Evolution of Tanks - World War II

[The Last Stand]

I want to post about the evolution of tanks from 1935 to the end of World War II.

I will start with German side.

Panzer I

Panzer I - Sd.Kfz 101 was Germany's first mass produced tank design. Even though tank design was banned in 1919 by the Treaty of versailles, several officers of the Reichswehr established a secret general staff to design tanks.

Will continue tommorow, tired now.

 

[W.G.Ewald]

German dummy tank pre-war.

 

[The Last Stand]

Sd.Kfz 101 was a stopgap training tank for its future replacements, Pz III and Pz IV which were in the design stage. But Panzer I formed the bulk of German armour and played a significant role in infantry support during the invasion of Poland and Denmark. In France however the French tanks saw Pz I as easy kills and destroyed hundreds.

Panzer I was a design with no potential because of:

1) The turret was designed to carry only machine guns. The mantlet could not be enlarged to carry true Anti-tank guns. (But Pz I Ausf.C carried 7.92x94 primitive anti tank rifle)

2) The suspension was poor. Extra weight meant that the already strained suspension and underpowered engines broke down easily.

3) The tank had poor armour. Straight armour of around 15 mm RHA could stop nothing. Even if the turret was redesigned for a bigger gun, the already weak armour had to be reduced to make sure that the suspension was not strained.

 

[The Last Stand]

Panzer II

Panzerkampfwagen II was a family of several extremely successful vehicles all based on a single chassis. It was also a stopgap tank, which was developed to fill the void in the Wehrmacht until it's successor, the Panzer III was developed. Unlike the Panzer I, the Pz II was meant for tank hunting and featured a 20 mm autocannon.

Panzer II was considered an enlarged Panzer I. It was very unsuccessful in it's original role in both Poland and France as Poland's 7TP could withstand a direct hit from the Pz II at the right angles while the 7TP's 37 mm cannon could cut through the Panzer II with no effort.

The tank was not suitable for the Wehrmacht's later operations for the same reasons as the Panzer I.

It must be mentioned that the though the Pz II was not suited for the tank destroying role, it proved extremely successful as a recon tank where it was up armoured, given one more fuel tank for increased range and a better engine. Thanks to having generous internal area, it worked well as a command tank when one more radio was added to it.

 

[Akim]

MS-1 and T-26. At the beginning of the war, on the border with Manchuria. MS-1 used as a stationary gun emplacements.