Czech tanks of World War II: description, photos

Working for the occupiers

Like other countries captured by Nazi Germany in the late 30s of the twentieth century, the Czech Republic was forced to produce various types of weapons for the occupiers, including tank armored vehicles.

Even before the outbreak of hostilities, the country was famous for its automobile and aviation industries. In this regard, it is not surprising that the Germans liked Czech tanks, which, according to some technical parameters, were considered the best in the world. Until 1941, they made up approximately 25% of the entire Wehrmacht armored army.

Yuri Pasholok. Light Czech German with belated modernization

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Yuri Pasholok. Light Czech German with belated modernization

History of the Pz.Kpfw.38(t) Ausf.EG light tanks, most widely used on the Soviet-German front in 1941

The joke about the Italian Communist Party, which successfully overcomes the difficulties it itself created, fits perfectly with the situation in France and Great Britain in May-June 1940. The current situation was the result, among other things, of the frivolous actions of the leadership of these two powers, who believed that they controlled the situation. In fact, they completely missed (or rather pretended not to notice) the growth of German military power. At first they did not see the arrival of the Nazis there, believing that it was better than the communists. Then they did not notice the growth of the military power of the Third Reich and pursued a policy of “appeasement.” And then what should have happened happened. Germany was able to take full advantage of the times, finding itself in 1938 at least on an equal footing with those who considered themselves the main power on the continent. And this same force, especially the French Third Republic led by Deladier, made mistake after mistake. She did nothing during the Anschluss of Austria, and then allowed the gradual absorption of Czechoslovakia.

Diagram of the Pz.Kpfw.38(t) hull with enhanced armor protection and straightened frontal part

In the case of Czechoslovakia, the level of stupidity of the French and English leadership has reached an unprecedented level. Over the course of a year, Germany immediately acquired two countries with developed military industries. A special gift was Czechoslovakia, whose army was far from the smallest. By September 1, 1939, the German army had 202 Pz.Kpfw.35(t), also known as the former LT vz.35. Despite the fact that this was originally a light tank, in fact they were used as a pseudo-medium tank. And here there is a subtle point: the Pz.Kpfw.35(t) occupied the same niche as the Pz.Kpfw.III, and the Germans had almost 3 times less of them. But this is half the problem: after the occupation of Czechoslovakia, 10 LT vz.38, new tanks, which, in the future, replaced the LT vz.35, were captured. The Germans quickly realized what was happening, and from June 1939, ČKD, later renamed BMM, began delivering the first LTM38s. This was the original name of the tank, which later became the Pz.Kpfw.38(t). By May 10, 1940, there were about 240 of them. In total, for those who allowed the Anschluss and Munich, tank divisions were ridden with equipment made in Bohemia.

In parallel with the hull, the turret was also strengthened

The first two years of World War II showed not only the advantages of the Pz.Kpfw.38(t). The Czechoslovak military, when creating specification II-a (the LT vz.38 was created according to it), believed that the main enemy of the tank would be large-caliber machine guns and small-caliber automatic cannons. In fact, the main opponents of tanks turned out to be anti-tank guns. Armor 25 mm thick proved to be weak protection against such weapons. For this reason, on July 25, 1940, the 6th Department of the Armament Department entered into a third contract with BMM, which was much more massive. At the same time, the tanks, the production of which began in November 1940, were distinguished by increased armor protection. Now their frontal armor had to withstand hits from armor-piercing shells of 25-37 mm caliber. These are the tanks that have become the most popular in the Pz.Kpfw.38(t) family.

Pz.Kpfw.38(t) Ausf.E from the 19th Panzer Division

It would seem that it would be easier to simply add armor, but there were a lot of nuances here. Firstly, it was simply impossible to simply throw on armor, since the chassis had a load limit. The minimum required thickness to “remove” armor-piercing shells from 25-37 mm caliber guns is 50 mm. The extra ton of chassis mass was definitely becoming a problematic burden, as both the BMM and the 6th Department of the Armament Department were aware of. Secondly, there was a problem with the supply of armor plates. Czech armor manufacturers supplied armor with a maximum thickness of 32 mm (the thickness of the frontal armor of category III tanks), and at that moment they did not roll 50 mm. Theoretically, it was possible to carry out a deeper modernization, but this meant time. The very thing that the Germans did not have. Therefore, “great modernization” did not work here.

In addition to the straightened frontal plate of the turret box, the new version of the tank was distinguished by reinforced viewing devices

For the reasons stated, the modernized tanks were the result of a compromise. The front of the hull, turret box and turret was strengthened to 50 mm, but in a cunning way. Instead of a monolithic sheet 50 mm thick, there were two sheets of 25 mm each. Also, the front plate of the turret box was made straight again, as on the original Praga TNH. This was done in the same way as on the Pz.Kpfw.IV Ausf.F, that is, the driver's sheet was simply moved forward. Also, as the most vulnerable and damaged element, the tower was strengthened along the perimeter. The thickness of the sides was increased to 30 mm, and the stern to 25 mm. This provided protection against heavy machine guns and 20 mm automatic cannons. At least in theory. The armor of the turret box was also strengthened, on which additional 15 mm thick sheets were installed. The protective ring around the tower has also been altered.

Among the victims of the fire of the defenders of the Ilyinsky lines was the “Swede”. Pz.Kpfw.38(t) Ausf.S were part of the 19th Panzer Division. The forehead of this tank is reinforced, but the radio operator's viewing device remains old. This is not counting the sides of the turret and hull, which remain 15 mm thick

According to German data, the combat weight increased to 9850 kg, while the original tank had a mass of 9200 kg. Due to the increase in weight, an additional spring was added to the suspension of the front road wheels. In addition to strengthening the armor protection, the viewing devices in the frontal part of the turret box were also redesigned. They were strengthened because they were often knocked out by well-aimed hits. In this form, the “large series” tank was put into production; it began, as expected, in November 1940. The vehicle received the designation Pz.Kpfw.38(t)Ausf.E. It should be noted that since the autumn of 1940, BMM has systematically raised the production bar. In connection with the organization of production of the modernized vehicle, the production level dropped to 27 vehicles in November 1940, but already in December it rose to 44 units, in January 1941, 45 vehicles were delivered, and then it only dropped below 50 units once. Thanks to this, the first tank of the “large series” (275 units, numbers from 476 to 750) was delivered promptly - until May 1941 inclusive. Already during production, at least from March 1941, the muffler was raised to accommodate a new version of the smoke mortar unit underneath.

In parallel with the “Swede”, the Pz.Kpfw.38(t) Ausf.F was also produced

In May 1941, a previously unforeseen event occurred. The fact is that two tanks were launched into production at the same time - a large one and a “one and a half” modernization. The first was the Pz.Kpw.38(t) Ausf.F (serial numbers 751-1000), initially it was nothing more than a further “reprint” of the Ausf.E. The second was the tank, originally called Praga TNHP-S. This was a tank for the Swedish army, 90 of them were ordered, but on July 18, 1940, OHK canceled this contract. 90 tanks, numbered 1001-1090, were designated Pz.Kpfw.38(t) Ausf.S. The “one and a half” aspect of the modernization was that the sides of the turret and turret box were not reinforced for these tanks. It seems like a drawback, but how can I say... Subsequent events showed that in this case 15 and 30 mm do not make any difference. The “Swedish” tank was produced until September 1941. Outwardly, it is not so easy to distinguish, although the different placement of the NOTEK headlight (instead of the left wing was moved to the upper frontal sheet of the body) is still striking. Just like the old radio operator's viewing device.

The first Ausf.F was no different from Ausf.E, the difference is minimal

In the case of the more massive and more “logical” Pz.Kpfw.38(t) Ausf.F, the situation was calmer. The very first Ausf.F looked the same in appearance as the Ausf.E, and then the car gradually changed. However, the alterations were minor. In addition, the NOTEK headlight was carried over to this version, so the difference between the Ausf.F and Ausf.S is not visible to everyone. Some tanks received spare track mounts on the upper and lower frontal hull plates, but “Swedish” vehicles could easily have had this too. Production of this version continued until October 1941.

The tanks remained in their “factory” form for a very short time. They were quickly remade in parts

Of the 772 Pz.Kpfw.38(t), including 35 command vehicles, which were available on June 22, 1941, “major modernization” vehicles accounted for about half. In theory, the modernization carried out significantly increased the tank's chances of survival, since the 45-mm anti-tank gun was not able to penetrate it. In theory. But in reality everything was somewhat different. Already in 1942, shelling tests were carried out on a captured tank. Based on their results, GABTU KA received interesting results. From 100 meters the forehead of the hull and turret was guaranteed to penetrate, at 200 meters it was approximately 50/50. Further, the percentage of damage was low, usually the matter ended with breaking through the first sheet. But the overall picture was far from rosy. Czech armor penetrated and cracked where German armor of the same thickness worked normally. Also, nothing good awaited a BMM tank when hit by high-explosive shells.

By June 22, 1941, approximately half of the “Czechs” were with reinforced armor

The Germans hardly knew that such a problem existed. Against the backdrop of the success of the Pz.Kpfw.38(t) in France, they continued to recruit tank divisions. Next in line were the 19th (formed from the 19th Infantry Division) and 20th (formed from the 115th Motorized Regiment of the 33rd Infantry Division) tank divisions. It was these divisions that were the first to receive “major modernization” tanks, although there could have been both Ausf.D and tanks of earlier modifications. In the same way, the 7th, 8th and 12th tank divisions received Pz.Kpfw.38(t) Ausf.EF and S. In total, 5 full-blooded tank divisions that were ready to repeat the successes of the Polish and French campaign. But something clearly went wrong.

Instead of a thousand words. This is what “fragile armor” is

The first bell, or rather alarm bell, sounded in July 1941. During this month, the Germans irretrievably lost 182 Pz.Kpfw.38(t), that is, almost a quarter of the available vehicles (this does not count the 33 tanks irretrievably lost in June). Due to such significant losses, reinforcements were urgently sent, which made it possible to keep the total number of tanks at a decent level. In August, losses amounted to 183 vehicles, the highest number ever. In September, due to the reduction in the intensity of the fighting, losses dropped to 62 vehicles, and in October 85 were missing. Finally, in November 1941, 149 tanks were lost, and in December - 102. The total volume of Pz.Kpfw.38(t) as of January 1, 1942 was 373 tanks, but this was due to production and repairs. And so the total volume of irretrievable losses amounted to 796 tanks. That is, they lost more than they had at the beginning of Operation Barbarossa. By the way, this is also more than the entire production of Pz.Kpfw.38(t) for 1941 - 698 units.

Pz.Kpfw.38(t) Asuf.G, the last production tank of this type

Even before the start of Operation Barbarossa, a contract was signed with BMM for the production of another 1000 Pz.Kpfw.38(t). The first 500 tanks were designated Pz.Kpfw.38(t) Ausf.G. In general, the same Ausf.F, but the 50 mm thick slabs became monolithic. In addition, a special mount for spare tracks appeared on the central frontal plate of the hull. Due to the alteration of the front sheets, the number of rivets decreased, but in general there were no major changes. Initially, it was assumed that 500 tanks would be produced under contract 210–3951/41H, followed by 500 Pz.Kpfw.38(t) Ausf.H. They were produced under contract 210–3952/41H.

A total of 500 such tanks were expected to be delivered, 316 were delivered.

