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''Hummel'' (German: "bumblebee") was a self-propelled artillery gun based on the ''Geschützwagen'' III/IV chassis and armed with a 15 cm howitzer. It was used by the German Wehrmacht during the Second World War from early 1943 until the end of the war. The full designation was ''Panzerfeldhaubitze 18M auf Geschützwagen III/IV (Sf) Hummel, Sd.Kfz. 165''. On February 27, 1944, Hitler ordered the name ''Hummel'' to be dropped as it was inappropriate for a fighting vehicle. ==Development== The ''Hummel'' was designed in 1942 out of a need for mobile artillery support for the tank forces,〔 the lack of which had first been felt during the invasion of the USSR. There were some self-propelled artillery vehicles already in service with the Wehrmacht at the time, but most were of limited value. The first option looked at was mounting a 10.5 cm leFH 18 howitzer on a Panzer III chassis, but this was rejected in favour of the same howitzer on a Panzer IV chassis. One prototype was built of this design. This design was again rejected, this time in favour of a more powerful solution: mounting the 15 cm sFH 18 L/30 howitzer on the specially designed ''Geschützwagen'' III/IV, which took elements of both the Panzer III (driving and steering system) and Panzer IV chassis (suspension and engine).〔 The same chassis was also used for the ''Nashorn'' tank destroyer. The ''Hummel'' had an open-topped lightly armoured fighting compartment at the back of the vehicle, which housed both the howitzer and the crew. The engine was moved to the centre of the vehicle to make room for this compartment.〔 Late model ''Hummels'' had a slightly redesigned driver compartment and front superstructure, to offer more room to the radio operator and driver.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Hummel (vehicle)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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