In the morning of September 1, 1939, the German forces consisting of
the 3rd, 4th, 8th, 10th and the 14th Armies invaded Poland all heading
for Warsaw, its capital. This was the beginning of the 2nd World War
that had shaken the whole world for six years and the Germans made a
good show of their war efforts at the start with this violent surprise
offensive by massed air forces and mechanized ground forces in close
co-ordination, the so-called "Blitzkrieg". It was none other than the
Pzkpfw 11 that had played the key role in this Blitzkrieg which started
with the invasion of Poland to be followed by break-through of the
Maginot-line 7 months later and ended with the surrender of France.
In anticipation of the delay in production of the two main strength
tanks of the Pzkpfw III and the Pzkpfw IV then under development, the
Ordnance Department decided in 1934 to develop a new tank instead to
fill the gap. It gave specifications of the proposed new tank to the
following three companies - the Mann, the Krupp and the Henschel. The
specifications envisioned a tank weighing less than 10 tons and armed
with 2 cm and 7.92 mm machine guns, one each. Among the designs of the
rivaling three companies presented, the one by the Mann was selected
and the Mann in cooperation with the Daimler-Benz developed a first
tank of the a1 type in 1935. When 25 tanks of the same type were
produced, the tank was officially named, "Panzer Kampfwagen II".
After the first 25, another 25 tanks of the a2 type and 50 of the a3
type were produced in succession by 1936. Tanks of these 3 types thus
produced were equipped each with a 6-cylinder, 130HP, May-Bach HL37
engine and credited with a maximum speed of 40km/h. However, it was
decried that the horse-power was not enough and the engine was replaced
with a May-Bach HL-62 one of 140 HP. The frontal armour, too, was
reinforced and a new tank of the b type was produced. In 1937, the
Pzkpfw II was further improved and a series of new ones of the c type
were produced. The c-type tanks used 5 large sized road wheels
suspended only at one end by leaf spring. This suspension system newly
introduced became a common feature to all the pzkpfw II produced ever
since. Also, the front portion of hull was reshaped into a more
roundish form. From 1937 to the beginning of 1940, Pzkpfw II of mass
production types, A, B, and C, were manufactured in great numbers. To
increase their productivity's, the frontal armour plate was replaced
with an angular single-piece one. Pzkpfw II with specifications
described above played the key role in the Blitzkrieg. At the start of
this Blitzkrieg, the German tanks numbered 2580 in all, of which nearly
half amounting to 955 in number were the Pzkpfw II. In 1940, mass
production of the F type was started. The new Pzkpfw II was reinforced
in its frontal armour (thickened to 35mm) and side (to 20mm). However,
the improvement added its weight and its overall weight reached up to
9.5 tons. The main gun was replaced with a 20mm KwK 30 machine gun. The
gun used to be an anti-air MG but remodeled into a main gun for a tank.
Frontal armour to cover upper hull, also, was changed into a plain
single-piece plate. Further, a false look-out window beside the genuine
one for the driver and another for the same were newly added. These
were the distinct features of the F-type tanks. After the F-type ones,
those of the final mass-production type G were produced. Their main
guns were much more powerful KWK 38 MGs, and each tank of this type was
fixed a sundries-box at the rear of gun turret. These two were main
features that clearly distinguished the G type from the preceding ones.
A series of the Pzkpfw II succeeding those of the g type were produced
until those of the L type appeared. However, respective numbers of the
Pzkpfw II of types produced were all small. It is true that judged by
the current standard, these Pzkpfw II look quite inferior both in fire
and defensive powers. But when compared with those of other countries
active at the time, the Pzkpfw II should be ranked as by far the most
superior one. Indeed, its nimble mobility matching well with the German
application was the driving force of the spectacular victory won by the
Germans at the initial period of the World War II.
General
Physical Specification
| Package Contents: |
1x Tamiya German Panzerkampfwagen II (1/35)
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