1:35 German Panzer Kampfwagen II
Item #35009

DESCRIPTION
About the German Panzerkampfwagen II

In the morning of September 1, 1939, the German forces consisting
of the 3rd, 4th, 8th, 10th and the 14th Armies invaded Poland
all heading for Warsaw, its capital. This was the beginning of
the 2nd World War that had shaken the whole world for six years
and the Germans made a good show of their war efforts at the
start with this violent surprise offensive by massed air forces
and mechanized ground forces in close co-ordination, the
so-called "Blitzkrieg". It was none other than the Pzkpfw 11 that
had played the key role in this Blitzkrieg which started with
the invasion of Poland to be followed by break-through of the
Maginot-line 7 months later and ended with the surrender of
France.

In anticipation of the delay in production of the two main
strength tanks of the Pzkpfw III and the Pzkpfw IV then under
development, the Ordnance Department decided in 1934 to develop a
new tank instead to fill the gap. It gave specifications of the
proposed new tank to the following three companies - the Mann,
the Krupp and the Henschel. The specifications envisioned a tank
weighing less than 10 tons and armed with 2 cm and 7.92 mm
machine guns, one each. Among the designs of the rivaling three
companies presented, the one by the Mann was selected and the
Mann in cooperation with the Daimler-Benz developed a first tank
of the a1 type in 1935. When 25 tanks of the same type were
produced, the tank was officially named, "Panzer Kampfwagen II".

After the first 25, another 25 tanks of the a2 type and 50 of the
a3 type were produced in succession by 1936. Tanks of these 3
types thus produced were equipped each with a 6-cylinder, 130HP,
May-Bach HL37 engine and credited with a maximum speed of 40km/h.
However, it was decried that the horse-power was not enough and
the engine was replaced with a May-Bach HL-62 one of 140 HP. The
frontal armour, too, was reinforced and a new tank of the b type
was produced. In 1937, the Pzkpfw II was further improved and a
series of new ones of the c type were produced. The c-type tanks
used 5 large sized road wheels suspended only at one end by leaf
spring. This suspension system newly introduced became a common
feature to all the pzkpfw II produced ever since. Also, the front
portion of hull was reshaped into a more roundish form. From
1937 to the beginning of 1940, Pzkpfw II of mass production
types, A, B, and C, were manufactured in great numbers. To
increase their productivity's, the frontal armour plate was
replaced with an angular single-piece one. Pzkpfw II with
specifications described above played the key role in the
Blitzkrieg. At the start of this Blitzkrieg, the German tanks
numbered 2580 in all, of which nearly half amounting to 955 in
number were the Pzkpfw II. In 1940, mass production of the F type
was started. The new Pzkpfw II was reinforced in its frontal
armour (thickened to 35mm) and side (to 20mm). However, the
improvement added its weight and its overall weight reached up to
9.5 tons. The main gun was replaced with a 20mm KwK 30 machine
gun. The gun used to be an anti-air MG but remodeled into a main
gun for a tank. Frontal armour to cover upper hull, also, was
changed into a plain single-piece plate. Further, a false
look-out window beside the genuine one for the driver and another
for the same were newly added. These were the distinct features
of the F-type tanks. After the F-type ones, those of the final
mass-production type G were produced. Their main guns were much
more powerful KWK 38 MGs, and each tank of this type was fixed a
sundries-box at the rear of gun turret. These two were main
features that clearly distinguished the G type from the preceding
ones.

A series of the Pzkpfw II succeeding those of the g type were
produced until those of the L type appeared. However, respective
numbers of the Pzkpfw II of types produced were all small. It is
true that judged by the current standard, these Pzkpfw II look
quite inferior both in fire and defensive powers. But when
compared with those of other countries active at the time, the
Pzkpfw II should be ranked as by far the most superior one.
Indeed, its nimble mobility matching well with the German
application was the driving force of the spectacular victory won
by the Germans at the initial period of the World War II.