The previous article examined US tanks in the interwar period. Germany during the First World War, unlike England and France, did not receive serious experience in the development of tanks. It was only able to produce a small batch (20 pieces), more like an armored carriage of medium tanks A7V and single copies of light tanks LK-I and LK-II, heavy tank A7VU and heavy tank "Kolossal". None of these concepts for the development of tanks in Germany received.
After the end of the First World War, Germany, under the terms of the Treaty of Versailles, was forbidden to develop tanks and have tank units in the army. Despite all the prohibitions, the command of the German army perfectly understood the prospects of a new type of weapon for the ground forces and tried to keep up with their competitors.
The military command, arguing about the role of tanks in the categories of the First World War, in 1925 issued three firms (Rheinmetall, Krupp and Daimler-Benz) requirements for the development of a new tank, for reasons of secrecy, called "Grosstraktor" ("Big tractor").
Firms could produce tanks under this name, but there was nowhere to test them, since Germany was under the control of the victorious countries. The German political and military leadership agreed to conclude a deal with the Soviet Union, since these two countries, although for different reasons, were isolated from the Western countries.
In 1926, Germany signed an agreement with the Soviet Union on the creation of a tank school and a Kama test site near Kazan for training Soviet and German tankers and testing German tanks, which operated until 1933.
Such a deal was also beneficial for the Soviet Union, since its own school of tank building did not yet exist and it was possible to get acquainted with the latest German developments. In 1933, the treaty was terminated, as the Nazi leadership came to the leadership in Germany, and they no longer sought to hide their revanchist plans.
Three firms in 1928-1930 produced two tanks, and all six Grosstraktor tanks were sent to the Soviet Union for testing.
Tank "Grosstraktor"
The manufactured tanks did not fundamentally differ from each other. In terms of layout, they gravitated towards the classic English "rhombuses" with caterpillar coverage of the entire tank hull. Then it was believed that such a design allows for a higher cross-country ability of the tank.
In front of the hull there was a control compartment, on the roof of which two cylindrical turrets with viewing slots were installed. Behind it was the main fighting compartment with the main turret, designed for 3 people, then the engine-transmission and auxiliary fighting compartment with a machine-gun turret in the stern. The weight of the tank, depending on the manufacturer, was (15-19, 3) tons, the crew was 6 people.
The tank used the principle of spreading weapons across two towers installed in different parts of the tank. The armament consisted of a 75 mm KwK L / 24 short-barreled cannon installed in the main turret, and three 7.92 mm machine guns, one each in the main turret, aft turret and hull.
The armor of the tank was weak, the front of the hull was 13 mm, the sides were 8 mm, the roof and bottom were 6 mm. All six samples were made not from armor, but from mild steel.
A Mercedes DIV 260 hp engine was used as a power plant, providing a speed of 40 km / h and a cruising range of 150 km.
The undercarriage of the tanks, depending on the manufacturer, was somewhat different, consisted of small diameter road wheels interlocked in bogies, three support rollers, a front guide and rear drive wheel.
Until 1933, tanks were tested at the Soviet Kama training ground. The armament and armor protection of the tanks were not tested. The running-in process was constantly stopped due to engine, transmission and chassis breakdowns, which showed low reliability. Based on the test results, it was decided to abandon the diamond-shaped chassis, and conclusions were also made about the feasibility of developing a specialized power plant for the tank and about transferring the drive wheel to the front of the hull to avoid dropping the track when driving on soft ground. Subsequently, the front drive wheel was used on almost all German tanks.
They also decided to abandon the idea of spaced weapons, the division of the fighting compartment into main and auxiliary with a machine gunner in the stern often led to his isolation, since he could hardly interact with the rest of the crew.
After the return of the tanks to Germany, they were used as training tanks until 1937 and were then written off. Tanks with such an arrangement were not further developed in Germany.
Leichttraktor. Light tank
Following the development of the "Grosstraktor" in 1928, the military command ordered the development of a light tank weighing up to 12 tons. Four prototypes of the tank were manufactured in 1930 and were also sent to the Soviet Union for testing at the Kama test site, where they were tested until 1933.
The tank was developed on a competitive basis by Rheinmetall and Krupp. They did not differ in principle, the differences were mainly in the chassis.
The tank weighed 8, 7 (8, 9) tons with a crew of 3 people at first (driver, commander, radio operator). Then the crew was increased to 4 people - the loader was introduced, since they came to the conclusion that the combination of the functions of the commander and the loader does not provide the commander with the performance of his functions.
