At the initial stage of World War II, armored vehicles coped well with reconnaissance tasks in the interests of tank and motorized units of the Hitlerite Wehrmacht. Their use in this role was facilitated by both the extensive road network of Western Europe and the lack of a massive anti-tank defense (AT) on the enemy.
After the German attack on the USSR, the situation changed. In Russia, as you know, there are no roads, there are only directions. With the beginning of the autumn rains, the German armored car reconnaissance was hopelessly stuck in the Russian mud and ceased to cope with the tasks assigned to it. In addition, the situation was aggravated by the fact that at about the same time, anti-tank rifles (PTR) began to arrive in the rifle units of the Red Army in increasing quantities, which made it possible to give the anti-tank defense a massive character. In any case, the German general von Mellenthin noted in his memoirs: "The Russian infantry has good weapons, especially a lot of anti-tank weapons: sometimes you think that every infantryman has an anti-tank rifle or anti-tank gun." An armor-piercing bullet of 14.5 mm, fired from the PTR, easily penetrated the armor of any German armored vehicles, both light and heavy.
In order to somehow improve the situation, half-track armored personnel carriers Sd. Kfz.250 and Sd. Kfz.251 were transferred to the reconnaissance battalions, and also light tanks Pz. II and Pz.38 (t) were used for this purpose. However, the need for a dedicated reconnaissance tank became apparent. However, the specialists of the Wehrmacht Arms Directorate foresaw such a development of events and initiated such work even on the eve of World War II.
In the summer of 1938, MAN and Daimler-Benz began designing a reconnaissance tank, designated VK 901. Formally, it was considered a development of the Pz. II tank, but in fact it was a completely new design. Only the thickness of the armor plates and the armament - the 20-mm KwK 38 cannon - remained similar to the "two". The chassis with the so-called "checkerboard" arrangement of road wheels was developed by engineer Wilhelm Knipkampf and consisted of five road wheels per side. The power compartment housed a Maybach HL 45 engine with 150 hp. (109 kW), which accelerated a combat vehicle weighing 10, 5 tons to a maximum speed on the highway of 50 km / h.
The prototype was made in 1939. After the end of the range and military tests, it was planned to begin production of a "zero" series of 75 vehicles, which were given the designation Pz. II Ausf. G. However, from April 1941 to February 1942, only 12 tanks of this type were produced.
In 1940, work began on a modernized version of the Pz. II Ausf. G-VK 903. The car received a Maybach HL 66p engine with 200 hp. and a ZF Aphon SSG48 gearbox. The maximum speed reached 60 km / h, which is more than enough for a reconnaissance vehicle. In 1942, a version of this tank was created with a turret that did not have a roof, which facilitated observation in reconnaissance. This modification received the designation VK 1301 (VK903b).
The program for the development of the Wehrmacht tank forces "Panzerprogramm 1941", approved on April 30, 1941, provided for truly fantastic volumes of production of the VK 903 reconnaissance tank: 10,950 vehicles were supposed to be manufactured in a reconnaissance version, 2,738 - as an ACS with a 50-mm cannon, and 481 - with 150 mm howitzer sIG 33. Tanks VK 903 and VK 1301 received the army designations Pz. II Ausf. H and M, respectively, but their production was not launched.
The Armaments Directorate came to the conclusion that it was necessary to develop a new reconnaissance tank, the design of which would take into account the experience of the first years of the war. And this experience required an increase in the number of crew members, a larger reserve of engine power, a radio station with a long range, etc.
In April 1942, MAN manufactured the first prototype of the VK 1303 tank weighing 12.9 tons. In June, it was tested at the Kummersdorf proving ground in conjunction with the Pz.38 (t) tanks from BMM and T-15 from Skoda, developed according to a similar specification. During the tests, the VK 1303 covered 2,484 km. At the same time, the engine and the main clutch worked flawlessly.
The VK 1303 tank was adopted by the Panzerwaffe under the designation Pz. II Ausf. L Luchs (Sd. Kfz.123). The production order for MAN was 800 combat vehicles of this type.
Luchs ("Luchs" - lynx) was armored slightly better than its predecessor VK 901, but the maximum armor thickness also did not exceed 30 mm, which turned out to be insufficient. The welded box-shaped body was divided into three compartments: control (it is also transmission), combat and engine. In the front of the hull, the driver was located on the left, and the radio operator on the right. At the disposal of both in the frontal sheet of the hull there were observation devices, closed by sliding armored flaps, and viewing slots in the sides. The tank turret housed the commander (aka the gunner) and the loader.
