Sturmgeschütz III Ausf D (SdKfz 142)
Sonderverband 288

Sturmgeschutz Ausf D, one of three Stugs of Sonderverband 288 special purpose unit. Unit arrived in North Africa between November 1941 and May 1942. Three Stugs were part of No. 5 Company, which probably arrived in North Africa in December 1941 on Thessalia. The unit participated in the Gazala battle, where one Stug was lost (captured after doing some scouting). Second Stug was lost during the retreat after the second battle of El Alamein after it ran out of fuel and the third one was captured at Cape Bon in Tunis after being hit and abandoned.

Two of these vehicles (I think one captured after retreating from El Alamain and one captured at Cape Bon) were taken to the UK for examination, where one was scrapped and the other used for target practice. The one used for target practice was recently restored to running condition. All three vehicles are very similar, so the one I built could be any of them.