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The Panzer III was a medium-class tank that, at the outbreak of WWII, was designed to be the primary platform of Germany's all-conquering panzer divisions. However, with the advent of more heavily armored and up-gunned enemy tanks, the role of the Panzer III became secondary to that of the Panzer IV. The last model to be produced was the Panzer III Ausf.M, which had a 5cm KwK39 L/60 main gun. Among its modifications was a deep-wading muffler with a series of associated hatch seals that allowed fording of water obstacles up to a depth of 1.3m, a significant fording improvement over earlier Panzer IIIs. The hull-mounted smoke generators were also replaced with three 90mm NbK dischargers mounted either side of the turret. A total of 250 new Ausf.M tanks were produced from October 1942 to February 1943.