Panzerkampfwagen 38(t) Picture
By Erik de Raad

Published Monday, November 28, 2005  | 0 comments  | Print  | E-mail

In the Jan 2006 issue "Dispatches" there is an interesting factoid about Germany’s Panzer production. The related photo has the caption " German Panzers Traversing a wheat field while fighting on the Eastern front. Nearly 20,000 panzers were built by the Germans during WWII." I trust that all of this is correct information, not being a researcher myself but I do find it ironic that the "German panzers" in the picture are actually Czech Skoda tanks captured by the Germans and put to their own use. Had things gone differently in 1938 those same tanks might have been used by the Czechs to repel lighter armed and armored "true" Panzers as they attempted to take the Sudetenland under fire…

Erik  de Raad

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Erik,

I share your interest in this particular photograph.  When I first opened to that page I had to break out my Encyclopedia of German Tanks of World War Two to verify exactly which model was there in front of me.  I knew it wasn’t one of the "pure" Panzers (PzKw I, II, III, etc.) and the rivets were the main giveaway.  However, it is difficult to say with certainty which model of Panzerkampfwagen 38(t) is shown here.  If you’d care to take a shot at it…please visit our forums!

To learn more about this tank, you can visit Achtung Panzer! for a nice overview.

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