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Last
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Thursday, 2 October, 2003
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TNHP-S / Panzerkampfwagen 38(t)
A PzKpfw 38(t) of Rommel’s 7th Panzer Division races through the countryside, passing wrecked French armour, May 1940.
[ Top of Page | Feedback ] Overview The LTvz38 or PzKpfw 38(t) as it became known in the Wehrmacht, was the result of a tank evaluation board set up by the Czechoslovakian army. It’s brief was to evaluate existing and future tank designs, acquire prototypes from various Czechoslovakian arms manufacturers, put them through their paces and eventually procure a ‘light’ tank for use within the Czechoslovakian armed forces. In 1938 a total of six prototypes were put through their paces from two companies both situated in Prague. Four from Ceskomoravska Kolben Danek, otherwise known as CKD and two from Skoda. The eventual winner was the vehicle designated as the TNHP-S by CKD, which had been designed primarily for the export market. The LTvz38 was ordered into immediate production in July 1938. It was given the Wehrmacht designation Sonderkraftfahrzeug (Sd.Kfz) 140. One hundred and fifty were initially ordered but production was delayed by the Munich Agreement and none were available before the German annexation of the Czechoslovakian Sudetenland districts of Bohemia and Moravia on 15th March 1939. The German armed forces ‘confiscated’ the first nine off the assembly line. They were so impressed with the qualities of these new tanks that they instructed CKD, now renamed Böhmisch Mährische Maschinenfabrik AG or BMM and under new German managerial leadership, to complete the initial order of 150 and start work on a further 325.
Total production of the PzKpfw 38(t) ran to 1,411 examples plus three prototypes. They were produced in eight different variants from Ausf A to Ausf G and also a curious suffix given to a batch of 90 tanks designated as Ausf S. The Ausf A constituted the bulk of the very first order of 150. Ausf B, C and D were the next 325 produced and included various minor modifications. Ausf B and C introduced the drivers curved plate but the battle aerial was deleted. Ausf D introduced anti-splash bullet protection for the turret ring. Because of experience gained in both Poland and France it was decided to improve the armour protection of the vehicle and so Ausf E and F had extra steel armour plate welded to the front chassis and turret and also to the turret sides. Other than that they were virtually identical to Ausf D. The weight of the vehicle, due to the extra armour, increased to nearly 9850 kg. The next variant was Ausf S, so named because a batch of 90 tanks that were built for export to Sweden under the designation TNH-SV with Swedish specifications were never actually delivered. When completed they were instead exported to the Slovak Free State. They were used against the Russians during 1941 and 1942. Sweden then set about negotiating with BMM and the German government to build PzKpfw 38(t)'s under license. The last variant, Ausf G, incorporated much thicker welded armour right from the outset, in fact the same thickness as Ausf E and F.
[ Top of Page | Feedback ] Variants
[ Top of Page | Feedback ] Specifications
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