Panzer 35(t)


The Panzerkampfwagen 35, commonly shortened to Panzer 35 or abbreviated as Pz.Kpfw. 35, was a Czechoslovak-designed light tank used mainly by Nazi Germany during World War II. The letter stood for tschechisch. In Czechoslovak service, it had the formal designation Lehký tank vzor 35, but was commonly referred to as the LT vz. 35 or LT-35.
A total of 434 were built; of these, the Germans seized 244 when they occupied Bohemia-Moravia in March 1939 and the Slovaks acquired 52 when they declared independence from Czechoslovakia at the same time. Others were exported to Bulgaria and Romania. In German service, it saw combat during the early years of World War II, notably the invasion of Poland, the Battle of France and the invasion of the Soviet Union before being retired or sold off in 1942. It was used for the remainder of the war by other countries and as a training tank in Bulgaria into the 1950s.

Description

The Panzerkampfwagen 35 was assembled from a framework of steel "angle iron" beams to which the armour plates were riveted. A firewall separated the engine compartment from the crew. It had several mesh-covered openings to allow access to the engine and improve ventilation by drawing air in through the commander's hatch. This had the advantage of rapidly dispersing gun combustion gases when firing, but several disadvantages. The constant draft generated by the engine greatly affected the crew during cold weather, the danger of an engine fire reaching the crew compartment was increased and the engine noise and heat increased crew fatigue.
The driver sat on the right side of the tank using a observation port protected by of bulletproof glass and an armoured shutter thick. To his right was a vision slit with a similar thickness of bulletproof glass. The Germans replaced the original three colored lights used by the Czechs to communicate with the driver with an intercom system. The radio operator sat on the left and had his own observation port with the same protection as the driver's. His radios were mounted on the left wall of the hull. The hull machine gun was between the driver and radio operator in a ball mount capable of 30° of traverse, 25° of elevation and depressing up to 10°. Most of the machine gun's barrel protruded from the mount and was protected by an armoured trough. The mount had a spotting telescope, but open sights could be used if the plug at the top of the ball mount was removed. If necessary, the driver could lock the mount into position and fire it himself using a Bowden cable. The driver's hatch was exposed to direct fire and could be damaged from the front.
The turret ring had a diameter of. The turret had a flat face in the center of which was mounted the main gun. On the right side was another machine gun in a ball mount. The commander had four episcopes in his cupola and a monocular mirror, 1.3 × 30° periscope which he could extend, once he had removed its armoured cover in his hatch, to give vision while "buttoned-up". As the sole occupant of the turret, the commander was responsible for loading, aiming and firing the main gun and the turret machine gun while simultaneously commanding the tank. The Germans added an extra crewman on the right side of the turret to load the main gun and to operate the turret machine gun. Some ammunition had to be removed to accommodate him.
The Škoda T-11/0 four-cylinder, water-cooled engine produced at 1,800 rpm. Two fuel tanks were fitted, the main tank with a capacity of was on the left side of the engine and the auxiliary tank was on the other side. The engine could run on gasoline, an alcohol-gasoline mixture, and "Dynalkohol". It was mounted in the rear along with the six-speed transmission which drove rear-mounted drive sprockets. The suspension was derived from the Vickers 6-Ton tank; eight small pairs of road wheels on four bogies per side, each pair of bogies sprung by a single leaf spring, a front idler wheel, and four track return wheels. An unsprung road wheel was located directly underneath the idler wheel to improve obstacle crossing. The transmission, brakes and steering were mechanically assisted with compressed air, reducing driver fatigue. This last feature proved problematic in the extreme conditions of the Eastern Front.
The main armament was a Škoda 37mm ÚV vz. 34 gun with a pepperpot muzzle brake and a prominent armoured recoil cylinder above the barrel. Škoda called it the A3. It fired a armour-piercing shell at. It was credited with penetrating a plate inclined at 30° from the vertical thick at, thick at, thick at, and thick at. Kliment and Francev quote penetration of a vertical plate thick at. The machine gun's ball mount could be coupled to the main gun or used independently. Both weapons could elevate 25° and depress 10°. They both used 2.6× power sights with a 25° field of view. Initially the tank used Zbrojovka Brno Tk vz. 35 machine guns, but these were exchanged for ZB vz. 37s during 1938. This was adopted by the Germans as the MG 37.
In German use, 72 rounds of 37 mm ammunition were carried. These were stored in 6-round boxes: three on the hull side wall, eight in the turret overhang and one ready box above the gun on the turret roof. For the machine gun, 1,800 rounds of belted 7.92 mm ammunition were carried. The machine gun ammunition was in 100 round belts, stored three to a box. In Czech service, the LT vz. 35 carried 78 rounds and 2,700 rounds of machine gun ammunition, the difference being removed to make room for the fourth crewmember in German service. The German command tank version exchanged some ammunition - exactly how much is not known - for another radio set and a gyrocompass. It could be recognized by the prominent "clothesline" radio antenna mounted on the rear deck.

