mind, the Geschützwagen's downsides are able to be avoided while its major upsides can continue to be relevant.
Finally, the Geschützwagen is very affordably priced for manpower, being among the cheapest armored vehicles in the game, which, in addition to its construction in the seldom busy Sturm Armory, may lead one to believe that they are spammable and disposable. However, their painfully long construction time and slow deployment speed from the base outside of a few maps stop this from being the case. They are most assuredly lower-priority than a Panther, but care must be taken to keep deployed Geschützwagens alive.
Weapons[]
7.5cm Panzerabwehrkanone 40[]
The PaK 40 was essentially a larger-caliber and longer successor to the PaK 38 Anti-Tank Gun, derivatives of which being used on other Wehrmacht vehicles like the StuG or Panzer IV. In Company of Heroes, as its name suggests, the PaK 40 is a high caliber Anti-Tank weapon, firing shells that do 250 damage at a range of 60m, with a 7.5 second reload time by default. Though the weapon has aim time, the unturreted nature of the vehicle means it is generally negligible. Of the 60m range, the majority of it is considered "Long" with a performance reduction past 25m, but accuracy and penetration abilities are high in either case, the former only dipping as low as 75% default accuracy.
The PaK 40 is capable of penetrating any vehicle in the game somewhat regularly, especially at closer range, at which distance even Pershings and Churchills will be penetrated the majority of the time, though its values are not dissimilar from any other long 75mm-armed German tank in this regard. Its post-impact damage is its largest strength: Notably, there is no damage range, and only a select few vehicles take less than the full amount, notably Stuarts, Greyhounds, and Staghounds, which will rarely die in one shot, but almost always be reduced to low health with critical damage. Most medium tanks will die in three shots, and given that they're outranged, will generally have to take at least one to even get within range to fire on the Geschützwagen, or potential even two if a Veteran vehicle is using Rapid Fire Shells.
Like the Marder III, the Geschützwagen also has the somewhat unique benefit that even shells that fail to penetrate will still do 35% damage (typically 87.5 damage). Though rarely will this not interfere with how many shots the Geschützwagen needs to kill (all Medium Tanks, for example, will take 4 shots if one fails to penetrate, though 2 failing to penetrate is fine), it can lower a vehicle's health to the point that a weaker AT weapon like the PaK 36 on the Light AT Halftrack can finish the job, and, at minimum, increases the repair time of an enemy vehicle to a good degree, something that a shell that stops short would not do.
Though the gun does catastrophic damage to vehicles and with good accuracy to boot, it is almost entirely ineffective against Infantry, landing shots less than 20% of the time, with the shells having next to no splash ability. The gun even struggles somewhat against Infantry in cover like Buildings or MG nests, despite most vehicle guns having a very easy time with these targets. On the other hand, the gun is very effective against defenses and buildings, being nearly perfectly accurate against them while receiving substantial bonuses to the vehicle's already-solid damage, an especially nice benefit if the Geschützwagen's stellar range can be used to its advantage in this scenario.
Note that the PaK 40 cannot fire while on the move, but will reload in that time.
7.92x57mm Maschinengewehr 42[]
The Geschützwagen's MG42 is statistically very similar to those used on top of the turrets or hulls of other Wehrmacht vehicles. Manned only once the vehicle reaches Veterancy 2, It fires bullets that do 5 damage against unarmored targets (though this number is reduced by most Infantry armor in most situations), in bursts of 15 to 30, followed by a 6 to 6.5 second reload. Its range of 35m is just over half of the range of the main gun, and like it, it is also locked to a cone in front of the vehicle, though substantially less narrow, with about a 90 degree clearance on each side.
For a rapid fire weapon, the Geschützwagen's MG42 is actually rather accurate, with a base 45% accuracy outside of its absolute maximum range. Most British Infantry and a few American units, most notably Airborne, do have innate reductions against this, however. As with its statistically near-identical contemporaries, the Geschutzwagen's MG42 is almost useless against infantry in any real degree of cover, with fairly substantial maluses to both accuracy and damage to units therein. However, units in negative cover, water, or even simply the open are more directly effected, and likely to be suppressed.
