Panzer 38(t) [Ardennes DLC]

The Panzerkampfwagen 38(t) — the "(t)" standing for tschechisch, the German word for "Czech". Its origins trace to the competing arms manufacturers of interwar Czechoslovakia — Škoda of Pilsen and ČKD of Prague — two firms whose rivalry produced some of the most capable armoured vehicles in Europe during the 1930s.

The predecessor, the LT vz. 35, suffered from pneumatic steering systems that seized in cold conditions and extensive riveting that sent lethal metal fragments into the crew compartment when struck by enemy fire. ČKD's answer was the TNHPS: a redesigned vehicle with reliable steering, an upgraded 125 hp Praga engine, elliptically sprung road wheels, and a Škoda turret armed with an accurate 37.2 mm gun. The Czechoslovak Army ordered 150 of them in late July 1938. Not a single one would ever serve under the Czech flag.

The Munich Agreement of September 1938 forced Czechoslovakia to cede its western territories, and when Germany completed its occupation of the country in March 1939, production of the LT vz. 38 was still barely underway. With the takeover, the Germans inherited the Škoda and ČKD factories, along with approximately 150 LT vz. 38s — not all yet complete.

The Heereswaffenamt was initially reluctant to adopt foreign equipment, but the arithmetic was impossible to argue with: the LT vz. 38 was far superior to the Panzer I and II, and a close match for the larger Panzer III. Production was ordered to continue immediately for the Wehrmacht, and the Czech factories were put to work building tanks for the nation that had just absorbed them.

The hull was riveted and compartmentalized, engine at the rear, transmission running forward to the drive sprockets, riding on four large elliptically sprung road wheels — a simpler and more maintainable system than the LT vz. 35, and one that would inspire German tank designers. Armament comprised the Škoda A7 37 mm gun with 90 rounds of HE and AP, flanked by two 7.92 mm machine guns. For a four-man crew in a sub-ten-ton vehicle, it was a compact and capable package.

Eight main production variants — Ausführungen A through G — were built between May 1939 and June 1942. Early marks carried 30 mm maximum armor, while the Ausf. E and F bolted on an additional 25 mm appliqué plate to bring frontal protection to 50 mm as Allied anti-tank guns grew more dangerous.

Over 1,400 Panzer 38(t)s were manufactured in total.
In service, the 38(t) performed with distinction. Fifty-nine Ausf. A vehicles fought in Poland, with 15 more serving in Norway. In France, it equipped fast-moving Panzer divisions including Rommel's 7th, tearing through Allied lines in May–June 1940.

On the Eastern Front it drove deep into Soviet territory during Barbarossa — until the T-34 and KV series rendered its 37 mm gun dangerously inadequate. Tank commander Otto Carius left a stark account of this reality, recalling a Soviet anti-tank hit in July 1941 that penetrated his 38(t), cost his radio operator an arm, and sent the tank's own brittle steel and rivets ricocheting through the crew compartment with more lethality than the round itself. By 1942, surviving 38(t)s were relegated to reconnaissance and anti-partisan duties, with frontline tank production halted entirely.

The chassis, however, lived on. It continued in production for the Marder III tank destroyer through 1944, with components later feeding into the Jagdpanzer 38 Hetzer, which served through to the war's end. Anti-aircraft variants, ammunition carriers, and recovery vehicles followed, ensuring Czech-designed running gear remained on the battlefield long after the tank itself had been retired.
The Panzerkampfwagen 38(t) demands a certain uncomfortable admiration. Designed by Czech engineers to defend their own country, it was press-ganged into service for the nation that had dismembered it — and performed brilliantly in that role. It gave the Blitzkrieg a cutting edge the Wehrmacht could not yet manufacture in sufficient numbers on its own, and its chassis outlasted the tank by years.