According to the layout, in the front part there was an engine-transmission compartment, in the middle part on the left there was a mechanic - the driver, on the right of him a radio operator. A small turret with viewing slots was installed above the driver's head, providing the commander with an overview of the terrain.
The fighting compartment with a rotating turret was moved back, the commander and loader were located in the turret. For observation, two observation periscopes were installed on the roof of the tower, and there was an evacuation hatch in the rear of the tower. The crew was put into the tank through a hatch in the aft part of the tank. The hull of the tank was riveted-welded and assembled from armor steel sheets with a thickness of 4 to 10 mm.
The armament of the tank consisted of a 37 mm KwK L / 45 cannon and a 7, 92 mm Dreyse machine gun paired with it, mounted in the turret.
The power plant was a Daimler-Benz M36 engine with a capacity of 36 hp, providing a speed of about 40 km / h and a cruising range of 137 km.
On the samples of the Rheinmetall tank, the undercarriage from a caterpillar tractor was used, consisting of 12 double track rollers, interlocked by two in six bogies, one tension roller and two supporting rollers, a front idler and a rear drive wheel. To protect the chassis elements, an onboard armored screen was installed. On the samples of the Krupp tank, the undercarriage consisted of six twin small-diameter road wheels with vertical spring damping, two support rollers, a front idler and a rear drive wheel.
After testing the tanks at the Soviet Kama training ground, many shortcomings were revealed, mainly in the chassis. The location of the drive wheels at the rear was considered not a good solution, since this often led to the dropping of the tracks, there were claims to the rubber-metal track and to the suspension design.
After the liquidation of the Kama tank school in 1933, the tanks were sent to Germany, where they were used as training tanks and the Leichttraktor project was not further developed.
Light tank Pz. Kpfw. I
After the Nazis came to power in 1933, they no longer hid their intentions to develop tanks and arm the army with them. The main emphasis was not on the tank's firepower, but on its maneuverability in order to ensure deep breakthroughs, encirclement and destruction of the enemy, which later became the basis of the "blitzkrieg" concept.
By order of the military in 1931-1934, the companies "Krupp" and "Daimler-Benz" developed a light tank Pz. Kpfw. I. It was the first German tank to be mass-produced after the end of the First World War. It was produced from 1934 to 1937; a total of 1,574 samples of this tank were produced.
The layout of the tank was with a front transmission, a power plant in the rear of the tank, a combined control compartment with a fighting compartment in the middle of the tank and a turret located above the fighting compartment. The weight of the tank is 5, 4 tons, the crew is two people - a driver-mechanic and a gunner-commander.
A superstructure was installed above the hull of the tank, which served as a turret box for the turret in which the commander was located. The driver's seat was located on the left side of the hull. The hull superstructure consisted of an octagonal turret box, located above the combat and engine compartments. Visibility to the driver was provided by hatches with armored covers in the frontal sheet of the superstructure and in the sloped armor plates of the left side. For the landing of the driver, a double-leaf hatch was intended on the left side of the turret box. The turret of the tank had a conical shape and was located on the right side of the fighting compartment on a roller support.
The Pz. Kpfw. I tank had bulletproof armor, providing protection only against small arms and shell fragments. The hull of the tank was welded; individual parts and assemblies were attached to the hull with bolts and rivets.
The vertical sides of the hull and turret platform, the frontal plates and the rear of the hull were 13 mm thick. The front middle armor plate and the superstructure roof were 8 mm thick, and the tank bottom was 5 mm thick. In this case, the frontal lower armor plate was located at an angle of 25 degrees, and the average 70 degrees. The turret armor was also 13 mm thick and the turret roof was 8 mm thick.
The armament of the Pz. Kpfw. I consisted of two 7, 92 mm MG13 machine guns. On later models, new Rheinmetall-Borsig MG 34 machine guns were installed. Machine guns were installed in a twin installation in a swinging armored mask on trunnions in the front of the turret, while aiming the right machine guns could be shifted relative to the left using a special device.
The modification of the Pz. Kpfw. I Ausf. A tank was equipped with a Krupp M305 engine with 57 hp, providing a speed of 37 km / h and a cruising range of 145 km. The Pz. Kpfw. I Ausf. B modification was equipped with a Maybach NL 38 Tr engine with a capacity of up to 100 hp. with. and providing better running characteristics of the tank.
The undercarriage of the tank on each side consisted of a front drive wheel, four single rubberized road wheels, a rubberized sloth lowered to the ground and three rubberized carrier rollers. The road roller suspension was mixed, the first road roller was individually suspended from a balance bar connected to a spring and a hydraulic shock absorber. The second, third, fourth road wheels and the sloth were interlocked in pairs in bogies with a suspension on leaf springs.