The welded turret was larger than that of all previous models of reconnaissance tanks, but unlike the VK 901 and VK 903, the commander's cupola was absent on the Luchs. On the roof of the tower there were two periscopic observation devices: one in the commander's hatch cover, the other in the loader's hatch cover. At the disposal of the latter is a viewing device in the right side of the tower. In contrast to all modifications of the Pz. II linear tanks, the tower on the Luchs was located symmetrically about the longitudinal axis of the tank. The tower was rotated by hand.
The armament of the tank consisted of a 20 mm Rheinmetall-Borsig KwK 38 cannon with a barrel length of 112 calibers (2140 mm) and a coaxial 7, 92 mm MG 34 machine gun (MG 42). The rate of fire of the gun is 220 rds / min, the muzzle velocity of the armor-piercing projectile is 830 m / s. An armor-piercing projectile pierced a 25-mm armor plate placed at an angle of 30 ° from a distance of 350 m. The gunner had a Zeiss TZF 6/38 single-lens telescopic sight with 2.5x magnification at his disposal for firing a cannon. The same sight could be used for firing a machine gun. The latter, in addition, was equipped with its own regular sight KgzF 2. The ammunition consisted of 330 rounds and 2250 rounds. Vertical guidance of the paired installation was possible in the range from -9 ° to + 18 °. Three NbK 39 mortars were installed on the sides of the tower to launch smoke grenades of 90 mm caliber.
Even during the design of the Luchs, it became clear that a 20-mm cannon, which was too weak for 1942, could significantly limit the tactical capabilities of a tank. Therefore, from April 1943, it was planned to begin production of combat vehicles armed with a 50-mm KwK 39 cannon with a barrel length of 60 calibers. The same gun was installed on medium tanks Pz. IIl of modifications J, L and M. However, it was not possible to place this gun in the standard Luchs turret - it was too small for him. In addition, the ammunition load was sharply reduced. As a result, a larger, open-top turret was installed on the tank, into which the 50-mm cannon fit perfectly. The prototype with such a turret was designated VK 1303b.
The tank was equipped with a 6-cylinder carburetor four-stroke in-line liquid-cooled Maybach HL 66r engine with a capacity of 180 hp (132 kW) at 3200 rpm and a working volume of 6754 cm3. The cylinder diameter is 105 mm. The piston stroke is 130 mm. Compression ratio 6, 5.
The engine was started by a Bosch GTLN 600 / 12-12000 A-4 electric starter. Manual launch was also possible. Fuel - leaded gasoline with an octane rating of 76 - was placed in two tanks with a total capacity of 235 liters. Its supply is forced, with the help of a Pallas Mr 62601 pump. There are two carburetors, the Solex 40 JFF II brand. (One production tank Pz. II Ausf. L was experimentally equipped with a 12-cylinder V-shaped diesel Tatra 103 with a capacity of 220 hp).
The transmission consisted of a Fichtel & Sachs "Mecano" double-disc main dry friction clutch, a mechanical synchronized ZF Aphon SSG48 gearbox (6 + 1), a propeller shaft and MAN shoe brakes.
The undercarriage of the Luhs tank in relation to one side included: five rubberized road wheels with a diameter of 735 mm each, located in two rows; front drive wheel with two removable toothed (23 teeth) rims; idler with track tensioner. Hydraulic telescopic shock absorbers were installed on the first and fifth road wheels. The caterpillar is fine-link, double-ridged, 360 mm wide.
The Luhs were equipped with a FuG 12 VHF radio station and an Fspr "f" shortwave radio station.
Serial production of reconnaissance tanks of this type began in the second half of August 1942. Until January 1944, MAN produced 118 Luchs, Henschel - 18. All these tanks were armed with a 20-mm KwK 38 cannon. As for combat vehicles with a 50-mm cannon, it is not possible to indicate their exact number. According to various sources, from four to six tanks left the factory workshops.
The first serial "luhs" began to enter the troops in the fall of 1942. They were supposed to arm one company in the reconnaissance battalions of tank divisions. However, due to the small number of vehicles produced, very few Panzerwaffe units received new tanks. On the Eastern Front, these were the 3rd and 4th Panzer Divisions, in the West - the 2nd, 116th and Training Panzer Divisions. In addition, several vehicles were in service with the SS Panzer Division "Death's Head". Luhs were used in these formations until the end of 1944. In the course of combat use, the weakness of the armament and armor protection of the tank was revealed. In some cases, its frontal armor was reinforced with additional armor plates 20 mm thick. It is reliably known that such an event was carried out in the 4th reconnaissance battalion of the 4th Panzer Division.
Two copies of the Pz. II Ausf. L "Luhs" light tank have survived to this day. One is in the UK, in the Museum of the Royal Armored Corps in Bovington, the other in France, in the tank museum in Samur.
