29. The Czech Tank That Fueled the Blitzkrieg
Most people who are topically familiar with WWII armor know of the conflict’s best-known tanks: American Shermans, Russian T-34s, and German Tigers and Panthers. Long before those German heavy tanks made an appearance, however, the famous blitzkrieg of the early war was conducted with tanks that are little known today. One such tank was not even German, but Czech: the Panzerkampfwagen 38(t).
Designed by the Czech engineering firm CKD, and used by the Germans after their 1939 occupation of Czechoslovakia, the 38(t) proved an effective light tank that played a significant role in the blitzkrieg and Germany’s early WWII successes. It performed well during the invasion of Poland, the onslaught on Western Europe, in North Africa, and the invasion of the USSR.
