Written by
Daren Beazley

Table of Contents

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Introduction

No set of vehicles of foreign concept, design and manufacture were as important to the German Panzertruppen during the early years of the Second World War than those commandeered from Czechoslovakia via Germany’s annexation of her Sudetenland districts of Bohemia and Moravia on the 15th March 1939.

Had the German State not acquired the Czechoslovakian built tank fleet and manufacturing capacity of both the Skoda and Ceskomoravska Kolben Danek (CKD) plants, it is unlikely that Germany would have had the resources to go to war during 1939. This was despite the considerable secret efforts made during the 1930’s to equip Germany’s newly formed Panzer Divisions with effective German designed and manufactured vehicles.

The invasion of Poland in September of 1939 highlighted the fact that the German Wehrmacht was woefully short of effective combat vehicles. The introduction of both the Panzerkampfwagen (PzKpfw) III and IV was warmly appreciated but development of these vehicles had not yet matured and production was painfully slow during the later 1930’s, too slow to allow Germany to go to war. It was only the addition of the Czechoslovakian built PzKpfw 35(t) and 38(t) tank fleets manufactured by Skoda and CKD respectively, which gave the Wehrmacht sufficient vehicles for an adequate panzer force. The Allied countries at the time were still frantically re-arming themselves when the Panzer Divisions menacingly crossed the border into Poland during the late summer of 1939.

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Prototype

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. Its 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.

Czechoslovakia had a thriving armaments industry during the 1930’s and even exported one mild steel prototype of the TNHP-S vehicle to the United Kingdom for evaluation purposes by the British Army in March of 1939. The detailed evaluation report of this tank still resides, to this day, in the tank museum library at Bovington, Dorset, UK.

During trials the TNHP-S exhibited superb reliability and ease of maintenance. It was estimated that only 30 minutes per day were required to maintain the vehicle. During three and one half months of trials, travelling some 5,500km with 1,500km being driven in what could be termed ‘heavy’ terrain not one serious defect was reported. It was estimated during the war that the 38(t) could travel approximately three times the distance of its German designed and made equivalents before needing a major service. It was of a simple design, rugged, required less components and was therefore easier to manufacture and maintain than just about any comparative German tank. The PzKpfw 38(t) became one of the most important tanks for the German armed forces during the early war years.

The 38(t) chassis design was used as the basis for many other vehicles including the Marder and Flakpanzer 38(t) series. The one vehicle really worth mentioning at this particular moment in time is the Jagdpanzer 38(t) Hetzer tank destroyer or Panzerjäger. This vehicle, employing well sloped armor, a low profile and armed with a 7.5cm PaK 39 L/48 cannon, became one of the best and most feared German tank destroyers of the war. The Hetzer was well liked by its crews and became a formidable opponent that even had the measure of the Soviet manufactured T-34 during frontal engagements.

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Service Introduction 

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.

The major difference between the Czechoslovakian designed vehicles and those that were finally delivered to German tank units was the inclusion of an added crew member, the loader, the space for which was provided by the removal of three existing ammunition bins each containing 18 rounds. Thus the tank weighed approximately nine and one half metric tonnes, had a crew of four, comprising the commander/gunner, loader, driver and radio operator and was armed with the Skoda A-7 37mm tank gun the German designation for which was the 37mm KwK 38(t) L/47.8. The turret in which it was situated was traversed manually and the gun was manipulated by the commander/gunner in elevation by use of a shoulder pad. The commander/gunner also had access to a fixed cupola fitted with four periscopes for vision.

Suspension was leaf spring and steering was differential. A five-speed gearbox drove the front sprockets and the top speeds associated with each gear were 4.1, 10.3, 16.5, 26.2 and 42 km/h respectively. A maximum reverse speed of 6.1 km/h was also attainable. The vehicle was capable of a top speed of 42 km/h from its water cooled Praga EPA six cylinder petrol engine which developed 125 brake horse power at 2200 revolutions.

Development

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.

Theatres of Service

The armour component of a typical panzer division in early 1940 consisted of a panzer brigade made up from two panzer regiments in which each panzer regiment consisted of two panzer abteilung (battalion), so typically four abteilung in total. Each panzer abteilung consisted of four kompanie (company) which amounted to a command kompanie, two leichte (light) kompanie and one mittlere (medium) kompanie. A panzer regiment could also field a signals platoon and another leichte kompanie attached to its regimental headquarters.

A leichte kompanie typically consisted of approximately 20 tanks, a command zug (platoon) and four panzer zug. The intention was to equip each leichte kompanie with up to 17 PzKpfw III’s but because of the constant shortages in newly manufactured PzKpfw III’s a kompanie typically consisted of five PzKpfw I’s, eight PzKpfw II’s and seven PzKpfw III’s.A mittlere kompanie typically consisted of approximately 15 tanks, a command zug and three panzer zug. It was intended that a mittlere kompanie be predominantly equipped with PzKpfw IV vehicles but because of shortages a typical kompanie consisted of one PzKpfw I, six PzKpfw II’s and eight PzKpfw IV’s.

On 16 October 1939 the 3^rd Leichte Division was formally renamed the 8^th Panzer Division. Two days later on the 18 October 1939 the 2^nd Leichte Division was formally renamed the 7^th Panzer Division. The 7^th and 8^th Panzer Divisions were light on offensive tanks as they were organised with three abteilung instead of the usual four. The 8^th Panzer Division retained the independent Panzer Abteilung 67 and added the newly formed Panzer Regiment 10. The 7^th Panzer Division retained the independent Panzer Abteilung 66 and added Panzer Regiment 25. Both divisions were the first to be equiped with Czechoslovakian manufactured PzKpfw 38(t)’s instead of PzKpfw III’s for each leichte kompanie. The 7^th Panzer Division invaded France with a sum total of 99 PzKpfw 38(t)’s in its inventory. The 8^th Panzer Division did the same with 131 PzKpfw 38(t)’s on its books.

PzKpfw 38(t)’s were issued to frontline Panzer Divisions and extensively used in Poland, Denmark, Norway, France and during the early Russian campaign. Rommel's 7^th Panzer Division nicknamed the ‘Gespensterdivision’ or ‘Ghost Division’ became famous because of its rapid advance through France during May of 1940. Finally, at least 25 percent of the entire German panzer force that invaded Russia during 1941 was made up from the PzKpfw 38(t) with them equipping the 7^th, 8^th, 12^th, 19^th and 20^th Panzer Divisions.

The PzKpfw 38(t) formed the backbone of the German Panzertruppen during the early years of World War Two but they were thoroughly outclassed by the introduction of Russian vehicles such as the T-34 and KV-1. The great successes of the Panzer Divisions during the early war years are directly attributable to vehicles such as the PzKpfw 38(t) but alas, by the end of 1942 the PzKpfw 38(t) had seen its heyday and was thus relegated to airfield defence and other 2^nd line duties.

Specifications

Note 1: Total ammunition for both machine guns amounted to 2700 rounds.

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Panzerkampfwagen 38(t) Ausf B, C, and D

Note 1: Total ammunition for both machine guns amounted to 2700 rounds. 

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Panzerkampfwagen 38(t) Ausf E and F

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Panzerkampfwagen 38(t) Ausf S

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Panzerkampfwagen 38(t) Ausf G

Note 1: Total ammu