In the second half of the 1930s, the Pz. Kpfw. I formed the backbone of the German armored forces and remained in this role until 1937, when it was replaced by more advanced tanks. The tank was used in combat in 1936 during the Spanish Civil War, later the tank was actively used at the initial stage of World War II until 1940. Before the attack on the USSR in 1941, the Wehrmacht had 410 combat-ready Pz. Kpfw. I tanks.
Light tank Pz. Kpfw. II
In addition to the Pz. Kpfw. I light machine gun tank, requirements were issued in 1934 for the development of a light tank weighing up to 10 tons, equipped with a 20mm cannon and reinforced armor. It was proposed to develop a "transitional type of tank" as a temporary measure until the appearance of more advanced models.
The tank was developed in 1934 and produced in various modifications from 1935-1943. At the beginning of World War II, such tanks made up 38 percent of the Wehrmacht's tank fleet.
The tank had a layout with a transmission compartment in front of the tank, a combined command and control compartment in the middle of the hull and a power plant in the rear of the tank. The tank's crew consisted of three people: a driver, a loader and a commander, the weight of the tank was 9.4 tons.
On the roof of the hull there was a turret box on which the turret was installed. In front of the box, which had the shape of a truncated triangle in plan, there was a driver's seat with three viewing devices.
The location of the turret on the tank was asymmetric, with an offset to the left relative to the longitudinal axis. In the roof of the tower there was a double hatch, which was replaced with a commander's cupola during modernization. In the sides of the tower there were two viewing devices and two ventilation hatches, closed by armored covers. For the landing of the driver, there was a single-leaf hatch in the upper frontal sheet of the hull. There was a partition between the fighting compartment and the engine compartment, the engine was located on the right, and the radiator and fan of the cooling system on the left.
By design, the hull and turret of the tank were welded. The armor of the tank was strengthened, the thickness of the armor plates of the forehead and sides of the hull, turret was 14.5 mm, the bottom, roof of the hull and turret - 10 mm.
The armament was the 20 mm KwK 30 L / 55 cannon and the 7, 92 mm Dreise MG13 machine gun installed in the turret. On later samples, the more advanced KwK 38 cannon and the MG-34 machine gun of the same calibers were installed.
The power plant was a Maybach HL 62 TR engine with a power of 140 hp, providing a highway speed of 40 km / h and a cruising range of 190 km.
The undercarriage of these machines, applied to one side, consisted of five road wheels on a leaf spring suspension, four support rollers, a front drive wheel and a rear idler wheel. The chassis of MAN was somewhat different and consisted of three two-wheel bogies and a longitudinal beam, to which the outer ends of the balancers of the track roller bogies were attached.
During the production of the tank before the war, several of its modifications a, b, c, A, B, C, D were released. Modifications E, F, G, H, J were developed and produced during the Second World War. Of the pre-war modifications, most were associated with the design modifications of the machines, from the fundamentally different Ausf. C and Ausf. D.
Modification of the 1938 Pz. Kpfw. II Ausf. C, featured frontal armor reinforced to (29 - 35) mm and the installation of a commander's cupola.
Modification of the 1939 Pz. Kpfw. II Ausf. D was called "high-speed" and was distinguished by a modified body shape, a new 180 hp engine. and a chassis with an individual torsion bar suspension.
1941 modification of the Pz. Kpfw. II Ausf. F, differed stronger in comparison with the Ausf. With armor, the installation of a 2 cm KwK 38 cannon and improved observation devices.
The 1940 modification of the Pz. Kpfw. II Ausf. J, was a reconnaissance tank concept with increased armor up to 80 mm frontal armor, 50 mm sides and stern, 25 mm roof and bottom. The weight of the tank increased to 18 tons, the speed decreased to 31 km / h. Only 30 tanks of this modification were produced.
Before the start of the war, the Pz. Kpfw. II was already an insufficiently powerful battle tank, in the first battles it turned out to be weaker in armament and armor of the French R35 and H35, Czech LT vz. 38 and Soviet T-26 and BT tanks of the same class, while the tank did not have serious reserves for modernization. The gun of the KwK 30 L / 55 tank showed high firing accuracy, but clearly had insufficient armor penetration.
During the war, the PzKpfw II was used mainly against infantry and lightly armored vehicles. The cross-country ability and power reserve of the tank, especially during the war in the USSR, were insufficient. In the later stages of the war, the tank, if possible, was not used in battle, but mainly for reconnaissance and security services. According to various sources, in total, various modifications of the PzKpfw II were produced from 1994 to 2028 samples.
