|
In July of 1934 when Panzer I was still in production , waffenamt ordered a new vehicle with thicker armor and increased weaponary than Panzer I. the Vehicle was to be armed with 20mm automatic cannon. In 1935 several companies supplied waffenamt with their designs and prototypes for 20MG Panzerkamfwagen VK622 ( Versuchkraft Fahrzeug- Agricultural Traktor). Panzer II was to replace Panzer I and was capable of firing armor piercing shells. In October of 1935 the first Prototype was prepared and extensively tested and in late May the first series of 10 was produced and was called Panzer II AusfA. Compared to Panzer I it had heavier armor and was armoed with 20mm KwK30L/55 automatic cannon. It was outclassed by the day it was produced and was useless in combat but its production was a great step in producing more powerful tanks. Panzer II was produced as a trainning and second duty tank , but it was used in the front lines because of delays in the production of Panzer III and Panzer IV. the tank was pretected by 20mm which couldn't protect the crew from anything more than small fire arms. Several versions were produced from Ausf to Ausf L.versions from Ausf A to Ausf F were armed with 20mm KwK30L/55 automatic gun which was developed from 20mm antiaircraft gun(Flak30) which was capable of firing 280 rounds per minute. Beside the gun it also had a single MG34 7.92mm mounted on the turret. Panzer II was operated by 3 men a commander who sat in the turret, a driver and a gunner.
In May 1938 ausf D/E ( Schnellen kampfwagen) entered production. only 43 were produced by MAN and were able to reach the Maximum speed of 55km/h. the armor was also increased from 20mm to 30mm.
Panzer II ausf G,H,M were also produced with only little modifications. Ausf J 's armor was significantly increased from 30mm to 80mm. they were all heavy infantry soppurt vehilces.
the final version was Ausf L and was a lighty armoed reconnaissance vehicle . MAN was ordered to produce 800 of Ausf L but only managed to produce 104.
Panzer II made the bulk of the German army during the Polish campaign and was also used during the French Campaign. Several units were send to Africa and had many new features to be able to survive in the desert. Although the tank was outclassed from the day that it was produced , it saw action until 1942 - 1943 . then it was withdrawn from the battle field was used as a second duty tank and atraining vehicle. Its. chassis was used for several self propelled guns such as : Wespe , Marder , Flamingo, SchwimPanzer, SturmPanzer II( Bison ) and even as waffentragers armed with 105mmLeFH howitzer. |
|