The Geschützwagen's MG42 is somewhat unique for a Wehrmacht side MG wherein it does benefit greatly from Veterancy, as the Veterancy 3 benefit cuts its reload time to 4.5-4.88 seconds, making it fairly uniquely good at keeping infantry in the open suppressed, a banefit that the Geschützwagen can often take advantage of while on the defensive. It's rarely a good idea to allow a Geschützwagen to engage infantry even with the MG42 manned, however, at the very least, this benefit greatly increases its chances of survival in such cases, and makes the vehicle a more dangerous target for lower-level infantry like Riflemen, or giving the Geschutzwagen some secondary ability as a clean-up vehicle against non-threatening infantry like Snipers.
Abilities[]
Rapid Fire Shells[]
- Costs 50
- Duration: 30 Seconds
- Cooldown: 45 Seconds
- Activation: Instant
Rapid Fire Shells is the Geschützwagen's only ability. It is a very simple ability which reduces the main gun's reload time by 50%, shortening the base reload time from 7.5 seconds to 3.5, and the Veteran 3 reload time from 5.6 to 2.8 seconds, giving the vehicle a substantial increase in firepower. Its downtime is only 15 seconds, though continuous use of the ability is a very heavy drain on munitions.
Rapid Fire Shells is the main factor giving the Geschützwagen a notable niche compared to the Marder III, with its ability to rapid fire while retaining mobility. At Veterancy 3, the Geschützwagen will be firing more rounds per minute than even a sited Marder III without veterancy of its own, and about twice the rate of the StuG IV.
Notably, unlike many other similar abilities, Rapid Fire Shells does not have any visual or audio indication when in use, making it somewhat difficult to determine when the ability either starts or goes off cooldown. This can make the Geschützwagen's actual status hard to parse, which can both be used to bait and punish aggressive play as well as bluff enemies into playing cautiously even when the ability is not in use.
Also notable is the lack of support for Blitzkrieg with this vehicle (which would usually be described here), as its use is specifically prohibited with the Geschützwagen due to balance concerns.
Veterancy[]
The Geschutzwagen receive veterancy through researching Tank Veterancy Upgrades in the Kampfkraft Center. The upgrades are cumulative, and apply both to all vehicles currently deployed on the field at the time of upgrade as well as all produced afterwards. These upgrades are as follows:
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No Veterancy:
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Level 1 Veterancy:
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 |
Level 2 Veterancy:
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 |
Level 3 Veterancy:
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All three of these upgrades are very substantial for the Geschützwagen. Level 1 and 2's upgrades reduce the effects of Small Arms fire to the point of being barely noticeable while also providing a defensive anti-Infantry weapon, making units like Riflemen or MG teams far less dangerous for the vehicle. Level 3 allows it a considerably faster attack speed (reducing the reload time from 7.5 seconds to 5.6), especially in conjunction with the ability, allowing the Geschützwagen to stay relevant even in the late game.
Tips[]
- Motorcycles and especially Schwimmwagens are fantastic compliments to the Geschützwagen. Their sight range roughly matches the PaK 40's max range, and the addition of a second Machine Gun will suppress and dissuade most AT Infantry from attacking.
- While the Geschützwagen's main gun has terrible accuracy against most Infantry, it is fairly reliable at hitting Anti-Tank Gun teams. A long-range shot-for-shot trade will typically be a losing effort for the Geschützwagen, but if the vehicle is able to flank an AT gun, especially with the MG, there is a good chance the AT gun dies before it can turn and fire.
- The Geschützwagen pairs very nicely with Knight's Cross Holders as well. A single penetrating Geschützwagen shot in combination with a KCH Panzerfaust will destroy the majority of vehicles in the game.
- The Geschützwagen does not replace the StuH 42, which can sometimes compensate for the Tank Destroyer's somewhat later deployment time and help you avoid tipping your hand to an Allied player without sacrificing your ability to deploy mid-game Armored units.
- Geschützwagens can be a very brutal response to Kangaroo Carriers if supported properly. The Carriers will rarely be able to get close to the Geschützwagen before being destroyed, oftentimes before a player can react, causing casualties to the mounted Infantry at minimal risk.
Weaknesses[]
The Geschützwagen is a very strong vehicle at long ranges, but suffers greatly anywhere short of it. Its slow turn speed means that any vehicle that is able to flank the Geschützwagen, or at least stay out of its cone of fire, can easily close the gap and "circle-strafe" it, staying effectively out of its range of fire. Its light armor and small HP pool can also be a major problem, as the Anti-Tank Guns and Infantry Anti-Tank weapons that are already threatening to many German vehicles are incredibly deadly to the Geschützwagen, and will often kill it in just a few shots or ability uses.