The first tanks of this type began rolling off the BMM production line in October 1941. They did not have time to go to the Soviet-German front, however, they were still able to fight. It was the Pz.Kpfw.38(t) Ausf.G that went into service with the 22nd Tank Division. It became the sixth and last division to receive Czechoslovak tanks. The debut of the 22nd TD took place in March 1942, it operated in the Crimea, and not that very successfully. In March, it took a lot from the defenders of Crimea, and they also took away a number of tanks in working condition. They even managed to fight in May 1942, but then luck turned away from the units defending Crimea. One way or another, by the beginning of the spring of 1942 it became clear that the time of the Pz.Kpfw.38(t) was running out.

A tropical version of the tank, it never left for Africa

At first, however, things were not so bad. In January 1942, work began on a tropical version of the tank. As part of the rework, the cooling system was redone, and the air filter was also changed. Standard mounts for canisters appeared on the tank. Things reached the practical phase: the Pz.Kpfw.38(t) Ausf.G tropical version received serial numbers starting with 1480. A total of 47 of them were built, but they were never sent to North Africa. In the spring of 1942, it became obvious that there was nothing special for them there either.

The only German unit that fought with the Pz.Kpfw.38(t) Ausf.G was the 22nd Panzer Division

The last 26 Pz.Kpfw.38(t) Ausf.G were delivered in June 1942, and a total of 316 of these tanks were built (serial numbers 1101-1359 and 1480-1526). Already in the spring of 1942, work began on the production of tank destroyers with the same base. It was on them that the Pz.Kpfw.38(t) Ausf.H chassis was used. The number of these tanks in units steadily decreased, not only due to losses, but also due to conversions into self-propelled guns. By January 1, 1943, there were still 301 of them, but by the end of June of the same year, the Pz.Kpfw.38(t) had finally left the combat units.

Pz.Kpfw.38(t), used on an armored train

It is impossible not to mention other Pz.Kpfw.38(t) operators. We are talking about the Hungarian Royal Army, which received 105 Pz.Kpfw.38(t) Ausf.G, plus 6 command tanks. They received registration numbers 1H725-1H727, 1H729-1H756, 1H758, 1H760-1H832. Command vehicles received registration numbers 1H728, 1H757, 1H759, 1H786-1H878. The vehicles transferred to the Hungarians allowed them to staff the 1st Armored Division, where the tanks produced in Prague turned out to be the main ones. There were also 38T Toldi I light tanks, 40M Nimrod I and Pz.Kpfw.IV tank destroyers. In principle, quite powerful forces.

Units of the 1st Armored Division at the parade. Near Korotoyak, most of these tanks and self-propelled guns disappeared

The apogee of the use of the 1st Armored Division was the summer of 1942. At first things were going well, but then Korotoyak happened. The village on the banks of the Don became a little Stalingrad for the Hungarians. At first everything was fine, and then they were knocked out of there by the 174th Infantry Division of Colonel S.I. Karapetana. It happened on August 5, 1942, the 174th SD successfully crossed the Don and drove out the Hungarians who did not expect such a turn of events from Korotoyak. The counterattack of the Hungarian units did not work out, and the Hungarian tanks suffered their first heavy losses, including from friendly fire. In the battles for Korotoyak, which lasted until September 1942, the 174th SD chalked up 143 tanks. The Hungarian 1st Armored Division was ground down in these battles; even after replenishment, it no longer represented a truly serious force. This was the end of the massive use of the Hungarian Pz.Kpfw.38(t).

LT 38/37 in the Czechoslovak Army. In the foreground is the former Pz.Kpfw.38(t) Ausf.G

Later, the Germans used the surviving tanks as training equipment. The vehicles continued to remain in this status until the very end of the war. Some even fought in 1945, but with quite understandable results. The most interesting thing was what happened next. After the end of World War II, a small number of Pz.Kpfw.38(t) remained on the territory of the revived Czechoslovakia. BMM, which again became ČKD, was able to put them into service. They were renamed LT 38/37, and by June 1946 there were 25 of these tanks in service. Then their number increased to 29, in 1948 there were 31, and by 1949 the number dropped to 17. Thus, LT vz.38 still served the Czechoslovak army. As they say, better late than never.

Pz.Kpfw.38(t) restored from pieces by the Vadim Zadorozhny Museum of Technology on the set of “Podolsk Cadets”. The result was a “Swede”, that is, Pz.Kpfw.38(t) Ausf.S, just such vehicles were quite common in the 19th TD

In the form of tanks, 4 Pz.Kpfw.38(t) of the “great modernization” have survived to this day; 2 more tanks were restored from pieces by the workshop of the Vadim Zadorozhny Museum of Technology. A couple of cars fell victim to a lopsided restoration - a “Marder type” in Poklonka and a tank in Tolyatti. There are also a number of towers on the Atlantic Wall. They were sent there as they were released from the chassis, previously converted into self-propelled guns and other special vehicles. In addition, there are also vehicles “made up” as Pz.Kpfw.38(t) that are relatives. These cars, originally from Sweden, are worth talking about separately.

The author expresses gratitude to Yuri Tintera (Czech Republic), Alexey Kalinin (Moscow) and Hilary Doyle (Ireland) for their assistance in preparing the material.

List of sources:

1. Praga LT vz.38, V. Francev, C. Kliment, MBI, 1997
2. Panzer Tracts 18 Panzerkampfwagen 38(t) Ausf.A to G und S, Thomas L. Jentz, Hilary Louis Doyle, 2007
3. Czechoslovak Tanks 1930–1945 Photo-Album Part 2, Vladimir Francev, Karel Trojanek, Capricorn Publications, 2014
4. Panzertruppen. The Complete Guide to the Creation & Combat Employment of Germany's Tank Force. 1933–1942. Thomas L. Jentz, Schiffer Military History, Atglen PA, 1996
5. Photo archive of the author

source: https://zen.yandex.ru/media/yuripasholok/legkii-cheshskii-nemec-s-zapozdaloi-modernizaciei-614df675777d79340b2408ee

Light tank LT-35

This model of the Czech tank was created in 1935 under the name S-IIa with a classic layout and rear drive. At the same plant, a 6-cylinder carburetor power plant was developed for it, which was located in the rear of the hull. It allowed a speed of up to 30 km/h, and the range without refueling reached 150 km.

Quite large for a light tank, the turret was located in the middle of the hull and was equipped with a 37 mm automatic cannon, as well as a 7.92 mm machine gun. The gun was aimed and fired using a mechanical drive, and the crew commander could identify enemy targets using a telescopic sight and periscope.

The crew of such a Czech tank of the Second World War (a photo of the model can be seen in the article) also included a driver sitting in the right front part of the hull, and on the left next to him was a radio operator who fired at enemies from an additional machine gun in the front part of the hull .

Although the LT-35 was designed primarily to support infantry attacks, its armor was relatively thin. The thickness of the front armor plates was 25 mm, and the side armor plates were 16 mm.

At one time, the LT-35 light tank was very popular in the German army thanks to the latest design solutions that significantly increased its operational and technical performance. The engine was started using pneumatics, and an improved servo drive made it easier to control the brake system and transmission.

Over three years, 424 Czech tanks of this model rolled off the assembly line. Most of them were part of the German army in the initial stages of the war.

One among strangers. Brave Czech soldier. Part 1

In this article we will slightly change the vector of the narrative.
We will still be talking about captured tanks in service in the Wehrmacht Panzerwaffe. But we will temporarily move away from the French theme and turn our attention to Czechoslovakia, and specifically to the ČKD (Ceskoslovensko-Kolben-Danek) company, which is famous for its light tank LT vz.38. It is this car that we will talk about today. The company ČKD (aka “Prague”) traces its history back to 1927. In addition to tanks, it is familiar to the domestic public from the Tatra trams (not to be confused with the car brand). And the most direct participation in the development of the tank was taken by an emigrant from Russia, the outstanding engineer Alexey Mikhailovich Surin.

To begin with, it is worth noting that ChKD products were in decent demand on the arms market of the 1930s. And cooperation with global enterprises, for example, Rolls-Royce, made it possible to purchase a Wilson gearbox. This 5-speed Praga-Wilson gearbox subsequently became standard for virtually all ČKD tanks.

Tanks were ordered by countries such as Iran (in service until 1956), Peru (participated in the war with Ecuador in 1941, and were withdrawn from service only in 1988), Lithuania (did not have time to deliver due to Lithuania’s entry into composition of the USSR, and later the vehicles were sold by the Germans to Slovakia), Switzerland (removed from service in 1950) and Sweden (the order was not fulfilled due to the occupation, all assembled tanks were bought by the Germans, and the Swedes received a production license).

For Sweden, by the way, they were supposed to supply an almost complete analogue of the LT vz.38 tank.

Such an active play of the ČKD company in foreign markets is also explained by the fact that in the domestic market the Skoda company ruled the roost with the LT vz.35 tank. Even though 298 tanks were built by Prague. The creation of a new vehicle, many times better than a competitor’s tank, did not yet guarantee a successful deal. The issue of price also remained important: the cost of one tank was approximately 640,000 crowns, which was approximately 30% higher than the cost of the LT vz.35 tank.

In this regard, there was some uncertainty with the LT vz.38 tank being developed, so after lifting the veil of secrecy, they decided to offer the tank to the British. The Czechoslovak Ministry of Defense demanded 3% of any export contract. A prototype called TNH-P was sent to Foggy Albion. In the second half of March 1939, the tank arrived in England.

The vehicle passed field tests without a single breakdown, but the British rendered a verdict that the tank was not suitable for them. This is how the military-industrial lobby dealt with its competitors. Few would have thought that literally a year later, the “competitor’s” tanks would take revenge on the fields of Belgium and France. The prototype returned to the occupied country.

A little earlier, the Czech government nevertheless issued an order for 150 tanks. However, they did not have time to complete it; only 10 tanks were released before the German occupation. Despite the fact that the Germans began confiscating weapons and equipment of the Czech army almost immediately, they only reached the ČKD factories in early May 1939.

Representatives of the 6th Department of the Armament Directorate were shown ten available LT vz.38s of varying degrees of readiness; the Germans were so impressed by the vehicles that the question of purchasing already produced tanks and placing a new order was immediately raised. The order of the Czech government was actually cancelled, the advance payment of more than 30 million crowns was returned to the government, and a million in taxes were returned back. In the shortest possible time, the production of tanks and the training of technicians and crews were established. In the German weapon system, the tank received the designation Pz.38(t).

Pz.38(t) Ausf. F

By the beginning of the Polish campaign, 78 tanks had been delivered, 57 of which went to the 67th tank battalion (55 “line” and 2 “commander”) of the 3rd light division.

As a result of serial production, the following production series of the tank are distinguished; it makes no sense to list how each differed from the other, it will take up quite a lot of space, but you can read about them in more detail in Alexey Kalinin’s book “PANZERKAMPFWAGEN 38 (t). Design and production” (Tactical Press publishing house, 2013). Although we still highlight some features:

1) Pz.38(t) Ausf. A (chassis numbers 1 to 150). 2) Pz.38(t) Ausf. B (chassis numbers 151 to 260). 3) Pz.38(t) Ausf. C (chassis numbers 261 to 370). 4) Pz.38(t) Ausf. D (chassis numbers 371 to 475). 5) Pz.38(t) Ausf. E (chassis numbers from 476 to 750) - launched into production in November 1940, the first modification with 50 mm frontal armor (plate package 25+25 mm). And unlike previous models, the frontal vertical armor plate was straightened. 6) Pz.38(t) Ausf. F (chassis numbers 751 to 1000). 7) Pz.38(t) Ausf. S (chassis numbers from 1001 to 1090) - these vehicles were made to order from Sweden, but were requisitioned by OKN on July 18, 1940. And subsequently they ended up in the Wehrmacht. Frontal armor is also 50 mm (25 mm body plus 25 mm trim). Pz.38(t) Ausf. G (chassis numbers from 1091 to 1359, from 1480 to 1526, reserve chassis numbers up to 1600) - in series since October 1941, one of the main differences: a monolithic 50 mm front sheet. The most widespread modification, and as a result the last.

