Ausf Bs entered service in 1938 and served until late 1943. In April of 1938, Ausf B was produced by Krupp-Gruson and until September of 1938, 42 were produced. Ausf As were production / development prototypes and 5 were used for further testing while 30 saw combat service until 1941. First Panzerkampfwagen IV Ausf A was built in October of 1937 by Krupp-Gruson and its production ended in March of 1938 with total of 35 produced. The communication between the crew was by the use of the intercom. The vehicle was operated by five men crew composed of commander, gunner and loader in the turret and driver along with machine gunner / radio-operator in the front part of the hull.
Above the road-wheels were 4 (reduced to 3 in Ausf J) return rollers on each side of the hull. The assemblies were attached to longitudinal twin quarter-elliptic leaf springs bolted to the hull. The new vehicle featured suspension system composed of drive sprocket, idler and 8 road-wheels on each side of the hull that were paired together in 4 assemblies on each side of the hull.
Sting designs.After further tests, Krupp was ready to start the production of Panzer IV Ausf A (Versuchkraftfahrzeug 622). In 1935, Krupp after receiving order to produce its design, modified it by incorporating best features of exi All vehicles had similar characteristics but after extensive tests Krupp's design - VK 2001(K) was selected to enter full-scale production. Krupp concentrated on the development of the turret while MAN worked on the running gear - VK 2001(MAN). MAN designed new interleaved suspension system but it was not accepted. Rheinmetall-Borsig BW - VK2001(Rh) used Neubaufahrzeug's modified running gear, while Krupp's BW - VK2001(K) and Maschinenfabrik Augsburg-Nurnberg AG's VK2002(MAN) both used MAN's newly designed running gear. All companies produced prototypes, which in 1935/36 were tested under various conditions. Specifications required overall weight to be 18 ton, top speed of 35km/h and 75mm gun as main armament. In 1934/35, Adolf Hitler ordered Krupp and Rheinmetall-Borsig (and MAN) to develop BW (Begleitwagen) vehicle. The idea of the tank with all of the characteristics later incorporated in the development of Panzerkampfwagen IV was originally laid down in the early 1930 by Heinz Guderian.
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