Panzer II

PzKpfw II Light Tank  (Panzerkampfwagen)

Panzer II

Country:              Germany

Crew:                    3

Armament:        

                                20mm KwK 30 cannon

                                Armor-piercing rounds only

                                Range -                 600m (656 yards)

                                7.92mm MG 34 machine-gun coaxial with main armament

Ammunition:

                                20mm -                 180 rounds

                                7.92mm -             1,425 rounds

Armor:

                                Ausf A, B, C

                                10mm (0.39in) minimum

                                30mm (1.18in) maximum

                                Ausf F

                                14.5mm (0.57in) minimum

                                35mm (1.38in) maximum

Dimensions:

                                Length -               4.8m (15ft 9in)

                                Width -                 2.2m (7ft 3in)

                                Height -                1.98m (6ft 6in)

Weight:                   9,500kg (29,944lb)

Engine:                 Maybach HL 62 TR 6 cylinder, water cooled, inline gas engine

                                130hp @ 2,600 rpm

                                140hp with bored out cylinders on later models

                                Power to weight ratio -                 13.3hp/ton

Performance:

                                Speed:

                                                Road -                   40 km/h (25mph)

                                                Cross-country -    19 km/h (12mph)

                                Range:

Road -                   149 km (93 miles)

Cross-country -   99 km (62 miles)

                                Obstacle -                0.43m (1ft 5in)

                                Trench -                    1.72m (5ft 8in)

                                Fording -                  0.91m (3ft)

                                Gradient -                50 percent

Entered Service:

                                Ausf A -                                1935

                                Ausf F -                                1941

Ausf:                     Ausführung – design or execution

1940 Battle of France

Once the decision was made to no longer accept the tank limitations placed on Germany by the Treaty of Versailles armored production moved forward at a rapid pace.  Still, the time needed to develop Germany’s main battle tanks, the Panzer III and Panzer IV, was too long a wait and the military turned to interim solutions.  The first of these was the 2-man Panzer I, armed only with machine guns.  A short time later, in 1935, production began on the 3-man, more heavily armed, Panzer II.  Both Panzer models were primarily intended for training purposes but the advent of war in 1939 forced the German army to rely on them in a significant combat role.  The Panzer II formed the backbone of Germany’s armored divisions in both the invasions of Poland and France.  They also had an important role with Erwin Rommel’s Afrika Korps in the desert warfare of 1941.  Limitations in its design made it unsuitable for use in Operation Barbarossa, the invasion of the Soviet Union, except as a reconnaissance vehicle.

Afrika Korps

The PzKpfw II was best suited for an infantry support role as its 20mm cannon was unable to penetrate the armor of other tanks.  At the same time, its own light armor was vulnerable to anti-tank weapons of most any kind.  The rate of fire of the cannon was reasonable but vision from within the turret was poor and fire control could be difficult.  The maneuverability and agility of the Panzer II was good but this performance was limited by the engine’s power.  Its high-frequency radio enabled coordination between tanks in combat – an important factor in winning the battlefield.

Destroyed in North Africa

The Panzer II did surprisingly well in its initial engagements in Poland and France because of its mobility.  Blitzkrieg tactics emphasize speed and the Panzer II was competitive in this regard with most any tank available at the time.  Still, its size and limitations in armor and armament made it unable to survive the battlefield beyond 1941.  By then, though, the Panzer III and Panzer IV were now doing the heavy lifting and the Panzer II had already delivered more value than anyone would have been expected when it was introduced.

Panzer II used in reenactment

Related Topics:

Panzer 1

Panzer III

Char B1

M3 Stuart

Panzer I

PzKpfw I Light Tank (Panzerkampfwagen)

PzKpfw 1A

PzKpfw IA

Country:                              Germany

Crew:                                   2

Armament:                         7.92mm MG 34 machine-guns (2) in rotating, hand-traversed turret

Armor:

                Maximum -         0.51in (13mm)

                Minimum -          0.28in (7mm)

Ammunition:                     1,525 rounds

Engine:

                Krupp M305 – 4 cylinder

                Horizontally opposed air-cooled gas engine

                60 hp at 2,500 rpm

                17.7 hp / ton

Weight:                                11,905lb (5,400kg)

Dimensions:

                Length -               13ft 3in (4.03m)

                Width -                   6ft 9in (2.05m)

                Height -                  5ft 8in (1.72m)

Performance:

                Speed, road -     23 mph (37 km/h)

                Range -                 125 miles (200 km) – road

                                                 85 miles (136 km) – cross country

                Obstacle -            1ft 2in (0.355m)

                Trench -               4ft 7in (1.4m)

                Fording -              2ft 10in (.85m)

                Gradient -           58 percent

Manufacturer:                     Krupp

Service Date:                     1935

PzKpfw IB

Engine:                                 Maybach 6 cylinder – 100 bhp

Speed:                                  31 mph (50 km/h)

Production:                          2,000+ produced

Theaters:                             Spanish Civil War (1936 – 1939) – 122 supplied

                                                Poland (1939)

                                                Low Countries (1940)

                                                Africa, Greece, Balkans, Russia (1941)

Panzer 1 in Norway

The PzKpfw I was Germany’s first mass produced tank.  When introduced in 1935 it was already inferior in firepower and armor to tanks being made in France, Britain and the Soviet Union.  It was always considered by its developers as little more than an interim solution – the initial basis for developing an armored force following Nazi Germany’s renunciation of restrictions applied to that country by the Versailles Treaty.  The German General Staff were determined to quickly get a vehicle in the hands of their panzer troops so they could begin training.  In time Germany would produce more powerful, better performing tanks to supply their growing panzer divisions.

