Anderson, Thomas Light Panzers

The light tanks that equipped the first German armoured divisions were originally intended as training or bridging vehicles, suitable only until the arrival of the better armed and armoured Panzerkampfwagen III and IV. Despite their limitations, however, they played a key role in the German Army's victorious campaigns from 1939 to 1942. This richly illustrated title describes the development and organisational history of Panzerkampfwagen I, introduced in 1934, and Panzerkampfwagen II, introduced in 1936. It explains how the annexation of the German-speaking Sudetenland in 1938, and later Czechoslovakia itself, gave the Panzerwaffe an unexpected bonus in the form of two Czech Army light tanks, which were pressed into German service as Panzerkampfwagen 35(t) and Panzerkampfwagen 38(t). The extensive use of these tanks in Poland, France and during the invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941 is then described. They were withdrawn from front-line service at the end of 1941, but the chassis were used for armoured artillery and tank destroyers until the end of the war. In this comprehensive study of the German light tanks that played a key role in the early years of the Second World War, armour expert Thomas Anderson draws on archive material, post-war reports and rare photographs.