Jagdpanzer 38 Hetzer
Tank Destroyer · Germany
Small, low and sloped all round, with the StuG's gun: its front shrugs off most medium guns. A cramped casemate means a slow reload and a gun that swings only 5° left and 11° right: ambush from cover.
(the vehicle's description in the garage)
At a glance
| Nation | Germany |
| Role | Tank destroyer (TD) |
| Modelled variant | Jagdpanzer 38 (Sd.Kfz. 138/2) 'Hetzer', BMM production October-November 1944 (Saukopf mantlet, Schuerzen with bent tips, flush driver's periscopes, Flammvernichter exhaust, remote MG 34) |
| Price | 620 credits |
| Team stock | 2 per five-player team (scales with team size) |
| Hit points | 780 |
| Main gun | 280 damage per AP shot, 5.4 s reload |
| Speed | 40 km/h on roads, 15.2 km/h off-road |
| View range | 220 m |
| Ability (B) | Ammo Drop |
| Garage ratings | Armour 2/10 · Firepower 5/10 · Mobility 8/10 · Spotting 6/10 |
History
The Jagdpanzer 38, known after the war as the "Hetzer", was a small, low tank destroyer built on the Czech Panzer 38(t) chassis. It carried the 7.5 cm PaK 39 L/48, the same gun as the StuG and Panzer IV, behind a 60 mm front plate sloped at 60 degrees. More than 2,500 were built from 1944.
It was cheap, easy to hide and hard to hit from the front, but cramped, with a gun offset to the right and a very limited traverse (5 degrees left, 11 right). Hetzers equipped infantry anti-tank units, including the 26th Volksgrenadier Division at Bastogne, and fought in the defence of the Oder in 1945. The game models an October-November 1944 BMM production vehicle with a remote-controlled MG 34 on the roof.
In Armor Heads
Design note: Jagdpanzer 38 "Hetzer": the StuG's 7.5 cm L/48 behind a 60 mm @ 60 deg glacis. The real arc is 5 L / 11 R (README 114; gunArc 8 stays the symmetric fallback).
Compared with the other 34 WW2 vehicles, it is bottom 5 for off-road speed (#33 of 35); bottom 5 for aim time (#33 of 35); bottom 5 for turret / gun traverse speed (#34 of 35).
Survivability
- Hit points: 780. Damage taken multiplier: 1.08 (effective HP 722).
- Track repair: 9 s.
| Zone | Damage multiplier (lower = thicker) | Raw shell damage to destroy through this zone |
|---|---|---|
| Hull front | 0.55 | 821 |
| Hull side | 1.15 | 393 |
| Hull rear | 1.35 | 334 |
| Roof | 1.75 | 258 |
| Turret front | 0.55 | 821 |
| Turret side | 1.1 | 410 |
| Turret rear | 1.35 | 334 |
Main gun
- Mount: casemate, gun arc 5° left / 11° right of the hull centreline at 12°/s; turn the hull to aim further.
- Elevation +12° / depression -6°, at 14°/s.
- Reload: 5.4 s.
- Damage per minute (AP): 3,111.
- Accuracy: 0.06° dispersion when settled, aim time 1.76 s, move bloom 0.09.
- Gunner's sight: Sfl.ZF 1a, 5x (binoculars 6x / 10x / 15x).
| Shell | Type | Damage | Splash | Blast radius | Muzzle velocity | Penetration threshold | Rounds | Crew shock |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Armour Piercing | AP | 280 | 20 | 2.5 m | 750 m/s | 0.54 | 14 | - |
| High Explosive | HE | 182 | 140 | 5.8 m | 550 m/s | 1 | 7 | 1 |
| 7.5 cm Pzgr. 40 APCR | APCR | 210 | 10 | 2.5 m | 930 m/s | 0.3 | bought (key 3) | - |
The penetration threshold is the thinnest zone multiplier the shell gets through: zones below it stop the shell (10 % damage for AP, 20 % for HE). See how the numbers work.