One particularly hard counter is the fellow reward unit, the T17 Armored Car. While the American Staghound is almost certainly dead if it spends any amount of time in the Geschützwagen's line of fire, its high speed in addition to an increased chance to invade Geschützwagen fire may allow it to get close enough to deploy White Phosphorous Rounds, which both disable the main gun and slow down the vehicle, allowing the T17 easy access to the Geschützwagen's almost non-existent rear armor as well as allowing larger Allied vehicles like the M10 to potentially close the gap and deal major damage during the gun's downtime.
Engine and tread damage is particularly problematic for the Geschützwagen, meaning that Sticky Bombs and Mines are very dangerous threats. The Geschützwagen is already quite easy to outmaneuver even at full move and rotation speed, and cutting it down or stopping it entirely mean slower units like ground AT guns can easily enter the vehicle's range and cut it down without any fear whatsoever of retaliation.
This particular problem means that, rarely for an armored vehicle, Mortars are also a decent solution to the Geschützwagen, as its large size and slow rotation speed mean that shells are actually rather likely to land on the vehicle, and said shells are very likely to cause that dreaded Engine Damage critical hit. Given the Geschützwagen's terrible armor, a Mortar Barrage may even do a pretty decent amount of damage- both enemy and friendly, so watch where those GrW 34 teams are firing!
Compared to the StuG IV[]
Advantages[]
- Main gun superior in every regard except accuracy against Infantry: Longer range, more accurate, more damage dealt
- "Deflection Damage" stat allows the Geschützwagen to do damage even when rounds fail to penetrate
- Slightly higher Max Speed and Acceleration
- Far better late-game potential, with obvious use even when top-tier Allied vehicles hit the field and better Veterancy in most cases
- Often ends up firing from Fog of War, making the Geschützwagen harder to react to and prepare for
- Far better at working with other Wehrmacht units, will almost certainly have very good chemistry with at least one existing unit when deployed
- Superior anti-Building potential at higher veterancy or with ability use
- Longer range makes AT gun-related deaths far less common and more preventable
Differences[]
- Different cost profile: Geschützwagen costs more Fuel, the StuG costs more Manpower
Disadvantages[]
- Defensively inferior in every regard: The Geschützwagen is not bulletproof like the StuG is, and its HP and Rotation speed are lower, and thus it cannot act independently
- Considerably worse main gun performance against Infantry with nearly identical MG performance until Veterancy 3, even at which point the StuG is still the superior option against Infantry
- Worse turn speed means the Geschützwagen's higher Max Speed is rarely achieved and the StuG is usually faster in practice
- Major weakness to AT Infantry like Rangers, which the StuG solves via Veterancy
- Unable to fire on the move
- Considerably longer build time will give more time for Allied light armored vehicles to go unanswered
- No Blitzkrieg interaction
- Substantially higher population cap
Overall, the Geschützwagen is a very different beast than the StuG with very different playstyles. While both are primarily designed to help a Wehrmacht player reach Tier 4, the StuG does this by aggressively destroying Allied units during its short time as the only fully armored vehicle on the field and gaining temporary superiority, while the Geschützwagen does so by foiling any Allied attempts to rush and end the game early. The StuG is better oriented for mid-game, where its ability to seize map control after its first build will allow more resources and likely earlier vehicles, while the Geschützwagen is better at operating later, though slightly less helpful at getting to that point.
However, in larger games where a Panzer Elite player is present, especially one who is liable to use Tank Destroyer Tactics, the StuG becomes the generally stronger choice, as the Panzer Elite fields many vehicles that fulfill the same role as the Geschützwagen without sacrificing the mid-game capabilities the StuG uniquely gives the Axis side.
Note that the Geschützwagen does not replace the StuH 42.
Gallery[]
| Wehrmacht Arsenal | |||||||
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| Base Structures | |||||||
| Infantry Squads | |||||||
| Support Infantry | |||||||
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| Medium Vehicles | |||||||
| Heavy Vehicles | |||||||
| Defensive Structures | |||||||
| Other Structures | |||||||
| Doctrines | |||||||
| Doctrine-specific Units |
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| Doctrine-specific Structures |
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