Jagdpanzer 38(t) Starr

This vehicle was intended to be a replacement for the classic Jagdpanzer 38(t) tank fighter.
However, in an attempt to simplify production, a characteristic feature of this design was a cannon without a recoil device, so that the recoil when fired was transmitted to the entire vehicle structure. Tests of this concept took place in 9/19/1943 and in 12/19/1943, when such a gun with barrel length L/48 was mounted on a medium tank Pz.Kpfw. IV. Test firing took place in Kummersdorf. In 1/1944 firing tests were carried out at Kummersdorf with the L/40 barrel-length weapon mounted on a light tank platform Pz.Kpfw. II. Further testing was to take place on the Jagdpanzer 38(t), which in its final production form was to have this type of gun without a recoil gear and propulsion was to be provided by a diesel engine. Due to this solution, the ammunition supply for the gun was to be increased from 38 to 79 rounds. The range was to be increased up to 500 km due to the lower weight (700-1000 kg) when using a diesel engine.
The first prototype was built in 4/1944 and subsequently three more vehicles were produced. At the turn of 1944/45, a 10-unit experimental series was completed. Subsequently, a series of 500 units was ordered. As the Tatra diesel engine was not yet available the power was provided by the original Praga AE spark-ignition engine. In the primary source, the author, Mr Francev, mentions the use of a Tatra 928 diesel engine. Although I am not very familiar with Tatra engines, the use of this type of engine was not possible. It is an engine that was not built until some time after the war. In my opinion, it is an engine based on the 12-cylinder air-cooled diesel engine Tatra 103. It is probably a derivative of its 8-cylinder counterpart, and is probably a predecessor or prototype of the later Tatra 108 engine, which was used in e.g. the Tatra 128. Among others, it was also used in prototypes of artillery tractors PPT-8, Sd.Kfz.9, or in various post-war prototypes of Czechoslovak trucks. Under the designation Tatra V 912, one 8-cylinder engine was tested in another prototype Jagdpanzer 38(t) in 12/1944. It may be an identical engine.
Serial production of the fighter was to take place at the Skoda factory in Pilsen, but did not start until the end of the war. A total of 14 Jagdpanzer 38(t) "Starr" units were produced. One of them with Tatra engine. The machines were tested both in Milovice and at the German polygons Kummersdorf, Berka and Hillersleben. Even Adolf Hitler himself showed enormous interest in the machine. Experiments with a device eliminating the need for a braking device were also carried out on the Pz.Kpfw. IV. At the end of the war, work was still running on a prototype with a Maybach engine, but it was probably not completed.
The Jagdpanzer 38(t) "Starr" also saw combat service during the uprising in Prague on 5 May 1945. Probably four machines, including a prototype with Tatra engine, were armed by the German garrison in Prague, which used them to suppress the uprising and with which they went to American captivity. The "Starr" was also armed by the Kampfguppe Milowitz, founded on the day of the uprising from instructors and pupils from the tank fighter school in Milovice. The personnel of this battle group included crews from s.Pz.Abt.507. One machine tested at the Berka polygon was incorporated into the combat units protecting the polygon, where it became a spoil of war after the surrender. The "Starr" machines that fell into the hands of Soviet troops after the war were thoroughly tested, and there was a desire among the Soviets after the war to continue with a similar armament concept.


The machines that survived the war on Czechoslovak territory (8 pieces) were later in the armament of the Czechoslovak army equipped with standard braking equipment (except for the prototype with the Tatra engine).


