Eyes and Light Armor: Scout Cars and Light Tanks from the Schwerer Panzerspahwagen to the SK-105

The Schwerer Panzerspähwagen was a series of six and eight wheeled German armoured cars that took over traditional cavalry duties of reconnaissance and screening, scouting ahead of mechanized units. The atlas counts about 130 six wheeled vehicles built between 1932 and 1936 and 947 eight wheeled vehicles from 1937 to 1943, with the related Sd.Kfz. 234 family adding 478 more through 1945.

The Soviet BT tanks were light tanks produced in large numbers between 1932 and 1941, lightly armored but reasonably well armed and credited with the best mobility of any contemporary tank. They carried a 45mm gun and were known by the nicknames Betka and Betushka before the T-34, introduced in 1940, replaced the Soviet Union's fast, infantry and light tanks.

The Panzer II began as a stopgap while larger tanks were developed, yet it became the most numerous tank in the German Panzer divisions at the start of the Second World War and fought in Poland, France, North Africa and on the Eastern Front. It carried a 20mm gun, was supplanted by the Panzer III and IV by 1940 and 1941, and its chassis lived on as the basis for the Wespe and Marder II.

The Panhard 178, nicknamed Pan-Pan, was a French 4x4 reconnaissance armored car designed for cavalry units, with a crew of four, a 25mm main gun and a 7.5mm coaxial machine gun. It entered service in April 1937, and after the fall of France in 1940 captured vehicles served Germany as the Panzerspähwagen P204(f) while production continued under German control for several months.

The cruiser tank was a British interwar concept for modernized armoured and mechanized cavalry, distinguished from the infantry tank. The idea came from Giffard Le Quesne Martel, who preferred many small light tanks to swarm an opponent rather than a few expensive medium tanks. The series started in 1938 with the A9 and A10 and ran through the Covenanter, Crusader, Cromwell and Comet.

The Daimler Dingo, named for the Australian wild dog, was a British light, fast four-wheel-drive reconnaissance and liaison vehicle that entered service in 1940. The atlas records 6,626 built by Daimler between 1939 and 1945, with a Canadian-built variant, the Ford Lynx, adding another 3,255 from 1942 to 1945.

The Crusader, formally the Tank, Cruiser Mk VI and known by its General Staff number A15, was fielded early in the Second World War, and the first Mark I tanks entered service in 1941. More than 5,000 were built, the type contributed to British victories in North Africa, and the Mark I and II carried a 2-pounder gun of 40mm while the Mark III received a 6-pounder of 57mm.

The BA-64 was a Soviet four-wheeled armored scout car built by GAZ on a jeep chassis, with a hull loosely modeled on the German Sd.Kfz. 221. It was accepted for service on March 14, 1942 to replace the BA-20, mass production began in 1943, and over 9,000 were built, making it the most common Soviet wheeled armored fighting vehicle of the war.

The AMX-13 is a French light tank produced from 1952 to 1987, named for its initial weight of 13 tonnes. Its oscillating turret with revolver-type magazines was also used on the Austrian SK-105, and more than a hundred versions were made, including self-propelled guns, anti-aircraft systems and anti-tank missile carriers. It was exported to more than 26 other nations.

The M41 Walker Bulldog was an American light tank developed for armed reconnaissance, built by Cadillac between 1951 and 1954 to replace the aging World War II M24 Chaffee. Its weight and 76.2mm gun also made it effective in infantry support, and it was the first postwar American light tank to see worldwide service, exported in considerable numbers particularly to Asia.

The Panhard AML is a lightly armoured 4x4 armoured car with reconnaissance capability, weighing an estimated 5.5 tonnes and suitable for airborne deployment. The first prototype appeared in 1959 and production began in 1960. Several variants stayed in production for half a century, and fifty-four national governments and other entities have operated it, seeing regular combat.

The M551 Sheridan was an American light tank named after Civil War General Philip Sheridan, designed to be landed by parachute and to swim across rivers. Its 152mm gun and launcher was technically advanced but troublesome, firing both conventional ammunition and the MGM-51 Shillelagh guided anti-tank missile. The atlas gives its service as 1967 to 1996.

The Combat Vehicle Reconnaissance (Tracked), or CVR(T), is a family developed in Britain in the 1960s by Alvis and accepted into British Army service in May 1970, originally to replace the Alvis Saladin armoured car. Its small, air transportable vehicles share common components, and aluminium armour keeps weight down. The family covers reconnaissance, anti-tank, personnel carrier, ambulance, command and recovery roles.

The SK-105 Kürassier is an Austrian light tank and tank destroyer built by Saurer-Werk, later Steyr-Daimler-Puch, with a rifled 105mm gun in an oscillating turret like that of the AMX-13, designed for mountainous terrain. Initial deliveries began in 1971, hull production ceased in February 2001, and the atlas puts the total at roughly 600 to 700 vehicles.