WesWorld

The E has similar armor to the D model, which received 20mm of additional applique armor to the front and upper sides of the hull and to all turret faces. That meant that the turret and upper side armor doubled, 50% more armor was added to the hull front, and 40% more armor was added to the turret front. Oh, and I'm wrong, the E isn't getting the bigger engine, that's not arriving until the Panzer IV F.

The Panzer IV F will lose a bit of thickness on various faces, but the armor will be a single plate, so lighter and about the same as far as resistance to penetration goes as the E. It also gets the slightly larger engine., and wider tracks to deal with the weight increase.

As for the ability to rearm the Legionaire the Strv 42 to Strv 74 rebuild should sove that question

Strv M/42
Weight 22,5 tonnes
Length 6.08 m
6,21 m (including gun)
Width 2,34 m
Height 2,58 m
Crew 4 (commander, driver, gunner, loader)
Armor 9 - 55
Primary
armament 7,5 cm stridsvagnskanon m/41
Secondary
armament 2×8 mm ksp m/39 strv
Engine Gasoline, 2×Scania-Vabis 607
170 hp (127 kW) each
Power/weight 13.08 hp/tonne
Suspension Torsion beam suspension
Operational
range ?
Speed 42 km/h

Strv 74

Weight 26 tonnes
Length 6.08 m
7.93 m (including gun)
Width 2.43 m
Height 3.00 m
Crew 4 (commander, driver, gunner, loader)
Armor ?
Primary
armament 7.5 cm kanon strv 74
Secondary
armament 2×8 mm ksp m/39 strv
Engine Gasoline, 2×Scania-Vabis 607
170 hp (127 kW) each
Power/weight 13.08 hp/tonne
Suspension Torsion beam suspension
Operational
range ?
Speed 45 km/h

The "new" gun in STRV 74 is the Lvkan M/36

Quoted

Originally posted by Hrolf Hakonson
The E has similar armor to the D model, which received 20mm of additional applique armor to the front and upper sides of the hull and to all turret faces. That meant that the turret and upper side armor doubled, 50% more armor was added to the hull front, and 40% more armor was added to the turret front. Oh, and I'm wrong, the E isn't getting the bigger engine, that's not arriving until the Panzer IV F.

The Panzer IV F will lose a bit of thickness on various faces, but the armor will be a single plate, so lighter and about the same as far as resistance to penetration goes as the E. It also gets the slightly larger engine., and wider tracks to deal with the weight increase.

So you will be following the OTL development E-F-F2?

Not exactly. The WW Panzer IV E is similar to the OTL Panzer IV F2/G, it's the break between the short-barreled 75mm and the long-barreled 75mm (there's debate, apparently, amongst historians as to whether there was such a thing as a Panzer IV F2 or whether what are called that were actually just early Panzer IV Gs).

The WW Panzer IV F is most similar to the OTL Panzer IV H.

The chinese heavy tank conquest is closed. Due to the low participation of foreign manufacturers, the choice is already taking place as soon as possible. The probability that the election is on a chinese type is obviously very large. Each Chinese manufacturer have already built 10 prototypes.

The prototypes will be built in 1938 and the serial production will start may be in 1939 or 1940.