Second time in the easy class. Experimental T2 tank. But not that T2, which is just T2, but the cavalry T2 “Is a modern fighting machine”

Before the war, these tanks, along with the PzI, formed the basis of the German tank forces. During the fighting in Poland, they most often formed the tip of German tank wedges. Germany had a small number of battle tanks of newer types, so the PzII was at the forefront of the well-functioning German military machine and fought through the short-lived Polish campaign of 1939, and later took part in the defeat of the Anglo-French troops in an equally rapid campaign in the West, leading a successful attack on Paris.

Description

By the beginning of the Wehrmacht's eastern campaign, there were 746 PzII tanks on the Soviet borders. In the summer of 1941, this tank was certainly already obsolete; the weak 20mm automatic cannon successfully fought only with the most lightly armored Soviet equipment - T-37, T-38 and T-40. Faced with a T-26 or BT-7, a German tank could only count on luck, since in order to defeat these vehicles it was necessary to approach them at a very short distance - less than 300 meters, which is practically impossible in a real battle. Newer Soviet vehicles, such as the T-34, had an even more impressive advantage over the German tank. The weak armor of the PzII dictated the need for its use in the absence of a powerful anti-tank defense by the enemy. The armor of the PzII was easily penetrated by standard 37mm and 75mm guns of the Polish Army in 1939 and by standard 45mm field guns of the Red Army in 1941. Despite numerous attempts to strengthen the armor, the tank was clearly inferior to its Soviet opponents in terms of shell resistance. In addition, due to the small size of the turret, it was impossible to install a more powerful gun on the PzII, which would at least somehow increase the combat value of this outdated vehicle. It is worth noting, however, that tanks of this type, according to the original design, were supposed to become training vehicles for German tank crews, and only the shortage of newer tanks - "PzIII" and "PzIV", their unsatisfactory production and entry into the troops, forced the German command to continue to use these hopelessly outdated tanks in combat operations. By 1942, the PzII was officially withdrawn from German tank units. By the end of the war, approximately 145 vehicles of this type survived in the German army.

"Tiger" or who?

Many people are still concerned about the question of which tank was the best tank of the Second World War. They carefully compare performance characteristics tables, talk about the thickness of armor, armor penetration of shells and many other figures from performance characteristics tables. Different sources give different figures, so disputes begin about the reliability of the sources. In these disputes, it is forgotten that the numbers in the tables themselves do not mean anything...

Aviation of the USSR

Remember that MiG

The I-200 fighter (hereinafter referred to as MiG-1 and MiG-3) can be called a distant descendant of the I-16, differing from it in many ways, but nevertheless retaining certain “ancestral features”. .

The first of the new generation fighters in JanuaryIn 1940, the aircraft of aircraft designer A.S. entered testing.Yakovleva I-26, later renamed Yak-1.

The most prominent representative of the “wooden style” in Soviet fighter aircraft during the war was the aircraft of aircraft designers S.A. Lavochkina, V.P. Gorbunov and M.I. Gudkov I-301, which received the designation LaGG-3 when launched into production, as well as its further development - La-5 and La-7

Luftwaffe aircraft

This is the thing

The disdainful assessment of the Yu-87 dive bomber was as commonplace in our literature as the praise of the Il-2 attack aircraft...

CITY DESTROYERS

The most reliable assessment of the effectiveness of the actions of German bomber aviation can only be based on evidence from the side that suffered losses from its impact. That is, according to reports and reports of commanders at different levels of the Red Army. And these reports indicate the high performance of German pilots...

From the very beginning, it was clear that even for the temporary armament of tank units in anticipation of more powerful combat vehicles, Pz.I tanks were not enough. Therefore, already at the end of 1934, tactical and technical requirements were developed for a tank weighing 10 tons, armed with a 20-mm cannon. For the reasons already mentioned, the tank received the designation LaS 100 and, like the Pz.I, was intended for training purposes. LaS 100 prototypes were developed on a competitive basis by three companies: Krupp, Henschel and MAN. In the spring of 1935, the Krupp company presented the commission with the LKA 2 tank - a version of the LKA tank with an enlarged turret for a 20-mm cannon; Henschel and MAN presented only the chassis.