In the units, the tanks underwent some modernization, for example, in the 7th TD the installation of spare parts on the tank body was redone, and often the modification of the vehicle in the photo is difficult to determine precisely because of such non-factory improvements.

Command vehicles were also important for the Wehrmacht; the following modifications were made on the basis of the Lt vz.38, designated Pz.Bef.Wg.38(t):

Sd.kfz. 266 - battalion headquarters vehicle. Equipped with Fu-2 and Fu-5 radio stations with one whip antenna.

Sd.kfz. 267 - regimental or radio company headquarters vehicle. Radios Fu-5 and Fu-8 with a loop antenna placed on the rear of the tank. With modification Ausf. B, instead of a gun, a dummy with a viewing window was installed in place of the sight window.

Pz.bef.wg.38

Sd.kfz. 268 - radio company vehicle. Radios Fu-5 and Fu-7 with two whip antennas.

In addition, a number of specialized vehicles based on the tank were produced, but they will be discussed in the second part of the article.

The tank's armament consisted of a fairly powerful 37 mm A9 cannon (German designation KwK 38(t), Czech designation Škoda 37 mm A7) and two 7.92 mm ZB-53 machine guns (German MG37 (t)).

So, as stated above, at least 57 tanks of this type took part in the Polish campaign. After this, the 3rd Light Division became the 8th Tank Division (will also participate in the attack on the USSR). More than 200 Pz.38 (t) tanks took part in the French campaign, 91 vehicles were part of the 7th TD under the command of E. Rommel, units of which operated very successfully, especially in the early stages of the operation. The 8th TD also took part in Operation Marita in the spring of 1941 in the Balkans.

Before the invasion of the USSR, Panzerwaffe units had about 625 Pz tanks. 38(t). Their distribution among tank divisions looks like this:

- 7th Tank Division (7. Panzer Division) - 167 Pz.38(t); - 8th Tank Division (8. Panzer Division) - 118 Pz.38(t); - 12th Tank Division (12. Panzer Division) - 109 Pz.38(t); - 19th Tank Division (19. Panzer Division) - 110 Pz.38(t); - 20th Tank Division (20. Panzer Division) - 121 Pz.38(t).

The 8th Panzer Division was part of the Fourth Panzer Group. The remaining four divisions were part of General Hoth's Third Panzer Group. The 8th TD reached the city of Alytus on June 22, 1941, and was later joined by the 7th TD. Here they were opposed by units of the 5th Tank Division of the 3rd Mechanized Corps of the Red Army. Approximately 30% of the division's tanks were T-34-76, KV-1 and KV-2, the rest of the fleet was represented by T-28, BT-7, T-26 tanks. And if the 37-mm A7 gun could fight with the last three quite confidently, then with the heavyweights of the KV brand the gun was nothing more than decoration.

As stated above, the 37-mm projectile was equipped with a sufficiently large amount of gunpowder, which allowed it to hit the T-34-76 on the side, albeit from extremely short distances. The tankers of the Red Army managed to slow down the enemy's movement for a day, but deprived of artillery and aviation support, supplies and communications, they could not resist longer. The Germans said that they destroyed about 70 tanks, while 11 of their own were lost, but there is an opinion that these were only irretrievable losses, while the total amounted to 40 to 60 tanks. On June 23, the 7th TD continued the offensive in the direction of the Vilno-Lida highway, and together with the 12th TD took the city.

Pz.38(t) Ausf.C from the 3rd battalion of the 10th tank regiment of the 8th tank division. Eastern Front, August 1941.

The 19th Panzer Division crossed the Neman River on June 24, and immediately came under counterattacks from the Red Army, and was forced to go on the defensive with the 18th Motorized Division. But, nevertheless, already on June 26, it reached Minsk from the northern direction, the 100th Infantry Division, which defended Minsk, did not have tanks, and in fact sent all the artillery to the border, and now its units were returning in parts.

However, a counterattack was organized using heavy KV tanks (the composition of which could not be determined), but it was repulsed and the encirclement ring around the capital of the BSSR was soon closed. After this, the German units turned around to strike in the direction of Vitebsk, Mogilev and Smolensk.

Despite the apparent lightness, the Pz.38(t) tanks had a hard time, and overall successes were small, because they constantly advanced with the support of aviation and artillery. The total number of tanks during the period June-August 1941 decreased. After battles with encircled Red Army units near Smolensk, the 7th, 12th and 19th tank divisions suffered significant losses. On August 26, the 12th TD had 42 out of 89 Pz.38(t) left in service, the 19th TD had 57 out of 78, and the 20th TD had 52 out of 89.

The offensive against Moscow was continued only in the fall, after the liquidation of the Soviet units surrounded near Kiev. On September 10, 1941, there were 2,304 tanks in 14 tank divisions, including 312 Pz.38(t). This figure includes the total number of tanks, including those under repair. On September 12, 35 Pz.38(t), in addition to other equipment, were sent from the OKH reserve as reinforcements. Another 56 Pz.38(t) arrived during September-October 1941.

The units participating in the attack on Tikhvin were no longer the same as on June 22, 1941, the 12th Tank had 58 tanks, the 8th Tank had even less, 38 vehicles (of which 21 Pz.38(t)).

Fierce fighting took place in the area of ​​the Moscow-Volga canal, where in one of the battles in Yakhroma, German light tanks were confronted by armored train No. 73 of the NKVD troops (an armored locomotive and two D-2 motorized armored cars). According to various estimates, from 3 to 12 tanks were destroyed. Despite the numerical superiority of the Pz.38(t), the actions of the armored train were very successful.

On November 30, 1941, the Germans in the Moscow direction went on the defensive, despite the fact that the weather and severe frosts interfered with both sides; operating Czech tanks turned out to be very problematic. And during the retreat, the 7th Panzer Division lost in battle or abandoned almost all of its Pz.38(t). In total, by the end of 1941, the losses of tanks of this type amounted to 796 vehicles, which is approximately 80% of the entire fleet of Pz.38(t) tanks produced at that time. After this, these tanks were almost never used in the central sector of the Soviet-German front. The same cannot be said about the northern and southern sections.

In the spring of 1942, the new 22nd Tank Division was transferred to the Crimea, to the Kerch region. The division suffered serious losses in battles near the village of Parpach on March 20, 1942. However, two months later, her actions to break through the Red Army’s defenses on the Kerch Peninsula decided the fate of 10 Soviet divisions.

Then there were battles in the Donbass, for Rostov-on-Don. On June 15, 1942, out of 95 tanks in the division, 63 were Pz.38(t). In the autumn, as part of Army Group B, she was used to support the 8th Italian and then the 3rd Romanian armies. In November, the Red Army troops overthrew the Romanian army and the 22nd Panzer actually single-handedly tried to hold a 200 km front and tried to prevent the encirclement of the 6th Army, quite naturally suffering heavy losses.

Pz.38(t) Ausf.C, 204th Tank Regiment, 22nd Panzer Division, Eastern Front.

During the same period, an interesting incident occurred with Pz.38(t) tanks. The tankers insulated the tanks with straw, and the mice living in the straw ate all the insulation on the electrical wiring. In fact, small rodents have proven to be as effective as anti-tank weapons.

The 22nd Panzer Division subsequently escaped encirclement with great difficulty and was effectively reduced to a battle group. And on March 3, 1943, an order was given to disband the division.

It is worth noting that in June-July 1942, the Wehrmacht had another 332 Pz.38(t) tanks of all variants:

1st Tank Division (1. Panzer Division) - 10 Pz.38(t) tanks out of 39. 2nd Tank Division (2. Panzer Division) - 33 Pz.38(t) tanks out of 82. 8th Tank Division (8. Panzer Division) - 65 Pz.38(t) tanks out of 68. 19th Tank Division (19. Panzer Division) - 35 Pz.38(t) tanks out of 57. 20th Tank Division (20. Panzer Division) - 39 Pz.38(t) tanks out of 87. 22nd Tank Division (22. Panzer Division) - 114 Pz.38(t) tanks out of 176 (it was written about in detail above). 22nd Tank Brigade (22. Panzer Brigade) - 26 Pz.38(t) tanks out of 46.

But by the beginning of the Battle of Kursk they remained only as part of the 8th and 20th tank divisions, a total of 204 tanks. The chassis of tanks withdrawn from the first line were mainly converted into self-propelled guns, some of the vehicles were scrapped, and their turrets were used for fortifications on the Atlantic Wall. At the time of the Allied landings in Normandy, 351 such firing points were equipped.

According to data from October 1943, the Wehrmacht still had 229 Pz.38(t) tanks. Some of them were used on armored trains, on special platforms similar to those described in the article about the S35 “Somua”. There is no more recent data on the presence of tanks of this type in the Panzerwaffe.

In addition to the Germans, tanks of this type were also used by its allies on the Eastern Front. Slovakia, Romania, Hungary and Bulgaria (Bulgaria did not use these tanks on the Eastern Front).

To attack the USSR, Slovakia formed a separate corps, which was called “Rychla Divizia” (“Fast Division”). It consisted of 47 Czech-made tanks, 10 of which were LT.38. Combat successes were more than modest; the advancement of the Slovak units was determined mainly by the successes of the Wehrmacht. The division fought near Mariupol and Taganrog and in the area of ​​the Mius River. By the end of the year, 6 tanks were lost, 2 of them LT.38.

In the fall of 1942, another tank company of 12 vehicles (six LT.38) arrived on the eastern front. All this time, the “fast division” was essentially inactive. After the start of Operation Uranus, near the village of Kutayskaya, where the Slovaks clashed with units of the Red Army, 2 tanks were lost in battle, and 9 more were abandoned. Only one car was saved.

A Slovak security division operated in Ukraine in 1942; all six LT.38 tanks were lost during the Soviet counteroffensive. Tanks of this type also operated in Belarus.

On December 29, 1942, six LT.38 and other armored vehicles were sent to counter the partisans. Frankly speaking, the Slovaks were not eager to fight the partisans, or on the side of the Germans, and in combination with the poor state of the equipment, this led to the fact that part of the armored vehicles (two armored vehicles) were lost on November 8 near the city of Loeva, and one LT.38 tank ( number V-3009) was blown up by a mine between the cities of Ovruch and Mozyr. Most of the equipment was sent back to Slovakia.

The apogee of the use of tanks against partisans was the incident that occurred on July 8, 1943, when Martin Korbela stole an LT.38 tank (number V-3024) and left for the partisans. True, it was not possible to get there, the tank got stuck in the floodplain of the river, but Martin himself successfully reached the partisans and after the war made a good career in the Czechoslovak army. In November of the same 1943, the entire security division was sent home.

Czech tanks, but Hungary used them in greater numbers. From Germany it received 111 tanks (105 line, 6 commander) of this type. The 30th Tank Regiment, operating in the Southern sector of the Eastern Front, included 89 Pz.38(t). All of them were lost in the battles of Stalingrad.

LT vz.38 of the Hungarian army, 1942

The remaining vehicles in the 1st Armored Division tried to resist Soviet troops in Eastern Poland in the summer of 1944, where the last tanks of this type were lost and the division itself was withdrawn for reorganization.

