As a result of the heavy losses in armoured vehicles & tanks in particular on the Eastern Front the assault gun units played an increasingly vital role in supporting the beleaguered infantry & countering Allied armour The Stumgeschutz was one of the most numerously produced & effectively deployed of the German armoured vehicles. Total production of the Ausf G alone was close to 7000 vehicles; a further 1299 were equipped with the 10.5cm gun as self-propelled howitzers. This book reveals how the Sturmgeschutz provided the backbone of Germanys amoured forces in every theatre & on every front during the long fighting-retreat of the final years of the war.