Tankopedia
WW2LightLight TankCzechoslovakia / Germany

Panzer 35(t) / LT vz. 35

In service 1936 - 1942

Czechoslovak light tank seized in 1938 that helped Germany invade Poland and France.

Built bySkoda, CKD

Panzer 35(t) / LT vz. 35
Panzer 35(t) — MoRsE, via Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 3.0

Development history

The LT vz. 35 was a capable pre-war light tank with a four-man crew and pneumatic-servo controls that made it easy to drive but maintenance-hungry. After the occupation of Czechoslovakia, Germany absorbed some 200 into the 6th Panzer Division and used them through Poland, France and the opening of Barbarossa, where the Russian winter wrecked the pneumatics. Others served Slovakia, Romania, Hungary and Bulgaria into the mid-war years.

Variants

One canonical record, 3 recorded variants.

  1. LT vz. 35

    1936

    Original Czechoslovak army version

  2. Panzerkampfwagen 35(t)

    1939

    German service with radio and revised stowage

  3. R-2

    1937

    Romanian export version, later rebuilt as TACAM R-2

Notable actions

  • Invasion of Poland (1939)
  • Battle of France (1940)
  • Operation Barbarossa