Romanian tank units, greatly depleted after the Battle of Stalingrad, needed replenishment. In this regard, Germany transferred 50 Pz.38(t) tanks to it. The vehicles were distributed among the rear units. The author is not aware of the participation of tanks in battles on the front line.

The Pz.38(t) tank was quite a difficult opponent for infantry and light tanks in 1941-1942. In 1943, its use already seemed problematic. And the German units armed with this tank gradually re-equipped with German-made vehicles.

But at the initial stage of World War II, the tank played a significant role. The fact is that the large amount of gunpowder in 37-mm shells became the weighty argument that made it possible to fight the S35 and B1 bis in France and the T-34-76 in the USSR.

Unlike the Pz III tanks, the question of rearmament of the vehicle was not even raised. A large number of surveillance devices made it possible to monitor the situation on the battlefield. Good maneuverability also increased the tank's chances of success; the tank, thanks to the transmission and turning mechanisms, easily passed through areas with soft soil, where even the T-34-76 got stuck. The car had good maneuverability. With all this, the armor of Czech tanks was quite fragile; hits caused spalls on the inside. Even regimental guns could hit a tank with a high-explosive fragmentation shell. It was very difficult for infantrymen to fight this vehicle. Large pointing angles of machine guns, as well as separate controls, made it possible to cut off infantrymen who had broken through. The sealing of the hatches with leather made the vehicle a very difficult target for Molotov cocktails, and the maneuverability of the tank helped to avoid grenades thrown under the bottom.

At the Stalin Line IKK, based on the drawings and the GT-MU base, a running replica of the Pz.38(t) tank was made; it can be seen in numerous reconstructions carried out on the territory of the complex.

TTX.

Combat weight, t - 9.7. Crew, people — 4. Number of issued, pcs. - 1406.

Dimensions: Body length, mm - 4619. Body width, mm - 2135. Height, mm - 2252. Ground clearance, mm - 400.

Armor: Armor type: rolled steel. Hull forehead (top), mm - 25. Hull forehead (middle), mm - 12. Hull side, mm - 15. Hull rear, mm - 15. Bottom, mm - 8. Turret forehead, gun mantlet, mm - 25. Turret side, mm - 15.

Armament: Caliber and brand of gun - 37 mm A7. Gun ammunition, pcs. — 72. Machine guns: 2 × 7.92 mm ZB vz.37.

Mobility: Engine type: in-line, 6-cylinder, carburetor liquid cooling. Engine power, l. With. — 125. Speed ​​on the highway, km/h — 48. Speed ​​on rough terrain, km/h — 15. Cruising range on the highway, km — 230. Cruising range on rough terrain, km — 160. Climbability, degrees. — 29. Wall to be overcome, m — 0.8. Ditch to be overcome, m - 2.1. Fordability, m - 0.8.

In general, a number of experts call the LT.38 the best tank of the early World War II. We agree with this opinion, since the tank was really good. Before the T-34 appeared on the battlefields.

We will talk about the huge number of vehicles created on the basis of this tank in the second part of the story.

Sources: Kalinin A. PANZERKAMPFWAGEN 38 (t). Design and production. Tactical Press, 2013. Baryatinsky M.B. Light tanks of World War II. M.: Collection, Yauza, 2007. Baryatinsky M.B. Slavic armor of Hitler. Pz.35(t), Pz.38(t), “Hetzer”, “Marder”. Light tank Pz. 38(t) // Armor collection. 2004. No. 4. Light tank Pz.Kpfw. 38(t) “Prague” // Front-line illustration. 2004. No. 2. https://www.aviarmor.net/tww2/tanks/czech/lt38.htm. https://tankfront.ru/deutschland/PzDiv/PzDiv022.html. https://voennoe-delo.com/38t.htm. https://42.tut.by/468938.

Light tank LT-38

Used during World War II, the Czech LT-38 tank, better known as the Pz.Kpfw.38(t), was developed in 1938 under the working name TNHP. At that time it was the best armored vehicle in the light class in the whole world.

Initially, the tank was produced for the needs of the army of Czechoslovakia, and after the occupation of the country its production only accelerated, but for the German tank forces. Until 1942, the Wehrmacht army had almost 1,500 such armored vehicles.

Similar Czech tanks were used by the Germans in various military campaigns. At the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, there were 5 German divisions consisting exclusively of such armored vehicles.

The LT-38 tank was distinguished by its simplicity and rational design. The chassis consisted of four road wheels interlocked in pairs with leaf springs on each side of the side. The front part of the hull housed the transmission and drive wheels, and to simplify their repair during the battle, a special hatch was made. The power plant of this Czech tank consisted of a 6-cylinder carburetor engine with liquid cooling.

The vehicle's armament included a 37 mm semi-automatic cannon, as well as two 7.9 mm machine guns.

Trophies from Pilsen

On March 15, 1939, the German army invaded Czechoslovakia. This was the finale of the processes that began in the fall of 1938 and are better known as the Munich Agreement. France and Great Britain, in the conditions of unpreparedness for war and the policy of “appeasement” of Germany, actually surrendered Czechoslovakia to the Germans. First, they “bit off” the Sudetenland, and in March 1939 it was the turn of the rest of Czechoslovakia. Slovakia declared independence, and a government loyal to the Germans, Josef Tiso, appeared there. The Germans got the Czech Republic with its developed industry, and at the same time armored vehicles, including the LT vz.35 light tanks. These vehicles, better known in the German army as Pz.Kpfw.35(t)

, played a role in the hostilities of 1939-1941.

Not a superfluous addition at all

Unlike its neighbors, Czechoslovakia did not sit still in the 1930s, trying to develop foreign developments. The Czechoslovak tank industry achieved impressive results, being at the forefront of world tank construction by the end of the 30s. It was not for nothing that Czechoslovakia by that time occupied second place in the export of tanks - they differed favorably in both workmanship and combat characteristics. Another question is that even with such achievements, it was impossible to cope with the same Germans alone, and on the other hand, Poland expressed territorial claims. Against the backdrop of the fact that France and Great Britain took a very definite position, and the proposals of the USSR (the only country that came out in defense of Czechoslovakia) were ignored by the other participants, Czechoslovak tanks became useless. The Germans got them without firing almost a single shot.

Preparations for sending LT vz.35 to Germany

Among the tanks that ended up in German hands were the LT vz.35, the backbone of the Czechoslovak armored forces. A total of 296 tanks of this type were built, and the Czechoslovak army had no further plans for the production of LT vz.35. The fact is that during the operation of these machines, many manufacturing defects were revealed, so it was then planned to obtain more advanced LT vz.38. Nevertheless, as of the spring of 1939, it was a completely adequate combat vehicle, and in terms of combat characteristics it was almost in no way inferior to German medium tanks. Mobility was lower, but at the same time the Czechoslovakian vehicle was superior to the Germans in cross-country ability. The specific pressure was one of the lowest in the class - 0.49 kg/cm2.

The Soviet military could verify the driving performance of the Škoda brainchild - in the fall of 1938, the car defeated the T-26 in joint tests. In a word, the machine is very serious, quite capable of causing trouble when meeting with German tanks, but became a victim of a political exchange. By the time of the occupation of the Czech Republic, tanks of this type were in service with three regiments. The first of them was located in Milovice, the second in Přaslavice, and the third in Martin (Slovakia). After Slovakia declared independence, the equipment of the 3rd Tank Regiment ended up as part of the new Slovak army. She received 52 tanks of this type. The remaining 244 tanks ended up with the Germans. For 2 more tanks, fate turned out differently. Tank 13909 was knocked out on March 15, 1939 and captured by the Hungarians (from them it received registration number 1H-407), and the experienced Š-II-a was interned in Romania, after which it returned to the Škoda plant (it apparently joined the active army , never got there).

Mastering a new mast. The first months of the LTM35 were used by the Germans as is, that is, in the Czechoslovakian three-color camouflage

LT vz.35 became the first foreign tank to enter the German army en masse. Of course, there were also Carro Armato L3s, which the Germans received after the Anschluss of Austria, but they were not even considered as combat units. The Germans decided approximately the same thing regarding the Czechoslovak Tč vz wedges. 33 and light tanks LT vz.34. A completely different picture was observed in the case of the LT vz.35 - it quickly became clear what kind of “gift” Chamberlain and Deladier presented. The tank, of course, was light, but, as already mentioned, in terms of performance characteristics it almost corresponded to German medium tanks. Moreover, as of March 1939, there were more LT vz.35s than all German tanks combined. So, they didn’t think long about the future fate of the Skoda-Panzer, as the tank originally appeared in the correspondence. The correspondence also included another designation - Pz.Kpfw. 3.7 (t).

However, the process of the Czechoslovakian tank entering the German army was not immediate. The fact is that complaints about technical problems in the Czechoslovak army were not a simulation at all. Some tanks required repairs - for example, out of 62 vehicles of the 65th Tank Battalion, at the end of May 1939, 37 were combat-ready. Even by the beginning of the war, out of 244 vehicles, 202 were in combat-ready condition. In addition, the vehicle did not fully meet German requirements. They considered it clearly as an analogue of the Pz.Kpfw.III, and that one had a three-man turret. So, there were two places in the LT vz.35 turret, but initially there was only one person there, only in a combat situation one of the crew members moved from the control compartment to the loader’s place. The loader was added as a standard unit already in German service.

Nomenclature of ammunition for 37-mm Czechoslovak guns. It should be noted that high-explosive fragmentation ammunition appeared on the Pz.Kpfw.35(t) after the Polish campaign

During operation in the summer of 1939, shortcomings with communications were also revealed. The fact is that the Czechoslovak radio station did not have outstanding characteristics. During tests in the Soviet Union, the distance of stable telephone communication reached 8 km, provided that the tank was stationary. While on the move, even at a distance of 3-4 km, the connection was poor. There were also shortcomings in the installation of the radio station itself. Exactly the same complaints were received from German tank crews, not to mention the fact that the radio station operated on different frequencies than the Germans. Therefore, in the summer of 1939, tanks began to be converted to fit German Fu 5 radios. At the same time, the conversion of several vehicles into command tanks began. Initially they were referred to in correspondence as Skoda (Sd.Kfz.267) and Skoda (Sd.Kfz.266). These tanks are easily distinguished by an additional handrail antenna mounted on the engine plate. Sd.Kfz.266 received an additional Fu 2 radio station, and Sd.Kfz.267 received an additional Fu 8 radio station. A total of 8 vehicles of this type were converted into command tanks. Finally, some tanks received smoke exhaust device blocks on the rear hull plates.

Pz.Bef.Wg.35(t) - commander version, easily identified by the handrail antenna

It is also worth mentioning how the former Czechoslovakian tank was called in German documents. Starting in the summer of 1939, it was called LRSM35, that is, the Skoda light tank of the 1935 model. However, it was called that way for about six months, and the LTM35 index was also used. Finally, on January 16, 1940, the familiar Pz.Kpw.35(t) index appeared. At the same time, command tanks began to be called Pz.Bef.Wg.35(t).

