Military history

PANZERKAMPFWAGEN SD.KFZ.101

In 1931, Major-General Oswald Lutz was appointed “Inspector of Motor Transport” in the German Army (Reichswehr) with Heinz Guderian as his Chief of Staff. Both realised the need for the creation of the German Armoured Forces and a light training tank in which to train future personnel of Panzer Divisions. In 1932, specifications for a light (5-ton) tank were made and issued to Rheinmetall, Krupp. Henschel. MAN and Daimler Benz. The designers’ work was based on experiences from co-operation with Swedish Landsverk Company and previous “secret” projects.

In 1933, the Heereswaffenamt ordered the development of the Kleintraktor - an armoured vehicle between 4 and 7 tons in weight. It was designated as the La.S. (Landwirtschaftlicher Schlepper I La.S. - agricultural tractor) to hide its true purpose from the Treaty of Versailles. Rheinmetall, Krupp, Henschel, MAN and Daimler Benz submitted their prototypes which were all similar in design. It was Krupp’s design of the LKA I which was selected.

The design of the LKA I was partially based on the British Carden Loyd Mk. IV tankette chassis two of which were secretly purchased from Russia in 1932. Krupp’s design was then once again modified and in the summer of 1933, five La.S. chassis were produced and tested at Kummersdorf. It was then decided to mount Krupp’s chassis with the Daimler-Benz’s superstructure and turret.

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Panzer I Ausf A. in combat during the German invasion of Norway

In February 1934 further tests were performed and in April the improved LKA I (La.S.), known as the MG Panzerwagen - Versuchkraftfahrzeug 617 entered production. On entering production it was renamed the Pz.Kpfw I Ausf A. In April 1934, 15 were produced and all were presented to Adolf Hitler by Heinz Guderian.

The Panzer I was produced in two main very similar variants the Ausf A (1934) and the Ausf B (1935), which both had different suspensions and engines. In 1935/36, the Panzer I Ausf A was experimentally mounted with a Krupp M601 diesel engine, it could only produce 45hp of power, and the idea of a diesel powered vehicle was rejected.

The debut for the Pz.Kpfw I in a combat situation took place during the Spanish Civil War, 1936/38, where both the tank and the tactic of Blitzkrieg were put to the test. Approximately 100 Ausf A, Ausf B and Kleiner Panzer Befehlswagen I tanks saw service with the Condor Legion (Major Ritter von Thomas’ Panzer Abteilung 88 also known as Abteilung Drohne) and General Franco’s Nationalists. They were, however, outclassed by the Soviet T-26 and BT-5 provided to the Republicans. Some Pz.Kpfw Is which were captured by the Republicans were rearmed with French Hotchkiss 25mm guns mounted in a modified turret.

It was also at this time that the Pz.Kpfw I Ausf B was experimentally armed with 20mm Breda gun mounted in a modified turret, in order to increase its combat potential.

The Pz.Kpfw were allocated to two Nationalist tank battalions, the Agrupacion de Carros - 1st and 2nd Tank Battalions.

Following the Spanish Civil War it was obvious that the Panzer 1 did not have any potential as a combat tank and a further programme development into a fast reconnaissance and light infantry tank was started.

This began with the introduction of the Ausf C, Ausf D and Ausf F, completely new designs sharing only a limited number of components with the standard Panzer 1 Ausf B. The Panzer 1 Ausf C - neuer Art (VK 601) was produced by Krauss-Maffei and Daimler-Benz from late 1942 to early 1943 with only 40(46) being produced. The Ausf D - neuer Art verstarkt (VK 602) was an up-armoured and improved version of the Ausf C which was produced in limited numbers. The Panzer 1 Ausf F - neuer Art verstarkt (up-armoured new model) (VK 1801) was produced by Daimler Benz and Krauss-Maffei from April 1942 to January 1943 with only 30 being produced.

In mid 1943, a small number of Ausf C and Ausf F were combat tested with the 1st and 2nd Panzer Division fighting on the Eastern Front and later served in Yugoslavia. A number of Pz.Kpfw I Ausf C ended up in Normandy with LVIII Panzer Corps, where they were lost in 1944. The Ausf C, D and F never entered full production. Today, the Pz.Kpfw I Ausf F can be seen in the Museum of Armoured Forces in Kubinka near Moscow in Russia.

The Panzer I was the main tank of the German army during the Polish Campaign with some 1445 in service (as such they provided approximately 50% of all tanks in service). During the African campaign the PzKpfw Is were equipped with larger filters and an improved ventilation system.

In early 1942. Panzer Is were taken out of service and were handed over to the Police and anti-partisan units; those without superstructures were handed over to para-military organizations such as NSKK (National Socialist Motor Corps) for training purposes. A total of 511 PzKpfw I turrets

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Panzer I’s seen here during the march past Adolf Hitler in front of a jubilant crowd in Vienna, March 1938.

CONVERSIONS

In 1939/40, 100 PzKpfw I Ausf A/B were converted into Ladungsleger I (Ladungsleger auf Panzerkampfwagen I Ausf A or B / zerstorerpanzer) - a 50kg explosive charge layer vehicle. They were especially designed for engineer units to provide them with the charge carrier for delayed action explosives and saw combat service during the Blitzkrieg in the West with 7th Panzer Division and then in Russia.

During the African campaign, at the Battle of Tobruk, a small number of Panzerkampfwagen I Ausf As were converted in the field by the Africa Korps 5th Light Division into Flammenwerfer auf Panzerkampfwagen I Ausf A. It was armed with light portable infantry Flammenwerfer (flamethrower model) 40 and an MG, in place of right hand machine gun. Some 10 to 12 bursts could be fired with a range of 25 metres.

The most radical conversion based on the modified PzKpfw I Ausf A was the Flakpanzer I (Sd. Kfz. 101) armed with a 20mm Flak 38 L/1 12.5 sun. It was based on the modified Munitionsschlepper 1 Ausf A (Sd.Kfz.l 11) a light ammunition carrier. Approximately 24 were produced in early 1941 by Alkett in Berlin and all went into equipping three batteries of the 614th Flak Abteilung with eight vehicles each. The last of those interesting conversions was lost at Stalingrad in January of 1943. A PzKpfw I was also modified and mounted with a 15mm MG 151115 Drilling heavy machine gun. It was captured on the Eastern Front in 1943.

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