An order for designing a 15-ton tracked vehicle with a gun armament was placed in 1935. Despite the weight of the Pz.Kpfw. III Ausf. E, the first large-scale vehicle, reached 19.5 tons, its configuration was deemed successful, and the number of vehicles eventually grew to 96. Further modifications became even more popular, and the Pz.Kpfw. III became the most mass-produced vehicle of the Wehrmacht.