When France and Great Britain sacrificed Czechoslovakia to the Nazis to gain Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain’s “Peace in Our Time,” the Germans were more than happy to get their hands on the famous Czech arms industry and its products. IV with a short-barreled 75mm gun, but this tank was available only in small numbers. All around, it could outperform or was at least comparable to any tank in the German Army with the exception of the PzKpfw. A Praga inline 6-cylinder gasoline engine gave the LT vz 38 a top speed of 26 miles per hour and a range of 125 miles. The main gun was a Skoda A7 37mm cannon, equivalent in performance to the Germans’ own 37mm or the British 2-pounder. A four-man crew included the driver, bow gunner, gunner, and commander. It had riveted armor with a maximum thickness of 25mm and a minimum of 10mm, which was comparable to similar tanks of the era. After exhaustive testing, the Czechs adopted the LT vz 38.

With international tensions rising in Europe, in 1937 the Czech Army began a search for a new modern tank. The most successful conversion was the Jagdpanzer 38(t), commonly referred to as the Hetzer.

The Marder series especially appeared cumbersome and top heavy. Early efforts demonstrated the rushed and sometimes rough mating of a small, old tank with a large, powerful gun. One of their efforts to expedite weapons production was the conversion of old, outdated tank chassis into tank destroyers, or Jagdpanzers. By 1943 it was obvious to the Germans that their tank production could not keep pace with battlefield losses.

Modern german tank fireing speed