As a result, the MAN chassis was chosen for mass production, the armored body for which was manufactured by Daimler-Benz. The general contractors for serial production were to be MAN, Daimler-Benz, FAMO, Wegmann and MIAG. By the end of the year, the first 10 tanks were produced, equipped with Maybach HL57TR gasoline engines with a power of 130 hp. The speed reached 40 km/h, the range was 210 km. The thickness of the armor ranged from 5 to 14.5 mm. The armament consisted of a 20-mm KwK 30 cannon (KwK - Kampfwagenkannone - tank gun) and an MG 34 machine gun. According to the already mentioned designation system for combat vehicles, the LaS 100 tank received the index Sd.Kfz 121. The first production tanks were designated Pz.II Ausf. a1, the next 15 cars are Ausf.a2. 75 Ausf.a3 tanks were produced. All these options differed slightly from each other. On a2 and a3, for example, there were no rubber tires on the support rollers. The 25 Ausf.b. tanks differed little from the previous ones. The biggest difference was the installation of a new engine – Maybach HL 62TR.

A column of light tanks Pz.II and Pz.I on the street of one of the Polish cities. September 1939.

Tests of all these tanks revealed significant flaws in the design of the chassis. Therefore, in 1937, a completely new type of chassis was designed. It was first used on 200 Pz.II Ausf.c tanks. The chassis consisted of five medium-diameter road wheels suspended on semi-elliptical springs. The number of support rollers has increased to four. The new chassis increased the smoothness of the ride on terrain and the speed of movement on the highway and remained unchanged on all subsequent modifications (except for options D and E, which will be discussed below). The tank's weight increased to 8.9 tons.

Pz.II Ausf.C tanks of the 36th Tank Regiment of the 4th Panzer Division of the Wehrmacht during the battles in Warsaw on September 8–9, 1939.

In 1937, the Henschel plant in Kassel began mass production of the most popular variants of the Pz.II Ausf.A, B and C. Monthly production was 20 vehicles. In March 1938, production at this plant was completed and began at the Alkett plant in Berlin with an assembly rate of 30 tanks per month. Ausf.A tanks were equipped with a synchronized gearbox, a Maybach HL62TRM engine with a power of 140 hp, and a new type of viewing slot for the driver. Modification B had changes that were mainly technological in nature and simplified mass production. Pz.II Ausf.C received an improved engine cooling system and armored glass in viewing devices with a thickness of 50 mm (for A and B - 12 mm).

As for the weapons, their radical strengthening was impossible due to the small size of the turret. The combat capabilities of the Pz.II could only be improved by increasing the thickness of the armor. In the Pz.II Ausf.c, A, B and C tanks, the parts of the armored hull most exposed to enemy fire were strengthened. The front of the turret was reinforced with armor plates 14.5 and 20 mm thick, and the front of the hull was 20 mm thick. The configuration of the entire bow of the hull has also changed. Instead of one bent sheet, two were installed, connected at an angle of 70°. One had a thickness of 14.5 mm, the other - 20 mm. On some tanks, instead of a double-leaf hatch, a turret was installed on the turret. All these changes were made during repairs and therefore were not present on all tanks. It happened that one unit had both modernized and non-modernized vehicles.

Production of the Pz.II Ausf.C was discontinued in the spring of 1940, and at the end it did not exceed 7–9 units per month. However, there is an insufficient number of light tanks 35(t) and 38(t) and medium Pz. III and Pz. IV in the Wehrmacht tank divisions was the reason for the decision on November 27, 1939 to release a modified series of Pz.II Ausf.F tanks.

The tanks of this series received a new hull design, which had a vertical frontal plate across its entire width. A mock-up of the driver's viewing device was installed on its right side, while the real device was on the left. Newly shaped covers for the viewing windows in the gun mantlet enhanced the armor protection of the tank. Some vehicles were equipped with a 20 mm KwK 38 cannon.

Initially, production of the Ausf.F was very slow. In June 1940, only three tanks were produced, in July - two, in August-December - four! Production picked up pace only in 1941, when the annual production amounted to 233 tanks of this brand. The following year, another 291 Pz.IIF left the factory floors. Tanks of this version were produced by the FAMO plant in Breslau (Wroclaw), the United Machine-Building Plants in occupied Warsaw, the MAN and Daimler-Benz plants.

