Wespe self-propelled gun

During the early stages of World War II, German Army officials were aware that having mobile self-propelled artillery that could keep up and support the Panzer Divisions was desirable, but no major attempt was made in that direction. There were a number of reasons why this was never implemented during the first few years of the war or before it. One fact was that the German industry was unable to produce enough tanks, let alone have spare production capacity for other projects. The Luftwaffe provided the Panzer Divisions with adequate close operational fire support to compensate for the lack of a mobile artillery vehicle.

From 1940 to 1942, there were a number of different but limited attempts to build such vehicles. These included the Panzer I and Panzer II-based self-propelled vehicles equipped with the 15 cm sIG 33 infantry gun, which were built in small numbers. French captured tanks and tracked artillery tractors were also modified for this role. As these were built on captured chassis and without the possibility of mass-producing necessary parts, these would be built in smaller numbers and their use would be limited. Smaller numbers of British Vickers Light Tanks were modified with 10.5 cm guns and saw some use on the Eastern Front.

By 1942, it was obvious that the development of self-propelled artillery was urgent, as the Luftwaffe was losing control of the skies. For this reason, in the same year, Wa Prüf 6 (the office of the German Army’s Ordnance Department responsible for designing tanks and other motorized vehicles) issued requests for a new self-propelled artillery vehicle.

contains a single 1/56 scale resin miniature unpainted