OA vz. 27

Heavy armored car. Slovakia had three of these.

OA vz. 30

A row of OA vz.30 light armored cars. 10 were used until replaced by the Panzer II.

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T-33(t)

A Czech built tankette, the design was influenced by the Vickers Mark VI tankette, seventy were used by the Slovaks. The Tancík vz. 33 vehicles were only used for training though some did see action against the Germans during the Slovak Uprising.

LT vz 40

An LT-40 command tank. The LT-40 was like a somewhat scaled down LT-38. There were two versions: one with just a machinegun and one with the same armament as the LT-38, i.e. a mg and a 37 mm gun.

LT vz 34

Four LT vz. 34 tanks on exercise. The Slovak army had 27 of these which were mainly used for training.

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LT vz 35

Czechoslovakia built 298 LT vz 35 from 1936 - 39 as their main battle tank. Following the German occupation, most were taken into German service, seventy nine were kept by the newly created Slovakian army. See the Czechoslovakia section for details.

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Marder III
Panzerjager 38(t) fur 7.62cm PaK36(r) Sd Kfz 139

The top left picture is of a destroyed Marder III, probably during the Slovak uprising. 18 were sold to Slovakia. Problems faced by Axis troops in Russia when they encountered superior Russian armor was to be solved in the short term by the production of self-propelled anti-tank guns. Since the Pz Kpfw 38(t) was obsolete as a battle tank and considered too slow as a reconnaissance tank, it was ordered that a number of the chassis under construction be converted to gun carriages. A prototype Sf (SP) mounting a Russian 7.62cm gun was built in December 1941, and an order dated 22 December 1941 called for production of 17 units per month from 24 March 1942, and for capacity for 30 a month from July onward. Several orders were issued so that eventually 344 were built. From July 1942, Hitler ordered at all Pz Kpfw 38(t) production be used as Sf. The 7.62cm PaK36(r) was the Russian FK296 rebuilt to German specifications and rechambered to take a PaK40 cartridge. Conversion was made from the large stocks of guns captured during the initial success in Russia. To cope with the greater weight of the self-propelled guns, the motor was increased in power to 150hp. This model was introduced in July 1942 as the Ausf H.

PzKpfw 38(t)

Accepted for service on 1st July 1938 as a replacement for the LT vz 35, the LT vz 38 had not entered production when the Germans occupied Czechoslovakia in 1939. The Germans were impressed by its features, and ordered it into production as the PzKpfw 38(t). Sixty nine PzKpfw 38(t)s were used by the Slovakian army.

Panzer II c
Panzerkampfwagen II Ausf c, A, B und C Sd Kfz 121

16 were used in recce units. The final model of the development series was the Ausf c, which bore the external feature that came to be recognized as the standard design for the Pz Kpfw II. The Ausf A was the first production series and was built from July 1937. The Ausf B was produced from December 1937, and the Ausf C, from June 1938.

Panzer III N
Panzerkampfwagen III Ausf N Sd Kfz 141/2

At least 5 to 7 of these were sold to Slovakia. In June 1942, because of the decreased effectiveness of the earlier versions of the Panzer III against enemy armor, it was decided to mount the 75mm KwK L/24 on the vehicle. The gun not only fired a more effective high explosive round, but also fired a shaped charge (Hohlladung) round that had better armor penetrating ability than the long barreled 50mm KwK39 L/60 which it replaced.

Olaf Schiltmans