Pz.II Ausf.b of one of the units of the 4th Panzer Division, knocked out on the streets of Warsaw. September 1939.

Tanks of models D and E stand somewhat apart from the Pz.II family of vehicles. In 1938, Daimler-Benz developed a project for the so-called “fast tank”, intended for tank battalions of light divisions. Only the turret was borrowed from the Pz.II Ausf.c tank; the hull and chassis were developed anew. The latter had large diameter road wheels (4 per side), new drive and idler wheels. The hull strongly resembled that of the Pz.III. The crew consisted of three people. The weight of the car reached 10 tons. The Maybach HL62TRM engine allowed it to reach a maximum speed on the highway of up to 55 km/h. The gearbox had seven forward and three reverse speeds. The thickness of the armor ranged from 14.5 to 30 mm. In 1938–1939, the Daimer-Benz and MAN plants produced 143 tanks of both versions and about 150 chassis. Tanks of the E model differed from the D with a reinforced suspension, a new track and a changed type of idler wheel.

Pz.II tanks on the attack. Good interaction between units was largely ensured by the presence of radio stations on all tanks.

After the decision was made on January 21, 1939 to form special-purpose tank units, MAN and Wegmann were tasked with designing a flamethrower tank, the Flammpanzer.

One of the Pz.IIs of the 3rd company of the 40th special forces battalion. Norway, April 1940.

When creating such a vehicle, MAN used the chassis of the Pz.II Ausf.D/E tanks. They were equipped with turrets of an original design, armed with one MG 34 machine gun. Two Flamm 40 flamethrowers were placed in remote-controlled rotating turrets located in front of the fenders. Armored tanks with fire mixture were installed on the fenders behind the turrets with flamethrowers. The pressure for flamethrowing was created using compressed nitrogen. Nitrogen cylinders were located inside the tank hull. When fired, the fire mixture was ignited with an acetylene torch. Behind the tanks with the fire mixture, mortars for launching smoke grenades were installed on special brackets.

The Pz.II(F) or Flammpanzer II tanks received the index Sd.Kfz.122 and the name Flamingo (the author was unable to find out how official it is). Serial production of flamethrower tanks began in January and ended in October 1940 after the production of 90 vehicles. In August 1941, an order was issued for another 150 tanks of this type, but after the conversion of 65 Pz.II Ausf.D/E units, the order was canceled.

The first combat test, according to some Western sources, of the Pz.II (most likely several vehicles of modification b) took place in Spain. As part of the Condor Legion, these tanks took part in the battles over the Ebro and in Catalonia in 1939.

A year earlier, in March 1938, Pz.II took part in the operation to annex Austria to the Reich, the so-called Anschluss. There were no combat clashes during this operation, but as in the case of the Pz.I, during the march to Vienna, up to 30% of the “twos” failed for technical reasons, mainly due to the low reliability of the chassis.

Pz.II Ausf.C in France. May 1940.

The annexation of the Sudetenland of Czechoslovakia to Germany in October 1938, the result of the Munich Agreement, also passed bloodlessly. Losses in the material part were already significantly less, since the Pz.I and Pz.II tanks were delivered to the concentration areas by truck, which made it possible to preserve the scanty resource of the chassis. By the way, it should be noted that a Faun L900 D567 (6x4) truck and a two-axle Sd.Anh.115 trailer were used to transport the Pz.II tanks.

The Sudetenland was followed by the occupation of Bohemia and Moravia. On March 15, 1939, the Pz.II from the 2nd Panzer Division of the Wehrmacht was the first to enter Prague.

On the eve of the Polish campaign, Pz.II, along with Pz.I, made up the majority of Panzerwaffe combat vehicles. On September 1, 1939, German troops had 1,223 tanks of this type. Each company of light tanks included one platoon (5 units) of Pz.II. In total, the tank regiment had 69 tanks, and the battalion - 33. Only the 1st Tank Division, better equipped than others with Pz.III and Pz.IV tanks, had 39 Pz.IIs. Two-regiment divisions (2nd, 4th and 5th) had up to 140, and single-regiment divisions had 70–85 Pz.II tanks. The 3rd Panzer Division, which included a training battalion (Panzer Lehr Abteilung), had 175 Pz.II tanks. The least number of “twos” were in the light divisions. Vehicles of modifications D and E were in service with the 67th tank battalion of the 3rd light division and the 33rd tank battalion of the 4th light division.

