Trumpeter 00373 Heuschrecke IVb (Grasshopper)

The Heuschrecke IV was a German WWII prototype self-propelled gun. Prototypes of this vehicle were made in the period 1941-1943. The machine never entered mass production. The Heuschrecke IV was powered by a single engine Maybach HL 90 with a power of 300 hp. The vehicle was armed with a single howitzer leFH18 / 1 cal. 105 mm.

The first prototypes of the Heuschrecke IV were built in 1941 and used a completely new chassis, not used on other vehicles serving in the Wehrmacht. They also had a rotating turret, which, however, could not rotate 360 degrees. This drawback, as well as the desire to remove the main armament in the field and use it as ordinary towed artillery, inhibited the introduction of the weapon into production. However, work continued, and in 1943 another three prototypes (Sd.Kfz. 165/1) were created, significantly different from the original version. First of all, they were based on solutions from the Hummel self-propelled gun, which had been rebuilt and adapted to be placed in the central part of the hull of a turret with a 105 mm caliber howitzer. However, this vehicle did not enter serial production due to the high degree of complexity and the inefficiency of implementing serial production. In addition, the Wehrmacht was already using self-propelled artillery with a caliber of 150 mm, which questioned the legitimacy of introducing new weapons with a smaller caliber howitzer.