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IIIs that took part in the invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941 outfought most Soviet tanks but were in turn completely outclassed by the new Soviet T-34, which had a lethal 76.2-mm gun, sloping armour, and excellent speed and mobility. III could accommodate these improvements because it had been designed with a larger turret and a 12-cylinder, 300-horsepower engine. The need for greater firepower and more protection was apparent by 1941, so newer versions were given a 50-mm gun and fitted with armour 30–50 mm thick. IIIs fought in the Polish campaign and about 350 in the invasion of France. It weighed about 20 tons, had a top road speed of 40 km (25 miles) per hour, and carried a crew of five. III was initially armed with a 37-mm antitank gun and two machine guns. III, which did not enter active service in large numbers until 1939. The first medium tank developed by Nazi Germany was the Pz. Get a Britannica Premium subscription and gain access to exclusive content.
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IIs were manufactured, with the later models specifically designed for use as reconnaissance vehicles. With its design limits reached, production of the Pz. To remedy this, the IIF version of the tank was equipped with a larger gun and thicker armour, but its combat performance in Russia and North Africa was disappointing, partly because its six-cylinder engine could not cope with the tank’s increased weight. II was clearly outgunned by Soviet and British tanks armed with 50- or 75-mm weapons. IIs in each of the invasions of Poland, France, and the Soviet Union. The tank weighed 10 tons, had a top road speed of 40 km (25 miles) per hour, and was manned by a crew of three. It carried a 20-mm gun and one machine gun and was protected by armour with a maximum thickness of 30 mm. It was nevertheless the mainstay of the panzer divisions in the first two years of the war, because of delays encountered in building the more powerful Pz. II was larger and more heavily armed and armoured than the Pz. IBs were built, of which about 1,450 fought in the campaign against France in 1940. By the time Germany invaded the Soviet Union in 1941, the IB’s vulnerability to light artillery and heavier enemy tanks had rendered it obsolete for any role except reconnaissance. The lightly armed and armoured IB performed adequately in these campaigns because it was used in massed formations and because opposing forces made poor use of antitank weapons. I first saw combat in the Spanish Civil War (1936–39), and an improved version, the IB, was used in large numbers by the German army in the invasions of Poland (1939) and France (1940). The tank weighed 5.4 tons, had a top road speed of 39 km (24 miles) per hour, and was manned by a crew of two. It was lightly armed, with two 7.92-mm machine guns mounted on its turret, and was likewise lightly protected by armour only 15 mm thick. II, III, and IV tanks could be put into service. I was a light tank intended as a training vehicle for the new panzer divisions until the more powerful Pz. I, in late 1933, and specifications for models II through IV were issued in the following three years. The German army began issuing specifications for its first tank, the Pz. This late reentry into tank manufacturing actually conferred a distinct advantage on the German army, which entered World War II without being hampered by masses of obsolescent tanks, as was the case with France, Great Britain, and the Soviet Union. After Adolf Hitler came to power in 1933, however, the army began to rebuild its tank forces, secretly at first and then openly from 1938 on. In the period following World War I, the German army had been prohibited by the Treaty of Versailles from using tanks. Panzers provided the striking power of Germany’s panzer (armoured) divisions throughout the war.
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The six tanks in the series constituted virtually all of Germany’s tank production from 1934 until the end of World War II in 1945.
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Panzer, German in full Panzerkampfwagen, series of battle tanks fielded by the German army in the 1930s and ’40s. Britannica Explains In these videos, Britannica explains a variety of topics and answers frequently asked questions.This Time in History In these videos, find out what happened this month (or any month!) in history.#WTFact Videos In #WTFact Britannica shares some of the most bizarre facts we can find.Demystified Videos In Demystified, Britannica has all the answers to your burning questions.Britannica Classics Check out these retro videos from Encyclopedia Britannica’s archives.