As an ersatz medium tank

The appearance of more than two hundred Czechoslovak light tanks in the ranks of the German army was very opportune. As mentioned above, the Germans had trouble with medium tanks and Czechoslovak light tanks were classified as ersatz medium tanks. At the same time, there was a clear understanding that foreign materiel, even with the presence of a manufacturer (and, accordingly, spare parts), could lead to big problems with servicing the machines. Therefore, they decided to concentrate the Czechoslovak trophies within one formation - this became the 1st Light Division, formed in October 1938. In the spring of 1939, Czechoslovak tanks began to arrive in the 11th Tank Regiment, as well as the 65th Tank Battalion. By August 15, 1939, the 11th Tank Regiment had 117 Czechoslovak tanks, and the 65th Tank Battalion had 57 tanks. At the same time, in the documents of the 1st Light Division the designation Pz.Kpw.III(t) sometimes appeared, which once again hinted at the role assigned to the former LT vz.35.

All Pz.Kpw.III(t), as these vehicles were also called in correspondence, were combined into the 1st Light Division

By September 1, 1939, the 1st Light Division had 112 Czechoslovak tanks, of which 75 were in the 11th Tank Regiment and 37 in the 65th Tank Battalion. Like other light division tanks, the vehicles had to be transported to the battlefield on trucks, which speeded up the movement, but in fact they usually moved under their own power. In the first battles, the tankers who fought on the LTM35 encountered a problem that is usually attributed only to the British. The fact is that Czechoslovakian tanks initially only had armor-piercing shells. By the beginning of hostilities, high-explosive fragmentation shells had not arrived, which significantly reduced the effectiveness of fire on infantry and anti-tank guns. At the same time, even 25 mm thick armor, intended to protect against 20 mm automatic guns, repeatedly saved crews during the September battles. Sometimes this was even enough to protect against the Armata przeciwpancerna 37 mm wz. 36 Bofors, the main Polish anti-tank weapon. The fact is that this weapon did not always have good ammunition, as its tests in the USSR showed. As a result, a hit often led to the creation of secondary fragments on the inside.

In general, the Czechoslovakian vehicle proved to be a strong tank, but its riveted construction and bulletproof armor were no guarantee against destruction by Polish guns. Yes, and knocking out viewing devices was a frequent occurrence.

Despite the fact that the 1st Light Division was used very intensively in the battles of September 1939, irretrievable losses were very small. In the case of the LTM35, they amounted to only 7 vehicles, another 10 had battle damage, but were later repaired. However, this is only one side of the coin. Much more interesting is what they thought about what was happening in the division itself. According to a report dated October 4, 1939, out of 144 Czechoslovak tanks (including 14 command tanks), 21 were fully operational. However, the situation with other tanks was not much better. Of the 72 Pz.Kpfw.IIs, 15 were fully operational, and of the 43 Pz.Kpfw.IVs, 4 were fully operational. The main reason for such low numbers was mechanical damage. Numerous track failures were noted; without taking them into account, 80% of the Pz.Kpfw.II, 44% of the LTM35, and 75% of the Pz.Kpfw.IV were considered operational. These figures once again show that the complaints of the Czechoslovak military about the LT vz.35 were not without foundation. By the way, already on September 10, 1939, there was a request for reinforcements, to which the answer came - there was nowhere to take them from.

There were almost twice as many Czechoslovak light tanks in units as Pz.Kpfw.III combined

Another point makes us think that the 6th Department of the Armaments Department almost made a fatal mistake. The fact is that in the spring of 1938, the idea arose to abandon the Pz.Kpfw.IV altogether and make an artillery tank based on the Pz.Kpfw.III, simply “transplanting” the turret there. Taking into account what happened with the PzIII in 1937-1939, the Germans were almost left without medium tanks. So, based on the results of the Polish campaign, the Pz.Kpfw.IV was named the best tank. This also followed from the report of the 1st Light Division - the PzIV was called effective, accurate and capable of hitting any target. At the same time, its effectiveness against Polish tanks was no worse, and even better.

The 1st Light Division also had Pz.Kpfw.IVs, including even Ausf.A. They were considered the most valuable tanks

The Polish campaign was the first and last time the 1st Light Division was used in combat. Experience showed that the idea of ​​light divisions did not justify itself, so on October 18, 1939, the 1st Light Division was reorganized into the 6th Panzer Division. By January 1, 1940, it included 106 Pz.Kpfw.III(t) and 11 Pz.Bef.Wg.(t). Gradually the number of tanks, now called Pz.Kpfw.35(t), grew. By May 10, 1940, the 6th Panzer Division had 157 tanks of this type plus 14 command tanks. However, this figure, as usual, did not correspond to reality - in fact, there were 102 tanks in working condition. By the way, at the beginning of 1940 there was a proposal to supplement the Pz.Kpfw.III division. The fact is that the Pz.Kpfw.35(t) had inferior observation devices to the German tank, and it was proposed to introduce German tanks to more effectively control the units - however, this never happened.

By the beginning of the campaign in France, the Pz.Kpfw.35(t) began to be “overgrown” with various body kit elements

The division met the beginning of the fighting in France on the border with Belgium. In addition to the Pz.Kpfw.35(t), it included 60 Pz.Kpfw.II and 31 Pz.Kpfw.IV. It operated jointly with the 8th Tank Division, whose equipment was based on other Czech-made tanks - Pz.Kpfw.38(t). Having quickly broken through the Belgian defenses, on May 13 the division crossed the Meuse River and by May 15 was in France north of Reims. In a word, Czechoslovak tanks turned out to be one of the important components of the blitzkrieg. In just 9 days, the division was able to cover about 350 km, while by May 21 there were still 83 tanks in service. By June 1, their number had decreased to 64 linear tanks and 7 command tanks. At the same time, 6 tanks were used by the 3rd SS Division “Totenkopf” - these vehicles received proper names and took part in repelling the attack of British infantry tanks near Arras. At the same time, 2 tanks were knocked out, and the rest had to retreat, having used up their ammunition. It must be said that in the twentieth of May the main opponents of the 6th Panzer were the British. An evil irony of fate: in 1938 there were negotiations about mass production of the LT vz.35 in England, but this did not happen. Two years later, the British met these tanks, but on the other side of the barricades.

In total, the 6th Panzer Division lost about 55 Czechoslovak-made tanks during the French campaign.

The conditions in which the tanks of the 6th Panzer Division were used were much more difficult than in Poland. The loss figures also speak to this. In total, in May 1940, 44 Pz.Kpfw.35(t) were irretrievably lost, including command vehicles. For its part, the 6th TD reported 60 enemy tanks destroyed. In addition, this time the 6th Panzer Division acted at the forefront of the attack, which naturally affected the losses.

At the same time, the former Czechoslovakian tank showed itself to be very good as a combat unit. In terms of combat characteristics, it was almost in no way inferior to the British “cruisers”, and in terms of reliability it was clearly superior to them. Of course, the armor was not enough to withstand anti-tank artillery, but the same thing applied to German tanks. In addition, Czech tank guns were more effective against French light anti-ballistic armor. The effectiveness of the Pz.Kpfw.35(t) was once again demonstrated in June 1940, when the 6th Panzer Division was included in Guderian's Panzer Group. During June, another 11 tanks were irretrievably lost, but the level of combat effectiveness turned out to be high. By June 21, 1940, when hostilities ended, there were 68 line and 8 command tanks in service.

On the Soviet-German front, Pz.Kpfw.35(t) were used most widely

By the way, the Germans were having trouble with their materiel calculations. The fact is that by the summer of 1941, 189 Pz.Kpfw.35(t) were officially listed, that is, more than expected. Perhaps a number of machines that were irretrievably lost were not such. One way or another, by June 22, 1941, the 6th Tank Division officially had 160 Pz.Kpfw.35(t), of which 11 were command versions. However, the rest of the division remained almost unchanged. There is information that Pz.Kpfw.IIIs were also included there, but usually we are talking about 47 Pz.Kpfw.IIs and about 30 Pz.Kpfw.IVs. Like the Pz.Kpfw.38(t), Czechoslovak light tanks continued to be considered ersatz medium. At the same time, one must understand that by the beginning of the Great Patriotic War they were outdated not only morally, but also physically. In addition, the situation on the Soviet-German front was somewhat different from France.

A damaged Pz.Kpfw.35(t), captured by Soviet tankers, June 1941

Officially, in the first month of hostilities (by July 22, 1941), 26 Pz.Kpfw.35(t) were irretrievably lost, but in fact this is a cunning German approach to losses. Considering that in the first days of the fighting the 6th Panzer Division came under a KV counterattack, such losses are questionable. Soviet heavy tanks from the 2nd TD of the 3rd MK attacked the Germans on the second day of the war. Around the same time, at least one tank was captured; its fate is unknown. In short, the 58 tanks (4 of them command tanks) that were listed as being under repair on July 22, 1941 were unlikely to simply be broken down.

Despite the fact that the tank was outdated by the summer of 1941, the 6th Panzer Division operated very successfully (its luck ran out in the fall)

Despite the losses, the 6th Panzer Division was very successful. After the battles in the Baltic states, battles for Pskov and also for the Island followed. The division also acted during the attack on Leningrad. Due to the operational activities of the repair brigades, the division's combat effectiveness was maintained at a high level - for example, on August 23, there were 118 tanks in service. Already by September 1, there were 108 linear and 5 command vehicles, plus 8 under repair.

However, the real “demise” of the Pz.Kpfw.35(t) began later. After the 6th TD was transferred to the 3rd Tank Group, which was advancing on Moscow, on September 17, 1941, things got really bad for it. By the end of October, there were only 34 tanks in service plus 2 command tanks, 43 tanks were under repair, and irretrievable losses amounted to 83 vehicles. By that time, the tanks had traveled an average of 12,000-13,000 km; in the absence of spare parts, repairable vehicles were often “real estate” that was dismantled for spare parts (at best, 10 vehicles could be restored from the repair stock). As a matter of fact, the command of the 6th TD has almost given up on the Pz.Kpfw.35(t). By November 10, only 30 Pz.Kpfw.35s were in service, and by December 1, all vehicles of this type were out of service. The former Czechoslovakian tanks were finally finished off by the cold, to which they were not adapted - there were cases when tanks broke down due to unsuccessful attempts to warm them up.

By early December 1941, the 6th Panzer Division had almost completely lost its combat capability. Somewhat later the Pz.Kpfw.35(t) were finished off by frosts

As of January 10, 1942, the division had 22 tanks, of which 5 were command vehicles. Irreversible losses amounted to 142 Pz.Kpw.35(t) and 6 Pz.Bef.Wg.35(t). The larger number of tanks than at the initial stage is due to the fact that reinforcements arrived during the fighting.

Captured Pz.Kfw.35(t) at the NIBT Test Site, 1943

This marked the end of the fighting on the Soviet-German front for the Pz.Kpfw.35(t). However, we were talking about using them as tanks. Some of the decommissioned tanks were transported to Škoda; in March 1942, the Armament Directorate gave instructions to use the hulls to produce artillery tractors. A prototype of this machine, designated Mörserzugmittel 35(t), was manufactured by Alkett. Subsequently, Škoda produced 49 such tractors, the main volume of which (37 units) was produced in 1942. The towers also found use: they were used as firing points on the Atlantic Wall.

Broken tractor Mörserzugmittel 35(t), Ukraine, early 1944

It is also worth noting that not all tanks were converted into tractors or decommissioned. A single number of vehicles continued to be maintained until the end of the war, including for counter-guerrilla operations. Among them was the only Pz.Kpfw.35(t) that has survived to this day. This tank with registration number 13.962 was produced at the ČKD plant in 1937. He joined the 2nd Tank Regiment, later ended up in the German army, served in it for two years, and then settled at the Škoda plant. In 1945, the tank ended up in the hands of American troops, crossed the ocean, and then spent a long time in the museum at the Aberdeen Proving Ground. Not long ago, the car was returned to the Czech Republic, where it was restored and brought into running condition. Nowadays it is located in the military-technical museum in Leshany. In total, 6 tanks of the LT vz.35 family have survived around the world, including 2 produced under Romanian order (one of them was converted into a TACAM R-2 tank destroyer).