The beginning of Operation Sonnenblume (“Sunflower”) - loading Afrika Korps tanks onto ships for delivery to Tripoli. Naples, spring 1941.

The armor of the “twos” was effortlessly penetrated by shells from 37-mm wz.36 anti-tank guns and 75-mm field guns of the Polish army, which became clear on September 1–2 when breaking through the positions of the Volyn cavalry brigade near Mokra. The 1st Panzer Division lost 8 Pz.II vehicles there. Even greater losses - 15 Pz.II - were suffered by the 4th Panzer Division on the approaches to Warsaw. In total, during the Polish campaign until October 10, the Wehrmacht lost 259 Pz.II tanks. However, irretrievable losses amounted to only 83 vehicles.

In April - May 1940, 25 Pz.II tanks, allocated from the 4th Panzer Division and included in the 40th Special Purpose Battalion, took part in the capture of Norway. At the same time, during short battles with the British troops that landed in this country, two Pz.IIs were lost.

By the start of the offensive in the West on May 10, 1940, the Panzerwaffe had 1,110 Pz.II tanks, 955 of which were in combat-ready condition. At the same time, the number of tanks in different formations varied significantly. Thus, the 3rd Panzer Division, operating on the flank, had 110 Pz.II tanks, and the 7th Panzer Division of General E. Rommel, located in the direction of the main attack, had 40 tanks. The Deuces were practically powerless against well-armored French light and medium tanks. They could only hit them at close range on the side or stern. However, there were few tank battles during the French campaign. The main burden of the fight against French tanks fell on the shoulders of aviation and artillery. Nevertheless, the German losses were very significant, in particular, they lost 240 Pz.II tanks.

Pz.II Ausf.F, knocked out in the Libyan desert. 1942

In the summer of 1940, 52 Pz.IIs from the 2nd Tank Division were converted into amphibious ones. Of these, two battalions of the 18th Tank Regiment of the 18th Tank Brigade (later deployed into a division) were formed. It was assumed that they, together with Pz.III and Pz.IV prepared for movement under water, would take part in Operation Sea Lion - a landing on the coast of England. Crews were trained to move afloat at the training ground in Putlos. Since the landing on the shores of Foggy Albion did not take place, Schwimmpanzer II was transferred to the east. In the first hours of Operation Barbarossa, these tanks crossed the Western Bug by swimming. Later they were used as ordinary combat vehicles.

Pz.II Ausf.F of the 23rd Panzer Division, assigned to guard the airfield. January 1942.

Pz.II tanks of the 5th and 11th tank divisions took part in the fighting in Yugoslavia and Greece. Two tanks were delivered by sea to the island. Crete, where with fire and maneuver they supported the German mountain riflemen and paratroopers who had landed on this Greek island.

In March 1941, the 5th Tank Regiment of the 5th Light Division of the German Afrika Korps, which landed in Tripoli, had 45 Pz.IIs, mainly model C. After the arrival of the 15th Panzer Division by November 1941, the number of "twos" on The African continent reached 70 units. At the beginning of 1942, another batch of Pz.II Ausf arrived. F(Tp) – tropical version. The delivery of Pz.II tanks to Africa can be explained, perhaps, only by their low weight and dimensions compared to medium tanks, which made it possible to transport a larger number of them by sea. The Germans could not help but realize that the “twos” were powerless against most of the tanks of the British 8th Army, and only their high speed helped them get out of the fire. However, despite everything, the Pz.II Ausf.F was used in the African desert until 1943.

Pz.II Ausf.C captured by British troops. North Africa, 1942.