APCR (7.5 cm Pzgr. 40 APCR) is bought in the garage, not issued: 3 rounds for 200 credits, at most 6 carried, from a team stock of 3 per player for the whole match (never resupplied). It gets through far thicker plate than the AP up close but loses its punch quickly with range:
| Range | AP needs | APCR needs | AP damage | APCR damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 100 m | 0.54 | 0.3 | 280 | 210 |
| 300 m | 0.54 | 0.39 | 258 | 164 |
| 500 m | 0.54 | 0.54 | 235 | 118 |
| 700 m | 0.54 | 0.67 | 224 | 94 |
Matchups (AP against the hull front, square-on, under 100 m)
- Its AP gets through the hull front of 28 of the other 34 vehicles. It is stopped by: Panther, M26 Pershing, Tiger II, IS-2, Churchill VII, Jagdpanther.
- 17 of the other 34 vehicles' AP get through its hull front. Safe from the front against: M4 Sherman, M3A1 Stuart, Panzer II Luchs, Panzer III Ausf. L, T-34/76, Cromwell, Churchill VII, KV-1, M32 TRV, M24 Chaffee, Sd.Kfz. 250/9, T-70M, T-60, SU-76M, M3 Lee, 75 mm GMC M3, Stuart V "Honey".
- Sides, rears and roofs are thinner on every vehicle; see each page's zone table.
Secondary weapons and equipment
- Roof machine gun: MG 34, the vehicle's own modelled gun on its hull, 13 rounds/s, 1 damage per round, overheats after 60 rounds. It elevates to 70° and can shoot down recon planes.
- Smoke: 1 salvo, each recharges in 40 s.
Mobility
- Running gear: tracks (pivot turns).
- Top speed 40 km/h on roads, 15.2 km/h off-road (38 %), reverse 8 km/h, acceleration 3 m/s².
- Turn rate 34°/s (20°/s at top speed). Mass 15,750 kg. Engine start 3 s.
Special ability (B)
Ammo Drop: drops a crate behind the tank; team-mates who drive over it within 60 s get 50 % of their full shell and smoke load back (once each). Ready 30 s after the round goes live, once per round; another use costs 150 credits.
Where it appears
Players can take it on all seven WW2 maps, on either team. The AI fields it on:
- Bastogne 1944, Red (Axis side): 1x in an 8-vehicle line-up (first at position 3).
- Seelow Heights 1945, Red (Axis side): 1x in an 8-vehicle line-up (first at position 4).
Where it ranks (1 = best of 35)
| Stat | Rank |
|---|---|
| Hit points | 24 |
| Effective HP | 24 |
| Hull front armour (lower multiplier = thicker) | 8 |
| Turret front armour | 8 |
| Road speed | 25 |
| Off-road speed | 33 |
| Shot damage (AP) | 25 |
| Damage per minute | 17 |
| Reload (shortest first) | 21 |
| Accuracy (smallest dispersion first) | 10 |
| Aim time (fastest first) | 33 |
| Turret / gun traverse speed | 34 |
| View range | 29 |
| AP penetration (lower threshold = goes through more) | 17 |
| Price (1 = most expensive) | 20 |
The real vehicle
| Variant | Jagdpanzer 38 (Sd.Kfz. 138/2) 'Hetzer', BMM production October-November 1944 (Saukopf mantlet, Schuerzen with bent tips, flush driver's periscopes, Flammvernichter exhaust, remote MG 34) |
| Length with gun | 6.27 m |
| Hull length | 4.87 m |
| Width | 2.63 m |
| Height | 2.17 m |
| Ground clearance | 0.38 m |
| Track width | 0.35 m |
| Gun | 7.5 cm PaK 39 L/48, traverse 5 deg left / 11 deg right, elevation -6 / +12 deg |
Sources used for the model: Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hetzer (6.27 / 4.77 m, 2.63 m, 2.17 m, 0.38 m clearance, 350 mm track, production changes); OnWar https://www.onwar.com/wwii/tanks/germany/ge008hetzer.html (6.27/4.87 m, 96 links, 269 cm contact); tanks-encyclopedia https://tanks-encyclopedia.com/ww2/nazi_germany/jagdpanzer-38_hetzer.php (82 cm wheels, 5 L / 11 R traverse, armour angles, monthly changes); onthewaymodels.com (Jentz & Doyle: 825 mm wheels, 350 mm track); historyofwar.org (2.17 m with MG mount, 1.845 m without); blueprint the-blueprints.com 79888 (Saranga four-view, 3.02 mm/px)
In-game model: 6.26 m long (gun included) × 2.62 m wide × 2.17 m high (antenna excluded), 6,035 triangles, built at true scale.
Images
Renders of the in-game model in a plain nation colour (the game paints its camouflage at runtime).