Sources and literature:

1. RGVA
2. TsAMO RF
3. Photo archive of the author
4. Škoda LT vz.35, V. Francev, C. Kliment, MBI, 1995
5. Czechoslovak Tanks 1930-1945 Photo-Album Part 1, Vladimir Francev, Karel Trojanek, Capricorn Publications, 2013
6. Panzer Tracts 19-1 - Beute - Panzerkampfwagen Czech, Polish, And French Tanks Captured From 1939 To 1940, Thomas L. Jentz, Werner Regenberg, 2007, ISBN 0-9771643-7-3

Other models of Czech tanks of World War II

The LT-38 light tank also became famous for the fact that after the production of this model ceased, other armored vehicles began to be produced on the basis of its simple and reliable chassis - from armored personnel carriers, anti-aircraft guns and repair vehicles to excellent self-propelled artillery units, such as the Grile or Marder III "

The most famous was the “tank destroyer” called “Hetzer”, of which about 2,500 units were produced before the end of World War II. This “self-propelled gun” was very low and therefore invisible on the battlefield. A 75-mm cannon was installed on it, allowing it to conduct effective fire on enemy tanks, and 60-mm frontal armor, installed at a high angle, made the Hetzer practically invulnerable from the front. The model turned out to be so successful that it was produced even after the end of hostilities for the needs of the Swiss and Czechoslovak armies.

Whose side was the Czech Republic on in World War II?

March 1939, the entry of German troops into the Czech Republic.
Whose side was the Czech Republic on in World War II?

The Czech Republic became part of the Third Reich peacefully even before World War II . This is what was said in the joint statement of the governments of Germany and Czechoslovakia on March 15, 1939.

“Both parties expressed the unanimous conviction that the goal of all their efforts should be to ensure calm, order and peace in this part of Central Europe. The President of Czechoslovakia stated that, striving to achieve this goal, as well as the final establishment of peace, he places the fate of the Czech people and country in the hands of the Fuhrer of the German Reich with full confidence . The Fuehrer accepted this statement and announced his decision to bring the Czech people under the protection of the German Reich and to ensure for them an autonomous development consistent with their identity."

Slovakia became a formally independent state and later sent its troops to the USSR, to the Eastern Front. After joining the Third Reich, the Czech Republic received the name “Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia” . In the German version of the name, the Czech Republic was called Bohemia . Emil Haha remained its president , although the real power was with the Reich Protectors, who were appointed in Berlin. Executive power was in the hands of Czech ministers, and the government was headed by the Czech Jaroslav Krejci. Beer wisdom and 'heroism' of the Czechs.

The monetary unit in the “Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia” was not the Reichsmark, but the krone with inscriptions in two languages. The Czechs not only had their own police, but even an army of 7,000 people .

The spoils received from the Czechoslovak Army allowed the Nazis to equip 35 divisions . According to various estimates, the share of Czech factories in the production of weapons for the German army reached 25%. World-famous major military forces, ChKD, Poldi, Zbroevka, worked diligently for the Nazis. Throughout the war, the Czech Republic produced tanks, self- propelled guns, airplanes (including the Me-262 jet), small arms, cars, ammunition, and later parts for V-2 missiles.

The importance of Czech industry was also recognized by the Germans. Lieutenant Colonel of the Wehrmacht tank forces Helmut Ritgen confessed after the war:

“ Without the Czech military industry and Czech tanks, we would not have even four tank divisions, which would make an attack on the Soviet Union impossible .

Here is the testimony of German engineer Lieutenant Colonel Kurt Iken :

“The Czechs have put at our disposal all the necessary information about their LT-38 tanks . They were confident that their vehicles fully met the needs of the Wehrmacht. And we never had to face acts of sabotage or any resistance .”

In the Czech Republic, 1,433 tanks of this model were produced in 1939–42.

Czech workers not only did not sabotage, but, on the contrary, showed initiative. Thus, Czech designers constantly made proposals for modernizing weapons, and Skoda won the competition for the production of an all-terrain artillery tractor designed for impassable Russian forests and swamps. The Hetzer self-propelled artillery mount was also created by Czech designers from the ČKD concern, which was then renamed VMM. Its production continued after the war and even sold it to Switzerland, where it was in service with the army until 1972.

According to German sources, in March 1944, the Czech Republic sent Hitler about 11 thousand pistols, 30 thousand rifles, more than 3000 machine guns, 15 million cartridges, 214 tanks and self-propelled artillery guns, 144 infantry guns, 180 anti-aircraft guns, more than 620 thousand artillery shells, almost 1 million shells for anti-aircraft guns, 824 wagons of aerial bombs, 0.5 million signal ammunition, 1000 tons of gunpowder and 600 thousand explosives. An important detail: during the entire six years of being part of Nazi Germany, the labor productivity of Czech workers was never lower than that of German workers.

We must not forget that a hospital train was built with donations from the Czechs - “a gift from the Czech people to the warring Reich ,” as local newspapers wrote then. In the same newspapers you can read about how the Czechs participated in collecting warm clothes for the soldiers of the German army at the front, and see Czech production leaders joyfully zigging. And here is what the white emigrant Boris Tikhonovich wrote .

“ The Czechs got incredibly rich from the Jews in 1939–1945. They took Jewish jewelry, paintings, and property “for safekeeping,” and then wrote denunciations against former friends. There was a popular saying: “The Jews will never return from there anyway.”

Even former US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright was unable to return paintings that belonged to her family, which were thus stolen by two sisters from Prague. Madeleine Albright 's Jewish family then saved from a concentration camp by the Serbs , and for this she “thanked” them in 1999 by achieving massive bombing of their country.

The father and uncle of the idol of world democracy and former President of Czechoslovakia and the Czech Republic Vaclav Havel owned the Barrandov , founded in 1921, where Vaclav and Milos Havel shot Nazi propaganda films throughout the war , including about the supposedly wonderful life of Jews in the Theresienstadt concentration camp. The Nazis even gave them money to expand their film studio. And the son of a collaborationist constantly argued that fascism and communism are the same thing, and Russia is “a state with fascist methods of governance.”

a resistance movement in the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia , but for some reason the activities of both pro-Soviet and pro-Western underground organizations were reduced almost exclusively to leaflets and strikes demanding increased wages. True, on May 27, 1942, an attempt was made on the life of SS Obergruppenführer Reinhard Heydrich , but it was carried out not by local Czechs, but by those sent from London by the British Special Operations Directorate.

And the fact that at the time of the assassination, SS-Obergruppenführer Reinhard Heydrich was going to work, accompanied only by a driver, suggests that the Germans felt at home in the protectorate. It is interesting that immediately after the assassination attempt, Heydrich was taken to the hospital by stopping the truck, a Czech policeman, although he could have shot him with impunity - the driver of the SS general ran away to pursue the assassins.

Bronze monument in the village of Lidice, Czech Republic, dedicated to the 82 children who were killed by the Nazis in 1942 for being Jewish .

In London, sending a sabotage group to Prague, they hoped that after Heydrich’s death the Nazis would carry out mass executions, and the Czechs, outraged by this, would begin an underground struggle against the Nazis. The calculations were 50% correct. The Germans shot 172 men out of 465 inhabitants in the village of Lidice, and a total of 1,331 people in the Czech Republic, but a partisan movement never appeared in the protectorate.

The Czechs themselves have an anecdote about their resistance movement, which tells about the meeting of Slovak and Czech partisans after the war. The Czech, after listening to the Slovak’s story about how they derailed trains, exclaims: “Cool! But in our protectorate this was strictly prohibited.”

The Czechs started the German pogrom, and the Soviet army saved them from responsibility for it

True, it cannot be said that the Czechs waited for liberation until the very end of the war. No, on May 5, 1945, when the Third Reich actually no longer existed, and only a few hours remained before the legal formalization of its liquidation, the Prague Uprising occurred. No one prepared or planned it. simply allowed the Czechs to display their national flags. Hanging out their flags, the residents of Prague began to tear down German ones, then knock down signs in German on stores, then rob the stores themselves and in the end they simply rob and kill the German population. It was an ordinary German pogrom that became the beginning of the Prague Uprising.

Czech police took a particularly active part in it . They urgently needed to become anti-fascists , because otherwise they might be remembered for their help to the Nazis in sending local Jews to concentration camps. German troops came to the aid of their civilian population and calls from Prague pogromists and murderers for help to the Red Army and the Allied armies were heard on the radio.

Please note: very rarely they write about who was the leader of this uprising. In fact, the military actions of the rebels were led by the chairman of the military commission of the Czech National Council, Captain Jaromir Nehansky . After the Czech Republic entered the Third Reich, Jaromir Nehansky went to Britain and became an agent of its intelligence. In February 1945 , in preparation for Operation Platinum-Pewter, he was parachuted into the Czech Republic to collect intelligence information. After the war, Jaromir Nehansky worked in the state security structures of Czechoslovakia , and then as a teacher at the Higher Military School. In 1948, he was also recruited by American intelligence, and in August 1949 he was arrested . A radio station and spy were found on him , and his accomplice Veleslav Val gave him away . As a result, Jaromir Nehanski confessed everything, repented and began to cooperate with his former colleagues. This did not save him, and on June 16, 1950, he was hanged . Nowadays, in honor of the Anglo-American spy, a memorial plaque has been installed on the building of the General Staff of the Army of the Czech Republic, however, Czech liberals do not want to remember that a British agent was at the head of the Prague uprising.

The 1st Division of the Armed Forces of the Committee for the Liberation of the Peoples of Russia , or in one word, , unexpectedly came to the aid of the Czechs . The calculation of its commander, General Sergei Bunyachenko, the Polish SS men who had come over to their side (more about this in the article “How the Poles fought for and how against Hitler”) had already entered Pilsen, which is only 70 kilometers away, which means that the Americans will be the first to arrive in the Czech capital and take into account the merits of the division that entered the battle with the Nazis.

On the side of the Czechs, the Vlasovites fought for exactly two days - May 6 and 7, 1945. True, during this time they managed to achieve significant military successes: they captured the airfield in Ruzyn, the areas of Smichov and Kulisovice, two bridges over the Vltava, and captured about 500 Germans. The reason for these victories is simple: the Germans did not know that the Vlasovites had again crossed over to the other side, and mistook them for their allies . This allowed them to attack suddenly and from advantageous positions. However, soon the Vlasovites met with intelligence officers of the 16th Armored Division of the US Army and learned from them that American troops did not plan to enter Prague. After this, the Vlasovites rushed to flee to the west along the same roads as the Germans, against whom they had fought just a few hours ago.

Czech patriots also stopped fighting against the Nazis . On May 8, 1945, they signed an agreement under which they pledged not to interfere with the German army’s retreat to the west, and for this the Germans would not punish them for the pogrom and finish them off. At the same time, calls on the radio for the Soviet army to come to their aid did not stop. An interesting situation turned out: the Czechs themselves made peace with the Germans, and the Russians are asked to fight with them for Czech interests . Now Czech historians justify the agreement with the Nazis by the fact that it made it possible to save thousands of Czech lives and the historical part of Prague from destruction. True, if you follow this logic, then all the Czechs would be alive and Prague would have suffered absolutely no damage if there had been no uprising at all.