As of June 1, 1941, there were 1,074 combat-ready Pz.II tanks in Hitler's army. Another 45 vehicles were under repair. In the formations intended to participate in Operation Barbarossa and concentrated near the border of the Soviet Union, there were 746 vehicles of this type, which accounted for almost 21% of the total number of tanks. According to the then staff, one platoon in a company was supposed to be armed with Pz.II tanks. But the staff was not always respected: in some divisions there were many “twos”, sometimes in excess of the staff, in others there were none at all. On June 22, 1941, Pz.IIs were part of the 1st (43 units), 3rd (58), 4th (44), 6th (47), 7th (53), 8th th (49), 9th (32), 10th (45), 11th (44), 12th (33), 13th (45), 14th (45), 16th (45), 17th (44), 18th (50) and 19th (35) tank divisions of the Wehrmacht. In addition, there were linear “twos” in the 100th and 101st flamethrower tank battalions.

Pz.II could easily fight Soviet light tanks T-37, T-38 and T-40, armed with machine guns, as well as armored vehicles of all types. Light tanks T-26 and BT, especially the latest ones, were hit by “twos” only from relatively close distances. At the same time, German vehicles inevitably had to enter the effective fire zone of Soviet 45-mm tank guns. They confidently penetrated the armor of the Pz.II and Soviet anti-tank guns. By the end of 1941, the German army had lost 424 Pz.II tanks on the Eastern Front.

From Flamingo tanks, the Germans formed three flamethrower battalions, which fought near Smolensk and in Ukraine and everywhere suffered heavy losses due to the unfortunate location of tanks with fire mixture on the tanks.

Pz.II Ausf.C tanks are moving towards the Greek border. Bulgaria, April 1941.

In 1942, the “twos”, gradually removed from combat units, were increasingly involved in patrol duty, guarding headquarters, reconnaissance and counter-guerrilla operations. Over the course of a year, 346 vehicles of this type were lost in all theaters of combat, and in 1943 - 84, which indicates a sharp reduction in their number in the troops. Nevertheless, as of March 1945, the Wehrmacht still had 15 Pz.IIs in the active army and 130 in the reserve army.

By June 22, 1941, Flammpanzer II flamethrower tanks were equipped with the 100th and 101st flamethrower tank battalions.

Pz.II turrets were used in significant quantities to create various long-term firing points. Thus, on various types of fortifications both in the West and in the East there were 100 Pz.II turrets armed with a 37-mm cannon and 536 with a standard 20-mm KwK 30.

Soldiers and commanders of the Red Army inspect a captured enemy flamethrower tank. The installation of smoke grenade launchers on the fender is clearly visible. Western Front, summer 1941.

In addition to the German army, the “two” were in service in Slovakia, Romania and Bulgaria. At the end of the 1940s, several vehicles of this type (apparently former Romanian) were in Lebanon.

As already mentioned, the Pz.II was considered by the Armament Directorate and the Wehrmacht leadership as a kind of intermediate model between the training Pz.I and the truly combat Pz.III and Pz. IV. However, reality upset the plans of Nazi strategists and forced them to put not only the Pz.II, but also the Pz.I into combat formation.

It is surprising how incapable German industry was in the 1930s of mass production of tanks. This can be judged from the data given in the table.

Even after the start of the war, when the Reich's industry switched to wartime mode, tank production did not increase significantly. There was no time for intermediate models here.

However, at the time of its creation, the Pz.II turned out to be a full-fledged light tank, the main drawback of which was its weak armament. The armor protection of the “deuce” was not inferior to that of most light tanks of those years. After modernization, the Pz.II moved to a leading position in this parameter, second only to the French R35 and H35 tanks. The tank's maneuverability characteristics, optics and communications equipment were at a fairly high level. The “Achilles heel” remained only the armament, since even in the mid-1930s, a 20-mm cannon as the main armament for a light tank was already considered unpromising. Guns of a similar caliber - 25 mm - were installed on only a few dozen French light reconnaissance tanks. True, already on the eve of World War II, light Italian L6/40 vehicles were armed with a 20-mm cannon, but the low level of Italian tank building is well known.

However, it would be interesting to compare the “two” with another “brother” in armament, which appeared even later - in the fall of 1941. We are talking about the Soviet light tank T-60.

