One of my favorite series of books from Osprey Publishing is the New Vanguard series. These are equipment books that cover a variety of subject at a level that doesn't go into minutiae so that those who want to know more can always go to the larger (and much more expensive) enthusiast publications.

This particular one is on one of the most successful German light tanks of the early war. What's more, it was not a German design, but a Czech offering. Basically, these guys just got it all right and produced a tank in the late 1930 which, for the time, provided the right combination of firepower, speed and protection.

At a time when other nation's light tanks were armed with machine guns or small canon, the Panzer 38(t) had a 37mm gun that was able to penetrate the armor of all its opposition. It also had a different suspension that looks similar to a Christie suspension, but was not and was simple to maintain and helped provide the relatively good speed of the tank.

Where it differed from German tanks is that it had a two man turret vice having room for three. This meant that the tank commander was also the gunner, requiring extra work from him. However, it was used in quite large numbers during the first year of the war. The Germans were able to get the tank thanks to their invasion of Czechoslovakia in the year prior to the war, making Czech military equipment of all sorts available to the German military.

The tank was also used up to and including the invasion of the Soviet Union, but by that time it was obsolescent and unable to stand up to the Soviet T-34, despite improvements to the design that included double the thickness of armor. However, it was still useful as a reconnaissance tank and for use in anti-partisan operations where they would not have to face bigger tanks. The chassis was also most useful for other types of AFV such as the Marder III SPG and the Hetzer. The tank saw limited use post war, but was still in some nation's inventories in the late 1950s.

As usual, this series provides a look at the background that led up to the tank, its use in the armies of other nations and its use during various battles of the war. This is accompanied by excellent period photos as well as equally fine art-work that includes a cut-away of the tank. In all, it makes for an excellent book on the subject and one that needs to be on the shelf of any armor modeler and enthusiast.

November 2014

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