At 4 a.m. on May 9, soldiers of the 63rd Guards Chelyabinsk Tank Brigade quickly entered Prague . The first was the tank of the Guard Lieutenant Ivan Goncharenko . At the Manesov Bridge he destroyed two German self-propelled guns, but he himself was hit and the commander was killed. Lieutenant Goncharenko was buried in the square, which was named Krasnoarmeytsev . After the Czech Republic, as liberals say, “moved along the European path of development,” the hero’s body was dug up and reburied in the Olshansky cemetery. The square was renamed, but did not return its historical name, but was named after the Russophobe Jan Palach, although he burned himself on another square.

At the site of the death of Lieutenant Goncharenko, a monument was erected - a tank on a pedestal. As soon as Soviet troops left Czechoslovakia, artist David Cerny and his friends painted the tank pink in April 1991. He explained his action this way:

“I perceive this tank as a symbol of the Russian dictatorship, during which I was born. “I don’t perceive this tank as a symbol of freedom, as a symbol of the end of World War II.”

David Cherny several days under arrest, and the tank was returned to its original appearance. Exactly a week later, 15 deputies of the Czechoslovak parliament came to the tank in broad daylight with brushes and buckets of pink paint and, using parliamentary immunity, demonstratively painted the tank again. Then they tore off the facing tiles of the pedestal and made an improvised monument to the traitor general Vlasov from it. On June 13, 1991, the tank was removed from its pedestal and sent to the courtyard of the Military Technical Museum. Soon the pedestal was also demolished.

Since the deputies obviously used the cheapest paint when painting, the rains soon began to wash the tank, and in 2000 it was painted pink for the third time. In 2011, the Czech Republic celebrated the 20th anniversary of the withdrawal of Soviet troops. The tank was brought from the museum, placed on a pontoon and transported along the Vltava River for two weeks , showing in different areas of Prague. So the Czechs mocked the memory of a man who responded to the call of the Czechs and gave his life for them.

Marshal Konev is greeted by residents in liberated Prague, May 7, 1945.

We are all outraged by the demolition of the monument to Marshal Konev in Prague, but at the same time we forget that in 1945 Marshal Konev became an honorary resident of Prague, and in 1990 he was deprived of this title.

Despite the fact that the surrender of the German troops had already been signed and announced, they resisted. Only by the evening of May 9, the capital of the Czech Republic was liberated . What happened next is eloquently evidenced by the report to the head of the political department of the 1st Ukrainian Front of the Guard, Major General Philip Yashechkin, compiled on May 18 by Colonel Kladov of the Guard:

“During their stay in Czechoslovakia, the soldiers and officers of our units were repeatedly eyewitnesses of how the local population expressed their anger and hatred of the Germans in a wide variety of, sometimes quite strange, unusual for us forms:

— In the area of ​​the Prague Hotel, Czechoslovak patriots, having gathered a group of up to 30 Germans who took part in suppressing the uprising, forced them to lie face down on the road and beat each of them who tried to raise their heads with sticks. This continued for 40 minutes. After which the Germans were taken outside the city and burned there at the stake.

“Meeting our advanced tanks, the Czechs lined up a large group of Germans on the central street of Prague, having previously drawn a fascist swastika on the forehead of each of them. As the tanks approached, the Germans were forced to kneel and then lie face down under the tracks.

— In the area of ​​the technical school , city residents stripped 15 German women to the waist and smeared them with paint, forcing them to work fixing the pavement in front of a large crowd of people. After this, the German women were taken out of the city and shot.

Similar facts could be found not only in Prague , but also in other cities and towns of Czechoslovakia. In the village of Lushka, with the arrival of our units, the Czechs expelled all the Germans living here (290 people) , and confiscated their remaining property. All this is explained by the enormous anger and thirst for revenge that the Czechoslovak people have towards the Germans for all the crimes they have committed.”

Initially, in accordance with the Directive of the Supreme Commander Headquarters of May 2, 1945, it was assumed that Prague would be occupied by our troops after their regrouping and rest on May 14. By that time , the Germans would have already left to surrender to the Americans and everything would have happened bloodlessly . However, our troops were sent to urgently rescue the Czech pogromists. In the battles to break through to Prague and in the city itself, 11,997 Soviet soldiers died. As a result, part of the troops of Army Group Center under the command of Field Marshal Ferdinand Scherner was forced to surrender to Soviet troops. But the fact is that all those German troops who managed to go to the Americans were still handed over to the USSR. As a result, of the 900,000-strong German army, 860,000 people were captured by the Soviets, and about 40,000 died in battle. The Americans even extradited Scherner after they caught him on May 15 along with his adjutant in an Austrian forest. They also returned the Vlasov division along with its commander Bunyachenko . On August 1 , 1946, he was hanged along with Vlasov . The United States was interested in the USSR entering the war with Japan and so far fulfilled its allied obligations.

The second benefit from the Prague operation was considered to be “the eternal gratitude of the fraternal Czechoslovak people.” I wrote above about how it is expressed now. To this we can add a memorial plaque dedicated to the liberation of the city by the Soviet army, which was by decision of the Prague City Hall from the tower of the city hall on Old Town Square and regular desecration of the graves of Soviet soldiers at the Olshansky cemetery. A peculiar desecration of the memory of Soviet soldiers buried at the Olshansky cemetery was the installation of a monument to the Russian Liberation Army (POA) of General Vlasov in 1995. Those who defected from the Soviet army to Hitler's side are held in special esteem in the modern Czech Republic.

In April 2022, on Rzheporyskaya Square in Prague, a memorial plaque was erected to the Vlasovites with an inscription, from which it follows that it was the anti-Stalinist ROA that saved Prague from destruction. The same opinion is shared by the initiator of its installation, the mayor of the Prague district of Rzeporye Pavel Novotny. In an interview with Czech Radio he said:

“I don’t think that the Vlasovites were murderers, SS men, terrible people. It was they who became the only force that came out in support of the rebels, otherwise Prague would have repeated the fate of Warsaw. The only thing the Red Army did in Prague was kill the Vlasovites, who were executed as traitors.”

On the same day, when a memorial plaque was erected to the Nazi collaborators Vlasov, a monument to the same David Cherny . It is a column on top of which is a black Soviet tank covered with a white German helmet.

The lie that the Czechs, with the help of the Vlasovites, liberated their capital, and the Soviet army only occupied it, is practically the official point of view of the Czech authorities. This is stated by many Czech historians and is written down in school textbooks. Here, however, there are obvious inconsistencies with the facts of history. Thus, on the above-mentioned ROA monument at the Olshansky cemetery the names of Vlasov generals Vladimir Baersky and Mikhail Shapovalov are engraved , in honor of the transfer of whose remains the monument was erected. However, they were shot not by the Red Army, but by Czech rebels, and what happens then: since the Vlasovites are good, then the Czechs are bad?

Czech liberals like to claim that if it weren’t for the Vlasovites, Prague would have suffered the same fate as Warsaw. But the Warsaw uprising, together with the Germans, was suppressed by the Vlasovites - Russian soldiers of the 29th SS division, from which the 1st division of the armed forces of the Committee for the Liberation of the Peoples of Russia under the command of Bunyachenko was later formed. What will it be like for Polish liberals to learn that monuments and a memorial plaque are being erected in Prague to the murderers of their new national heroes - the soldiers of the Home Army!

March 1939. Czechs welcome Hitler in Prague

The Czechs killed and expelled those whom they had faithfully served throughout the war.

The end of World War II did not end the misadventures of the Germans living in Czechoslovakia. Before the ink had time to dry on the act of surrender of Nazi Germany , the Czechs obliged national minorities to wear white armbands - German with the letters N, and Hungarian with the letter M (Magyar ). Their cars, motorcycles, bicycles, radios and telephones were confiscated . They were prohibited from speaking their native languages ​​on the streets, from using public transport, and they could even visit shops only at certain hours. They had no right to change their place of residence and were required to register with the police.

And all this applied to those who had not committed any crimes against the Czechs in the protectorate. Those who committed or were members of the Nazi Party were punished both with and without a court verdict, most often by execution. During the German occupation, nothing of the kind was used against the Czechs. They were only forbidden to listen to Soviet and Western radio stations under threat of execution. 350 thousand Czechs were taken to work in Germany, but some of them did it voluntarily . Thus, the position of the Germans and Hungarians in liberated Czechoslovakia was significantly worse than that of the Czechs in the protectorate.

Czech police are bullying a German woman. May 1945

However, the bullying of the Germans did not last long, as their deportation to Austria and Germany soon began. Three million Germans, whose ancestors had lived in the Czech Republic and Slovakia for centuries , were forced to leave the country in just a few months. As a farewell, the Germans had swastikas painted on their backs , robbed, raped, beaten, and often simply killed. According to official figures, 18,816 Germans died.

entered world history , 5,200 people died during Near the Czech city of Prerau (now Přerov), Czechoslovak soldiers stopped the train, took German settlers out of it and shot 265 people, including 74 children, the youngest of whom was eight months old. True, this crime was recorded by the Soviet military commandant F. Popov , and the commander of the execution, Lieutenant Karol Pazur, was convicted and spent about ten years in prison. In Postelberg (today Postoloprty) 763 Germans were killed in five days, in Landskron (today Lanschkroun) 121 people were killed in three days.

This is what the USSR NKVD Commissioner for the group of Soviet occupation forces in Germany, General Ivan Serov, to his People's Commissar Marshal Lavrentiy Beria.

“The Czechoslovak government issued a decree according to which all Germans living in Czechoslovakia are obliged to immediately leave for Germany. Local authorities, in connection with the decree, announce to the Germans that they must pack up and leave for Germany within 15 minutes. five stamps with you on the trip You are not allowed to take any personal belongings or food. Every day up to 5,000 Germans arrive in Germany from Czechoslovakia , most of whom are women, old people and children. Being ruined and having no prospects for life, some of them commit suicide. For example, on June 8, the district commandant recorded 71 corpses.

In addition, in a number of cases, Czechoslovak officers and soldiers in populated areas where Germans live set up reinforced patrols in full combat readiness in the evening and open fire on the city at night. The German population, frightened, runs out of their houses, abandoning their property, and scatters. After this, the soldiers enter the houses, take away valuables and return to their units.”

For comparison: the deportation of about 150 thousand Germans from the Kaliningrad region and the Lithuanian SSR lasted six years - until 1951, during which 48 people died, all as a result of disease.

The Prague Spring of 1968 cost the lives of 96 Soviet soldiers

In recent years, the Czech media have justified the increasingly numerous Russophobic actions in their country by the fact that the Czechs cannot forgive the Russians for the deaths of their 106 peaceful comrades during the liquidation of the consequences of the so-called Prague Spring of 1968. Here I would like to remind you that these Czechs were by no means peaceful. How else can one explain the death of 96 Soviet soldiers at their hands? Some Czechs died as a result of the actions of their relatives. Here, for example, is what Vyacheslav Podoprigora, a former foreman of the 1st radio relay company of the 3rd separate communications brigade, says.

“As a column of our tanks passed, someone from the crowd set fire to a barrel of fuel on one of the tanks, and the engine caught fire from the barrel. The fire was about to cause the ammunition to explode. And this means the death of many civilians standing on the side of the road. Anticipating this, the tank commander, senior sergeant, rushed into the crowd, asking people to quickly move away from the vehicle. A few minutes later there was a huge explosion. The tank commander and the rest of the crew died. Several local residents died. Many residents were injured."