Rounding up British POWs in Calais

122 Panzer 1s were provided the Nationalist forces of General Francisco Franco in the Spanish Civil War during the mid-1930s.  Its survival was primarily due to the lack of anti-tank guns available at the time.  Once these weapons came into wide-spread use the Panzer I was doomed because of its thin armor.  Its role was limited to suppressing enemy infantry because its dual turret-mounted machine guns were virtually ineffective against opposing armor.  Germany’s military leaders would by 1941 replace the PzKpfw I on the front line with the PzKpfw II, a light tank that carried a 20mm cannon.  It also was inadequate for opposing the enemy’s heavy tanks.  By the time of the Battle of France in 1940 the Panzer Divisions also began to incorporate more powerful Panzer IIIs and Panzer IVs into their ranks. 

Used as Command Vehicle in Russia

Ultimately, German battlefield successes were attributable to a doctrine of combined arms; the mobility and concentrated firepower of grouped tank formations along with close support from air artillery - the tactical use of Luftwaffe dive-bombers to eliminate enemy strongpoints.  This was all made possible because of Heinz Guderian’s exploitation of portable radio communications to keep the various units responding to a single command in real time.  Even so, the spectacular success of Blitzkrieg tactics in 1940 against equivalent Allied ground forces was in great part due to Germany’s dominance of the air.  Luftwaffe air superiority at critical points made Guderian’s combined arms tactics possible.


Related Topics:

Char B1 bis

M3 Stuart

Panzer III

Panzer IV

Char B1 bis

Char B1-bis

French Tank:        Char B1-bis

Crew:                    4

Armament:        

        75mm (2.95in) gun in hull; does not traverse

                                47mm (1.85in) gun in fully traversing turret

                                7.5mm machine-gun – hull

                                7.5 mm machine-gun – not coaxial with turret gun/aimed independent

Armor:                    60mm (2.36in) maximum

                                55mm (2.2in) side armor plating

Engine:                

        6 cylinder inline water-cooled gas engine

                                307 bhp at 1,900 rpm

                                8 bhp / ton

Weight:                   70,548 lb. (32,000 kg)

Dimensions:      

        Length -               21 ft. 5 in. (6.52m)

                                Width -                 8 ft. 2 in. (2.5m)

                                Height -                9 ft. 2 in. (2.79m)

Performance:   

        Speed, road -     17 mph (28km/h)

        Speed, off road  13 mph (21km/h)

                                Range, road -      85 miles (135 km)

                                Range, off road   60 miles (100 km)

                                Obstacle -            3 ft. 1 in. (0.93m)

                                Trench -                9 ft. (2.75m)

                                Gradient -             26 degrees

                                Fording Depth     30 inches

Ammunition:    

75mm (HE) -         74 rounds

47mm (AP/HE)-   50

7.5mm                   5,100

Manufacturer:        Renault

Production:            1937 – 1940

Out of commission in Belgium

The Char B1-bis was a superior heavy tank for its day.  It could survive a hit from the armament of most any German tank or anti-tank gun, except for the deadly German 88.  Adding to its toughness were self-sealing fuel tanks and a welded hull as opposed to one held together with rivets.  Rivets dislodged by a shell strike had a way of becoming projectiles that ricocheted about the inside of the tank.  The Char B1-bis was surprisingly maneuverable.  The driver used a conventional steering wheel to guide it.  It might have been an effective offensive weapon, used to exploit a breakthrough of an enemy’s front line except the French leadership still saw the battlefield as being a clash of infantry formations and tanks were dispersed among the foot soldiers to be used in a supporting role.  The punch produced by a tight fleet of Char B1s firing their 75mm guns was nullified by obsolete tactics.

French proprietor, tank and German soldier 

The Char B1-bis was expensive to build and operate.  Maintenance was difficult.  Its bulky height made it an inviting target.  Its weight also made it slow.  The single-man turret was cramped and the commander had the responsibility of loading, aiming and firing its 47mm gun as well as being aware of the battlefield situation and leading his crew.  The hull-mounted 75mm gun was not traversable requiring the driver to line up his tank with the target before firing.   With no radio communications between tanks the effectiveness of working together in unit formation was greatly diminished.

Picture for the folks back home

The Char B1-bis would have been a successful tank design for the First World War but the tactics of armored warfare in combination with close air support had progressed significantly during the two decades separating Versailles with the cataclysm of May 1940.  France hadn't prepared itself for warfare in the 20^th century because its people hadn't yet recovered from the sacrifices made during the last war.  The German leaders exploited their neighbor’s reluctance to fight by first isolating them from the other nations on the continent and then plotting their ultimate destruction through the application of rapid military force – the highly mobile mechanized warfare that came to be called blitzkrieg. 

Related Topics:

M4 Sherman

Panzer IV

Tiger I

T-34