COMPARATIVE TACTICAL AND TECHNICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF PZ LIGHT TANKS. IIF AND T-60

What can we say by analyzing the comparative data of both tanks. Soviet tank builders managed to achieve almost the same level of security as the German tank, which, with a smaller weight and dimensions, significantly increased the invulnerability of the tank. The dynamic characteristics of both cars were almost identical. Despite the high specific power, the Pz.II was not faster than the sixty. Formally, the armament parameters were also the same: both tanks were equipped with 20-mm I cannons with similar ballistic characteristics. The initial speed of the armor-piercing projectile of the Pz.II cannon was 780 m/s, that of the T-60 was 815 m/s, which theoretically allowed them to hit the same targets. In reality, everything was not so simple: the Soviet TNSh-20 cannon could not fire single shots, but the German KwK 30, as well as the KwK 38, could, which significantly increased the accuracy of fire. The “Dvoyka” was more effective on the battlefield due to its crew of three, who also had a much better view from the tank than the T-60 crew, and the presence of a radio station. As a result, the “two” was significantly superior to the “sixty” as a front-line vehicle. This superiority was felt even more when the tanks were used for reconnaissance, where the stealth, but “blind” and “mute” T-60 was practically useless.

Tank Pz.II, destroyed by Soviet artillery fire. Western Front, July 1942.

However, at the initial stage of the Second World War, armored vehicles coped well with reconnaissance tasks in the interests of tank and motorized units of the Hitlerite Wehrmacht. Their use in this role was facilitated by both the extensive road network of Western Europe and the enemy’s lack of massive and well-organized anti-tank defense.

After Germany attacked the USSR, the situation changed. In Russia, as you know, there are no roads, there are only directions. With the onset of the autumn rains, the German armored reconnaissance vehicle became hopelessly stuck in the Russian mud and could no longer cope with the tasks assigned to it. In addition, the situation was aggravated by the fact that around the same time, anti-tank rifles (ATRs) began to arrive in increasing quantities to the rifle units of the Red Army, which made it possible to give the anti-tank defense a massive character. In any case, the German general von Mellenthin noted in his memoirs: “The Russian infantry has good weapons, especially a lot of anti-tank weapons: sometimes you think that every infantryman has an anti-tank rifle or an anti-tank gun.” An armor-piercing 14.5 mm caliber bullet fired from the PTR easily penetrated the armor of any German armored vehicles, both light and heavy.

Getting to know the trophy. Pz.II Ausf.F, captured at the Sukhanovsky farm. Don Front, December 1942.

In order to somehow improve the situation, half-track armored personnel carriers Sd.Kfz.250 and Sd.Kfz.251 were transferred to reconnaissance battalions, and light tanks Pz.II and Pz.38(t) were also used for this purpose. However, the need for a special reconnaissance tank became obvious. The Wehrmacht Armament Directorate came to the conclusion that its design should take into account the experience of the first years of the war. And this experience required an increase in the number of crew members, a larger engine power reserve, the installation of a radio station with a larger range, etc.

Light tank Pz.II Ausf.L from the 4th reconnaissance battalion of the 4th tank division. Eastern Front, autumn 1943.

In April 1942, MAN produced the first prototype of the VK 1303 tank, weighing 12.9 tons. In June, it was tested at the Kummersdorf test site and was soon adopted by the Panzerwaffe under the designation Pz.II Ausf.L Luchs (Sd.Kfz.123). The production order to MAN amounted to 800 combat vehicles.

Luchs (“Luhs” - lynx) was armored somewhat better than its predecessors, but the maximum armor thickness did not exceed 30 mm, which turned out to be clearly insufficient.

In contrast to all modifications of the Pz.II linear tanks, the turret on the Lukhs was located symmetrically relative to the longitudinal axis of the tank. Its rotation was carried out manually, using a turning mechanism. The tank's armament consisted of a 20 mm KwK 38 cannon and a coaxial 7.92 mm MG 34 (MG 42) machine gun. The ammunition consisted of 330 rounds and 2250 rounds of ammunition. Vertical guidance of the twin installation was possible in the range from –9° to +18°. Three mortars were installed on the sides of the tower to launch 90 mm smoke grenades.