There was no such provocation that would not have been used against our soldiers. Dozens of them recall having their way blocked with baby strollers and having to risk their lives to make sure they were empty. An ambulance was driving around Prague, it turned around, the back door opened, a burst of machine gun fire was fired from there, and it quickly drove away. Surely there was a video cameraman hidden nearby, and if the shelling had been answered with fire, then all Western media would have shown how Soviet troops were shooting at a car with a red cross.

The Czechs also do not like to remember that a significant part of their lovers of American democracy were destroyed not by Soviet soldiers, but by our then allies from the Polish, Hungarian and Bulgarian armies. So, on August 21, 1968, in the Czech city of Liberec, onto a passing column of tanks from scaffolding. The attacking Czechs were unlucky: the tanks were Soviet-made, but belonged to the Polish army. As a result, nine of the Czech attackers went to heaven and 42 went to hospital. Later, on September 7, Polish soldier Stefan Dorna shot two Czechs in the town of Jicin.

Monuments have now been erected at the site of both incidents . They are now installed everywhere where at least one Czech died, even if he was the first to open fire. Moreover, if the death occurred as a result of a collision with Soviet troops, then this is indicated, but if the cause of death was our allies, then not. This is understandable: the Czech Republic cannot offend its current NATO allies.

Every year on August 21, Czech authorities lay wreaths at the Prague building of the Czech Radio, where 15 Prague residents died in 1968. For decades, their deaths have been blamed on Soviet soldiers, and not on those who came up with the beautifully named myth “socialism with a human face,” which caused the deaths of 106 Czechs.

But on February 14, there are no state mourning events and no one remembers that on February 14, 1945, the American Air Force bombed Prague and, as a result, not a single German soldier was injured, but 701 Prague residents died and 1,184 were wounded . According to modern Czech “democratic” media, this is not double standards, but simply “this is a completely different case.”

Vladimir Tulin

The science of defeating Suvorov

How the Czechs stole Russia's gold reserves and plundered Siberia.

Czech, light, manual

Throughout the 20th century, Czech designers have repeatedly created very successful models of small arms, recognized throughout the world. One such example was the Model 1926 light machine gun, known as the ZB-26. Very popular in many armies, it became a trendsetter in its class and the prototype of the British Army's main light machine gun in World War II.

Following the results of the First World War, there were practically no doubters about the need for light machine guns, even among the most conservative-minded military personnel. However, if doubts about the need for “handbrake” disappeared, then there were problems with choosing a suitable machine gun, and big ones. Conversions of heavy machine guns created during the war - such as the German MG 08/15 and MG 08/18 - were a typical wartime ersatz. Designs that were originally developed as “handbrake” guns, but also in a hurry and “on the knee” – such as the French Shosha machine gun – also looked a little better.

A Czechoslovakian soldier and his ZB-26 machine gun with an unlocked magazine during a training exercise, 1938

The creation of John Browning, the BAR M1918, stood out for the better against the general background, but even here the non-replaceable barrel, and most importantly, the high labor intensity of manufacturing made the prospects of this model outside the USA very doubtful. The famous British “Lewis” looked more successful, however, it could not fully satisfy the requirements of the military.

Machine guns for the young republic

However, the army of the young Czechoslovak Republic, formed in 1918, could not boast of having either Lewis or BARs - only lightweight versions of the Schwarzlose heavy machine gun were inherited from Austria-Hungary as manual ones. Meanwhile, Europe in the 1920s was by no means an oasis of calm and peace. In 1919, with the assistance of the Hungarian communists, the Slovaks tried to create their own Soviet republic. Almost simultaneously, in 1919 and 1920, armed border conflicts occurred with the equally young neighboring Poland over the Cieszyn region, Orava and Spis. Although in the end the matter ended without a major war, both sides were dissatisfied with the decision of the arbitration of the Entente powers.

The Czechoslovak Army announced a competition for a new light machine gun in 1921. One of its participants was the designer of the company Česka Zbrojovka Praha, Václav Holek. Together with his brother Emanuel, he developed a machine gun called the Praga I-23 for an army competition. It was not possible to take the barrier the first time, as well as on the next attempt with a sample under the designation Praga vz. 24 - but in the end it was the machine gun designed by Holek that was adopted by the Czech army in 1926 as the Lehký kulomet vz. 26 (ZB-26). The production of the machine gun was launched at a more powerful enterprise in Brno - Zbrojovka Brno, where the ZB index came from.

Experienced Praga I-23 light machine gun, on the basis of which the vz machine gun was created. 26 (ZB-26)

The new machine gun almost immediately attracted the attention of foreign buyers. Czechoslovakia actively traded in weapons, which was greatly facilitated by German machines transferred to it as reparations. Now, machine guns have been added to the rifles, which were bought by Romania and Yugoslavia, Bulgaria and Bolivia, China, Lithuania, Spain, Poland, Sweden and other states. “Twenty-sixth” performed well in the tropics of Chaco, in Chinese rice fields, on the barricades of the Spanish Civil War...

Czech Briton BREN

One of the most striking episodes in the biography of the Czech machine gun was its British triumph.

The British Army began choosing a light machine gun almost simultaneously with the Czechoslovaks, in 1922. Since the English Channel and the fleet were protected from the aggressive neighbors of the British, the testing commission could afford to be picky and leisurely. The first stage of testing involving the Colt-Browning M1922, the Danish Madsen, the French Hotchkiss and several other systems did not give a positive result.

A British machine gunner with a Bren machine gun covers a comrade digging in near El Alamein, 1942

Until 1930, the British tested a number of experimental and production machine guns, but not a single sample was considered satisfactory. Finally, in testing at the end of 1930, the ZB-26 made its debut to the British. It is noteworthy that the presented sample was chambered for the 7.92x57 mm “Mauser” cartridge, which was not standard for the British, but even in this form the ZB-26 was recognized as the best of the samples submitted to the competition.

News from England prompted Czech designers to rework their machine gun for the British cartridge .303 British (7.7 × 56 mm) and other competition requirements. After several more stages, the next ZGB-34 model was adopted by the British Army. The licensing agreement between the Československá zbrojovka company from Brno and the British stipulated that the machine gun could only be produced at the royal arms factories in Enfield.

A representative of the indigenous population of New Guinea during firing practice with a Bren Mk.II machine gun, 1943

In 1937, the British Army began receiving machine guns called the Bren Mk.I (the name was derived from the first letters of the cities, Brno + Enfield). It was with the “Brens” that the British went through the Second World War and a number of subsequent conflicts, including even the battles for the Falklands in 1982.

On both sides of the front

In Czechoslovakia itself, the ZB-26 and its modernized version, the ZB-30, continued to be produced both for the needs of the Czechoslovak army and for export. During the modernization process, a number of parts were changed on the machine gun - the magazine receiver, barrel mount, gas tube, extractor and others. The introduction of a new digital index required that soldiers clearly distinguish between the modified version and the old one - they were incompatible for many spare parts: in particular, the ZB-26 barrel could not be installed on the ZB-30.

After the occupation of Czechoslovakia, machine guns were produced for the German army, where the “Czechs” received the indices MG 26(t) and MG 30(t). Although in the Wehrmacht the niche of the manual machine gun was occupied by the universal (single) machine gun MG 34, the Germans quite sensibly believed that there cannot be too many machine guns.

In the USSR, the successful Czech machine gun also did not go unnoticed. Already in 1936, in Kovrov, with the participation of V. A. Degtyarev, the DPM-36 light machine gun was developed “similar to the Czechoslovak light machine gun” - with a sector magazine and a spring in the butt.

Soviet experimental light machine gun DMP-36, 1936

Military testers from the shooting range of the Main Artillery Directorate of the Red Army (GAU KA), having studied the Czech ZB-30 machine gun in 1941, also did not spare words of praise for it in the report:

“ The 7.92-mm
ZB -30 machine gun is recognized as the most advanced system among modern light machine guns, deserving serious attention for its simplicity (in operational terms), operational reliability and high combat properties. Domestic design bureaus are recommended to use the positive aspects of the ZB -30 machine gun and its machine to design new single machine gun systems and modernize existing machine guns
.”

The opinion of front-line soldiers who had the opportunity to test Czech machine guns in battle was also similar. In particular, during surveys conducted in 1945 to summarize the war experience in relation to the main Soviet DP machine gun, wishes were expressed to “ lighten it and bring it closer in design to the Czechoslovak ZB machine gun

».

Chinese soldier in urban ruins with a ZB-26 machine gun

Alas, for Soviet industry, especially in wartime conditions, the ZB-26/30 was too difficult to produce. Attempts to develop a more technologically advanced and cheaper model, in particular, with greater use of stamping, did not give a positive result - not a single one of the experimental light machine guns presented at the State Autonomous Agrarian University of the Russian Academy of Sciences passed the tests. Subsequently, the efforts of domestic designers focused on creating belt-fed light machine guns chambered for a new intermediate cartridge.

The excellent combat and operational qualities of the Czech machine gun were due to the high level of the Czech arms industry, which provides complex machine operations, high-quality processing and fitting of parts. The design of the ZB-26/30 did not allow a sharp increase in the production of machine guns - and the British were fully faced with this when, after the defeat in France and the evacuation from Dunkirk in 1940, they needed to quickly restore the number of machine guns in the army.

German border police officers with MP 28 submachine guns and a Czech MG 26(t) machine gun

In Czechoslovakia itself, after the war, vz machine guns were created on the basis of the ZB-26/30, which was produced until the 50s. 52 chambered for the Czech cartridge 7.62×45 mm and vz. 52/57 chambered for the Soviet intermediate cartridge 7.62x39 mm, adopted as the standard for the armies of the Warsaw Pact countries. Machine guns chambered for the old cartridge quickly spread to numerous hot spots - in particular, it was Czechoslovakia (not without a hint from the Soviet “big brother”) that sold large quantities of weapons to the young Middle Eastern state of Israel.

“Czech” versus “Russian”: ZB-30 in comparison with DP

It is interesting to compare the combat qualities of the ZB-30 with its main Soviet contemporary, the Degtyarev light machine gun - fortunately, it is possible not to use tables from various reference books for this, since in 1942 comparative tests of machine guns were carried out at the GAU KA shooting range.

A German paratrooper poses with a captured English Bren

In terms of weight, the “dry” ZB-30 turned out to be 0.7 kg lighter than the DP, while if the “Czech” magazine with 20 rounds added only 0.8 kg, then the “pancake” of the “Degtyarev” weighed 2.78 kg. The initial speed, rate of fire and practical rate of fire were approximately equal. "Degtyarev" showed the best accuracy of fire - however, with the caveat that the captured "Czech" had already shot a fair amount before entering the training ground. However, the ZB-30 demonstrated excellent operational reliability, including in difficult conditions - when firing for survivability with 5000 rounds, only 0.1% delays were noted, and in difficult conditions - 0.83%. Not all gross DPs showed comparable results.

It was separately noted that although the magazine capacity of 20 rounds is small, a box magazine is more convenient and reliable to use than a disk magazine - there were a lot of complaints about the “pancakes” from the front. Changing the barrel for the ZB-30 took only 5–6 seconds, and for the DP – 13–15, while, as the testers separately noted, “... changing the barrel is very convenient under operating conditions of the machine gun, which cannot be said about the DP machine gun

».

Romanian soldiers with a ZB-30 machine gun in a snowy trench near Stalingrad, winter 1942–1943.

In conclusion, we can say that the ZB-26/30, created in the 20s of the last century, was in service with more than 20 countries, fought with dignity around the world in large and small conflicts, and even now appears from time to time in photographs from modern hot spots its characteristic silhouette. For this veteran, the time to retire has not yet come.