PANZER I/II - Tanks and Armour Author:Terry Gander After World War 1, Germany was forbidden by the treaty of Versailles to possess or produce tanks. However, during the 1920s a variety of weapons, including AFVs, were developed in secret and, with the connivance of the Soviet Union, were tested at Kazan in Russia. — After the rise of Hitler, rearmament was accelerated and plans were laid for the ... more »development of purpose-built battle tanks that eventually emerged as the Panzers III and IV.
As an interim measure, a vehicle was required for the training of the nascent armored forces and, in 1933, prototypes of a simple, cheap and easy to manufacture tank were invited from a number of firms. A design by Krupp, based on the Carden-Lloyd tankette, was selected and production began in 1934 under the code-name Landwirtschaftlicher Schlepper or 'agricultural tractor'. Later designated Panzerkampfwagen I it was 13ft long and weighed 5.4 tons, with a crew of two. Armament was two 7.92mm machine guns and 3,125 rounds of ammunition were carried. In 1935 a further stopgap machine, the Pzkpfw II, was produced, weighing 10 tons and armed with a 20mm Kwk 30 gun with a co-axial 7.92mm machine gun. Blooded in the Spanish Civil War, these erstwhile training machines were numerically the most important tanks during the early campaigns of World War 2 and their contribution to the success of Blitzkrieg warfare was considerable.« less