The Jagdpanzer IV L/70 (A) Zwischenlosung was the last tank to enter service with the Wehrmacht in September 1944. Essentially, German tank designers placed a Jagdpanzer IV turret on a Panzer IV chassis then fitted it with a powerful 75mm L/70(A) gun. The Zwischenlosung proved to be an excellent tank killer even though only 278 vehicles were built by war's end.

This particular Jagdpanzer IV L/70 tank destroyer, painted in a summer camouflage pattern, is from an unidentified unit then deployed to Germany in 1945. Sold Out!

Dimensions:
Length: 4-1/2-inches
Width: 1-3/4-inches

Release Date: May 2006

Historical Account: "Pick Pocket"- The Battle for the Ruhr Pocket took place at the end of World War II in the Ruhr Area of Germany, just east of the Rhine River.

In March 1945, Allied Forces crossed the Rhine. South of the Ruhr, General Omar Bradley's 12th Army Group's pursuit of the disintegrating German army resulted in the capture of the Ludendorf bridge across the Rhine at Remagen by the U.S. First Army. Bradley and his subordinates quickly exploited the crossing made on March 7th, 1945 and expanded the bridgehead. On March 23rd, 1945, Field Marshal Montgomery's British 21st Army Group launched Operation Plunder, crossing the Rhine at Rees and Wesel, just north of the Ruhr.

Having crossed the Rhine both Army Groups fanned out. In the south the First Army headed northeast, forming the southern pincer of the Ruhr envelopment, while in the north the US Ninth Army, which since the Battle of the Bulge had been assigned to Montgomery's 21st Army Group, headed southeast, forming the northern pincer.

Lead elements of the two pincers met on April 1st, 1945, near Lippstadt. By April 4th, the encirclement was complete and the Ninth Army reverted to the command of Bradley's 12th Army Group. Within the Ruhr pocket about 430,000 German soldiers of Army Group B which was 21 divisions of the Wehrmacht as well as millions of civilians were trapped in cities heavily damaged by numerous bombings.

While the main operations headed further towards middle- and northern Germany, US forces concentrated on the pocket, taking it section by section. On April 12th, 1945 the 1st and 9th US Army divided the area coming from the south; the smaller, eastern part surrendered the next day. The western part continued to resist until April 18, 1945 and April 21st, 1945. The commander Field Marshal Walther Model committed suicide in a forest south of the city of Duisburg.

The surviving 325,000 German soldiers from the Ruhr Pocket and some civilians were imprisoned in the Rheinwiesenlager.