Even during the design of the Lukhs, it became clear that the 20-mm cannon, which was too weak for 1942, could significantly limit the tactical capabilities of the tank. Therefore, from April 1943, it was planned to begin production of combat vehicles armed with a 50-mm KwK 39 cannon with a barrel length of 60 calibers. The same gun was installed on medium tanks Pz.III modifications J, L and M. However, it was not possible to place this gun in the standard Lukhsa turret - it was too small. In addition, this would lead to a sharp reduction in ammunition. As a result, a larger turret with an open top was installed on the tank, into which the 50 mm gun fit perfectly. The prototype with such a turret was designated VK 1303b.

Light tank Pz.II Ausf.L, probably from the 116th Panzer Division, knocked out in France in August 1944.

The tank was equipped with a six-cylinder Maybach HL 66r carburetor engine with a power of 180 hp. at 3200 rpm.

The chassis of the Lukhs tank, in relation to one side, included five rubberized road wheels each, staggered in two rows; front drive wheel and idler wheel with track tensioning mechanism.

All Lukhs were equipped with two radio stations.

Serial production of reconnaissance tanks of this type began in the second half of August 1942. Until January 1944, the MAN company produced 118 units, the Henschel company - 18. All of them were armed with a 20-mm KwK 38 cannon. As for combat vehicles with a 50-mm cannon, it is not possible to indicate their exact number. According to various sources, from four to six tanks left the factory floors.

The first serial "Luhs" began to enter the troops in the fall of 1942. They were supposed to equip one company in the reconnaissance battalions of tank divisions. However, due to the small number of vehicles produced, very few Panzerwaffe formations received new tanks. On the Eastern Front these were the 3rd and 4th tank divisions, in the West - the 2nd, 116th and Training tank divisions. In addition, several vehicles were in service with the SS Totenkopf tank division. Lukhs were used in these formations until the end of 1944. During combat use, the weakness of the tank's weapons and armor protection was revealed. In some cases, its frontal armor was reinforced with additional armor plates 20 mm thick. It is reliably known that a similar event was carried out in the 4th reconnaissance battalion of the 4th tank division.

No, don’t be alarmed, it’s not me who has gone crazy, this is normal American practice, when the naming of equipment took place independently across different departments and branches of the military. So, we are not talking about a light infantry tank T2, and about " cavalry"car with the same name.

It was built in 1928 and was intended to reinforce and escort cavalry units. An indispensable requirement was cannon armament and speed sufficient to ensure that the cavalry did not run too far away from the tanks. The author of the machine, engineer Cuningham (company " James Cunningham & Sons Company"), did not reinvent the wheel and, based on a series of his light experimental tanks T1 (those still shushi, I must say), built a slightly enlarged version called T2. The car had a classic Cuningham layout, with a front-mounted MTO and rear drive wheels. In fact, according to the layout, it was a truck cabin, armored and topped with a turret.

Since the car had to be nimble, with its own weight of about 13.6 tons, it was equipped with an engine V12 Liberty, power in 312 hp, which allowed it to accelerate to 27 mph (43.5 km/h), almost 2-3 times faster than typical tanks of that period. With such an engine, the car looked very menacing at the training ground, quickly overcoming obstacles. True, at such speeds and a four-speed gearbox, the engine was running wild, so a rev limiter had to be introduced into the design, which slowed the car down to a still very decent 20 mph (32 km/h) at that time.

In general, in 1933, one of Cunningham’s experimental tanks on tracks with rubber-metal joints (?) invented by him (?) accelerated to 50 miles (80 km) per hour. And without any wheeled-tracked perversions.

The vehicle's armament was not formed immediately. No, what d.b. gun - was not discussed, but everything else... The original version of the vehicle was armed with two cannons, 37mm in the hull and 47mm in the turret, but it did not have a machine gun.

During the process of modifications, all sorts of things happened - the gunner of the gun in the hull greatly disturbed those sitting in the turret, the hefty breech literally pushed him under their feet, and it was inconvenient to operate the gun with one hand while loading it - you had already lost the target, so the 37mm gun migrated to turret, and its place (not immediately) was taken by a machine gun. Then, in addition to the machine gun in the hull, a second machine gun appeared, coaxial with the cannon, and also a large-caliber one (classic, M2), and the cannon itself in the turret again increased in caliber from 37mm to 47mm. It should be noted that the BC of the heavy machine gun was (if Heigl is not mistaken) as much as 2000 rounds. By the way, quite good for 1928-31, in the end, I find it difficult to name a more powerful and faster tank right off the bat.

