Panzer 38(t)

The Panzerkampfwagen 38(t) is a light tank originally designed in Czechoslovakia by the manufacturer CKD and adopted by Germany, under the formal designation Panzerkampfwagen 38(t), after the German occupation of Czechoslovakia, with the t in its designation standing for the German word tschechisch, meaning Czech. Weighing under ten tonnes and armed with a 37mm Skoda gun and two machine guns, it performed well for Germany in the 1939 invasion of Poland and the 1940 Battle of France, giving German panzer divisions a reliable, mechanically simple light tank at a time when domestic German tank production had not yet reached full scale. Over 1,400 were built before the design proved inadequate against heavier Soviet tanks such as the T-34 encountered during Operation Barbarossa, after which production shifted to using the same chassis as the basis for tank destroyers and other specialized armored vehicles rather than as a battle tank in its own right.