Known serial numbers of Starr:
The Panzer Tracts No.9-1 publication lists the following serial numbers for the 0.series: 321679-321683 and 322370-322374


? - 1st prototype (4/1944)
321679 - (9/1944)
321680 - ? (listed in Panzer Tracts). It is not listed as "Starr" in the post-war Czechoslovak list of captured equipment.
321681 - ? (listed in Panzer Tracts). It is not listed as "Starr" in the post-war Czechoslovak list of captured equipment.
321682 (9/1944) - in the post-war Czechoslovak Army records, listed under registration number 64.903
321683 (9/1944) - in the post-war records of the Czechoslovak Army, listed under registration number 64.907
322370 - (3/1945 prototype with Tatra engine) - in the post-war records of the Czechoslovak Army, registered under the registration number ÚV 203
322371 - in the Czechoslovak Army's post-war registry under registration number 64.906
322372- in the post-war records of the Czechoslovak Army, kept under the registration number 67.721
322373 - ? (listed in Panzer Tracts). It is not listed as "Starr" in the post-war Czechoslovak list of captured equipment.
322374 - ? (listed in Panzer Tracts). It is not listed as "Starr" in the post-war Czechoslovak list of captured equipment.


In addition, the post-war Czechoslovak Army documentation states that the "Starr" version also had the serial number 322369.


Combination of available data on Jagdpanzer 38(t) Starr:

¹⁾Doyle Hilary Louis, Jentz Thomas L. - Panzer Tracts No. 9, Jagdpanzer / Jagdpanzer 38 to Jagdtiger, published 1997, ISBN-10: 0964879336, ISBN-13: 978-0964879331
²⁾Vladimir Frantsev: armada.vojenstvi.cz
³⁾Vladimir Frantsev, Charles K. Kliment, Milan Kopecký - Jagdpanzer 38(t) Hetzer, MBI, year of publication 2001, ISBN: 80-902238-9-3
www.tatraportal.sk

...

VHÚ Archive
Vladimir Francev, Charles K. Kliment, Milan Kopecký - Jagdpanzer 38 (t) Hetzer, MBI, year of publication 2001, ISBN: 80-902238-9-3

https://tanks.webz.cz/Starr.htm
Vladimir Frantsev, Charles K. Kliment, Milan Kopecký - Jagdpanzer 38(t) Hetzer, MBI, year of publication 2001, ISBN: 80-902238-9-3
NARA

A mysterious vehicle identified by its small gun housing as the first prototype of the Jagdpanzer 38(t) Starr. This, along with the first production standard fighters, was presented to Adolf Hitler on the occasion of his birthday on April 20, 1944. The fighters were unveiled on a highway near Schloss Klessheim (castle), near Salzburg in Austria (somewhere between Berchtesgaden and Munich). After the static display, they then took part in a parade... Information on what serial number this fighter had is unknown to me. However, it certainly bears the same features (hooks in the lower part of the lower frontal hull armour, ) as the first trio of Jadpanzer 38(t), which are taken as prototypes.

In connection with the unclear origin of the first prototype of the "Starr" vehicle, I have a speculative thought whether the first skeleton of the tank fighter welded in Poldi Kladno was not used for its production. There is information and photos of the first trio of prototypes and there is even a photo of the first production vehicle (321004 see below) and these have standard gun holes. So where did the other hull with the characteristic details of the prototypes that was used in the production of the first "Starr" prototype come from ? Given that an armoured plate with a smaller cannon bore must have been used at the time production was ramping up it was rather unlikely that an extra plate was made, equally unlikely is the use of a modified standard plate with the original bore. Whereas using this hull without the hole is probably the most logical possibility. A quick flame burn or milling of the required hole could be an option. Obviously this is a full size pre-prepared hull with holes drilled for hanging the running wheels. I also suppose it could be an unpanned skeleton. Take this as just my musing and speculation, it's nothing substantiated.

The 2 photos of the engine / motor are the Tatra V8 V912 air-cooled diesel. Photographed December 1944, possibly at Kummersdorf. Test installation in JagdPz38(t). This work fed into the 38(d) program.
Available online: Regional Archives in Opava Sbirka fotodesk Tatra. High resolution copies of the digitised images taken from the original glass negatives can be purchased from the archive. These can be viewed online.

Photographs no. It is probably a model for the later final version of the Jagdpanzer 38 (t) "Starr". The photos are dated 12/1944.

Digital Archive of the Provincial Archive in Opava