Armour

The gun mantlet was thick. The rest of the armour was as follows:
Thickness/slope from the verticalFrontSideRearTop/Bottom
Turret/10°/14°/15°/81–90°
Superstructure/17°/0°/60°/85–90°
Hull/30°/0°/0°/90°

Development

The Czechoslovak Army formulated a requirement in the II-a category of light cavalry tanks by the end of 1934. Českomoravská Kolben-Daněk proposed an improved version of its P-II light tank already in service as the LT vz. 34, but Škoda offered a new design that used the pneumatic system and engine earlier proved by its unsuccessful SU or S-II light tank prototype. One prototype was ordered from each company for delivery during the summer of 1935. Both tanks had the same armament and three-man crew, but ČKD's P-II-a was much smaller at and had only a maximum of armour while Škoda's S-II-a weighed and had of armour. The army thought that P-II-a was at the limit of its development while the S-II-a could be improved as needed.
The first production order for 160 LT vz. 35s, as the S-II-a was designated in Army service, was placed on 30 October 1935 and deliveries began in December 1936. An additional order for 35 was made on 12 May 1936 and a follow-on order placed for 103 more a month later. The total order for 298 tanks was split equally by Škoda Works and ČKD according to their cartel agreement.
Development was rushed and there were many defects in the LT vz. 35s. Many tanks had to be returned to the factories to be repaired. Most of these repairs involved the electrical system, not the complicated pneumatic system.

Foreign interest

In August 1936, Romania placed an order for 126; the bulk of these were delivered from the end of 1938 by Škoda. Afghanistan ordered ten in 1940; but, these were sold instead to Bulgaria. Total production was 434, including 298 for the Czechoslovak Army, 126 for Romania and ten for Bulgaria. The Wehrmacht used 218 vehicles captured from the Czechoslovak Army in March 1939. Britain's Alvis-Straussler negotiated for a production license from September 1938 until March 1939 when the Nazi occupation made an agreement impossible. The Soviets were also interested so Škoda shipped the S-II-a prototype and one production LT vz. 35 to the proving grounds at Kubinka for evaluation. The Soviets were interested only in buying the prototype, but Škoda refused to sell unless a license was purchased as well, believing that the Soviets would simply copy the design and build it without paying any royalties.

Variants

Czechoslovak

  • S-IIa – Prototype tank built by Skoda for the Czechoslovak Army S-II light tank requirement
  • Lehký tank vzor 35 – Abbreviated as LT vz.35 or LT-35, production tanks for the Czechoslovak Army

    German

  • Panzerkampfwagen 35 – Czechoslovak Army LT vz.35 tanks inducted into the Wehrmacht after annexation.
  • Panzerbefehlswagen 35 – Command tanks with radios.
  • Artillerie Schlepper 35 – Artillery tractor conversions of Pz.Kpfw. 35, also called Mörser Zugmittel 35

    Romanian

  • R-2 – Designation used by Romania for LT vz. 35 tanks supplied to the Romanian Army before the Second World War.
  • R-2a – Improved R-2 with better engine, radio and improved armor. The Romanians were interested in buying it, but the Germans intervened and did not approve any exports. A proposal to up-armor the R-2 also existed later in Romania.
  • R-2c – R-2 tank with different rear for both the turret and hull. The c stands for cimentate, because this version used cemented armor.
  • TACAM R-2 – Tank destroyer conversions of R-2 tanks, mounting 76 mm ZiS-3 guns.

    Others

  • T-11 – Ten Pz.Kpfw. 35 tanks ordered for the Afghan Army in 1940, diverted to Bulgaria. The T-11 was built to an Afghan order placed in 1940 and differed mainly in that it used an improved, longer-barreled Škoda A7 gun. Ten were built, but were sold to Bulgaria and delivered in the third quarter of 1940.