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Rear view of Fahrgestell (chassis), roadwheels, return idlers. Front sprocket was powered,  rest of wheel assembly provided non-powered traction. Since main vehicle weight located in rear, postwar tanks and assault guns had powered sprocket drive moved to rear for additional traction. Two spare roadwheels mounted on Maybach HL120TRM engine deck, exhaust ports covered with heat shield. Tracks painted Polly-S Dark Earth, dry-brushed TESTORS Chrome (both external track teethes and inner guide track cleats) to mimic frontline usage.
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Inset 1 : Number 131 Stug III ausf G model with rear storage brackets, abandoned in Eastern Europe circa 1944. Its engine ventilation access panels left opened, stowage contents picked clean by souvenir hunters, spare track bolted to hull side between roadwheels and return idlers. Full video documentary on Stug III and Stug IV assault guns listed below :
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Rollover : ( Rollover JPG link ) Rear storage brackets made from plastic styrene stripes, secured into holes drilled onto hull surface. Spare roadwheels originally placed on rear engine deck, moved to rear hull panel to make space for storage area. White arrow parallelogram was tactical marking for Assault Guns, oval cap next left spare roadwheel is for Kurbelwelle (crankshaft) for most WW2 tank engines to be hand or mechanically cranked for ignition. T-shape apparatus on both rear fenders are night driving distance-gauging lights for convoy travels. Rear Notek Light (Abstands - Rücklicht) - www.kubelwagen.co.uk/electrical/rear%20notek%20light.htm
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Inset 2 : Passing Acropolis temple in Athens-Greece circa 1943, Stug III ausf F model (note lack of commander copula) in African-Yellow  base camouflage (tree shading cast partial shadow on vehicle) with stylized letter D on gun mantle probably referred to Battery D of Assault Gun platoon. Its crew wore field-green Panzer tunic but with localized tan color German helmets. The Online Guide to World War II German Helmets - www.german-helmets.com/
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German conquest of Balkans (Yugoslavia, Greece) was unplanned affair in 1941. With collapse of 1939 German-Soviet Non-Aggression pact in Nov 1940, Soviet Union reneged on treaty obligation to send regular foodstuff and raw material shipments to German Reich. Hence, Germany scheduled Soviet invasion circa April 1941. August 23, 1939 - Nazis and Soviets Sign Pact - www.historyplace.com/worldwar2/timeline/pact.htm
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Unfortunately, Italian forces (German allies in Tripartite Pact) eager to gain co-equal international esteem on territorial conquest, invaded Greece in Oct 1940, but with woeful military performance her forces were routed out of Greece and began loosing territory to Allies within her Albania colonial possession by April 1941. Coupled with sudden overthrow of pro-German Yugoslav government, German Chancellor Adolf Hitler decided to shore-up his Sudfront before general advance into Ostfront. What Italians could not accomplish 7 months, Germans achieved in 3 months, namely complete conquest of Balkan region, reinstate pro-German Yugoslav regime, rout Greek and British Expeditionary Forces in Greece and island of Crete, and settled in for 3 years of occupation duty and anti-partisan warfare. THE GERMAN CAMPAIGNS IN THE BALKANS (SPRING 1941) - www.army.mil/cmh-pg/books/wwii/balkan/intro.htm
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Historians constantly debate consequence of this 1941 Balkan victory since Germans delayed 3 crucial months invading Soviet Union, which in hindsight may have given Germans strategic victory since they were only 20 miles from Moscow by Dec 1941 before Soviets launched counter-offensive. If Germans had 3 additional months at hand, avoiding onset of Russian winter, Moscow would have been conquered, Soviet bureaucracy would have been severely compromised if not outright destroyed since Soviet Communists significantly relied on this centralized city apparatus for command-and-control. Others refute this argument by stating Moscow bureaucracy would have moved in-masse to eastern Ural region beyond range of German air-ground assaults, added to fact Soviets had 14 million men in reserves contrasted with circa 1.3 million Germans and her Axis allies deployed in Ostfront, thus war of attrition was always in Soviet favor. Battle of Moscow - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Moscow
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As for Greece, immediate postwar years were chaotic. During WW2, her partisan groups were united to drive out German occupation, but all had divergent postwar agendas (ex. Monarchist, Republicans, Communist, Anarchist) and trusted each other even less. By Fall 1944 as Soviets launched major offensive into Romania, Germans compelled to withdraw from Greece and Yugoslavia to bolster defense of Hungary. Resulting power vacuum taken up by at least 10 competing Greek partisan groups, of which sporadic civil war ensued from 1944 to 1949. Greek Civil War - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greek_Civil_War
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Inset 3 : Stories of Stug III continued well into 1960s, surviving vehicles  captured by France at WW2 end were sold to Syria in 1950s. Example below shows Syrian Stug III captured by Israeli forces at Golan Heights during 1967 Six-Day War. Six-Day War - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Six-Day_War
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This version has remote-control machine gun, large flap cover over Saukopf gun mantle, and large shield in front of commander copula. Syrian Brigade and Independent Battalions 1967 - homepages.paradise.net.nz/mcnelly/msh/aiw/syrian_1967.htm
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