Armor was differentiated, from 22.23mm (7/8 inch) in front and in the turret, to 3.35mm (1/4 inch) on horizontal surfaces.

An old German tank was recently restored in the open area of ​​the Lenino-Snegirevsky Military History Museum

People from the “Leibstandarte Workshop” (as it was written on the minibus) worked at the tank - they pulled up the tracks. I myself can’t stand it when someone watches my work, that’s why I didn’t start very annoyingly flickering in front of their noses.

Light tank T-2 / Pz.II / Pz.Kpfw.II

In 1934, the German military command decided to quickly develop an intermediate model of a light tank in order to temporarily fill the troops with armored vehicles until the planned T-3 / Pz.III and T-4 / Pz.IV tanks entered service. This is how the light tank T-2 / Pz.II / Pz.Kpfw.II appeared, which was initially called Tractor 100 or LaS 100 in the chains of secrecy. The development contract was awarded to Henschel, Krupp and MAN. After comparative tests of the presented samples, the model from MAN, which was tasked with improving the chassis, seemed the most promising. The rest of the work was entrusted to Daimler-Benz, as well as MIAG, Wegmann and Famo.

Light tanks T-2 / Pz.II / Pz.Kpfw.II were the main striking force of the German tank divisions during the invasion of France. More than 1,000 of these tanks took part in the operation, most of them in frontline units. In 1941, T-2/Pz.II tanks took part in the attack on the USSR, although on the Eastern Front it quickly became clear that their firepower and armor protection were insufficient. The T-2 / Pz.II tank was created primarily as a combat training vehicle. The first production T-2A / Pz.II Ausf A tanks were produced in 1935. Military tests showed insufficient engine power of 130 hp. ((97 kW)). The next modification of the T-2B / Pz.II Ausf B tanks had thicker frontal armor and a more powerful engine of 140 hp. (104 kW), and its weight reached 8 tons.

In 1937, a new light tank model was introduced - the T-2Ts / Pz.II Ausf C. It had reinforced armor and a new chassis with five road wheels, which became standard for all subsequent modifications. In 1938, modifications of the T-2D / Pz.II Ausf D and T-2E / Pz.II Ausf E light tanks using torsion bar suspension were created. This made it possible to increase the maximum speed on paved roads, but slightly worsen the cross-country performance.

The last modification in the T-II series of light tanks was the T-2F / Pz.II Ausf F model, produced in 1941-1942. The thickness of the frontal armor of these vehicles was 35 mm, and the side armor - 20 mm. The weight of the tank increased to 10 tons. Experts believed that this vehicle achieved a good balance between speed and armor protection.

The hull and turret of the light tank T-2F / Pz.II Ausf F are welded. The driver's seat was located in the front part of the hull, the seats of the other two crew members were in a circular rotation turret, armed with a 20-mm cannon with 180 rounds of ammunition and to the right of it - a 7.92-mm machine gun with 1,425 rounds of ammunition.

A reconnaissance vehicle was developed on the basis of the T-2 / Pz.II light tank, but its production was carried out in very small batches.

In the early 1940s, a model of an amphibious light tank was created in Germany. The engine, through a special drive, rotated a propeller fixed to the shaft, which ensured that the vehicle moved afloat at speeds of up to 10 km/h. Later, a model with two screws appeared. About 100 of these vehicles entered service by 1942 under the designation T-2 / Pz.II amphibious tank.

These vehicles were later withdrawn from combat service and converted into tank destroyers, with effective 76.2mm anti-tank guns captured from Soviet forces in battle. Such vehicles were designated Marder, and were soon replaced by Marder II with 75 mm German anti-tank guns. In total, approximately 1,200 tanks were converted. Until 1944, the factories of occupied Poland produced self-propelled artillery units, which were 150-mm howitzers mounted on the chassis of a T-2 / Pz.II light tank.