- Yes
- No
History:
The Lehký tank vzor 34 or LT vz. 34 is a Czechoslovakian tank made by Českomoravská Kolben-Daněk as a result of the vz.33 having unsatisfactory performance.
Ordered in 1931, a prototype vehicle was ready by November 1932. After some very positive evaluations, a order of 50 vehicles was made.
There was some light turbulence in delivering the production vehicles as the design wasn’t finalised until December 1933. There was an offer by CDK to up gun the LT vz.34s main armament to a Vickers 44/60 gun but was ultimately rejected. Initially, the first six production tanks were delivered with only machine guns but were later returned to the factory they were made to bring them up to scratch with the rest of the production vehicles. The last tank was delivered on the 17 August 1936 making a total of 51 total LT vz. 34s.
The LT vz. 34 wouldn’t go long without a replacement, the LT vz. 35. One of the reasons for this was that the 15mm of armour was insufficient. This however allowed the LT vz. 34 to act in the training role, replacing the Renault FTs. The LT vz. 34 would be used by the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Tank regiments.
When the German occupation begun, 22 LT vz.34s including the prototype were captured. The Slovak Republic and Hungary also received 27 and captured 1 respectively.
Hungary repaired it’s sole unit in exchange for buying the licence to build the T-21 tank. It saw an uneventful carrier in training from 1941 to 1943.
The Slovak LT vz. 34s were used by the Martin Armoured Battalion but were eventually relegated to just training. They saw their only combat in the Slovak National Uprising, resulting in 10 LT vz. 34s being abandoned by the insurgents and later captured by Germany. The remaining tanks would be dug in to protect the approach to Zvolen
Germanies LT vz. 34s saw little use, with most of the tanks being scrapped barring two as the Waffen SS attempted to transfer the tanks to Croatia. By March 1945, the two tanks had the turrets removed to equip two more machine guns as part of fortifications.
Specifications:
Crew- 3
Armament- 1x 37mm ÚV vz. 34 cannon and 2x 7.92mm ZB vz. 35 machine guns
Mass- 7.5t
Length- 4.6m
Width- 2.1m
Height- 2.2m
Armour: 8-15mm
Max speed- 30km/h (4-cylinder, water-cooled Praga engine with 62.5hp)
Sources:
Kliment, Charles K. & Francev, Vladimír (1997). Czechoslovak Armored Fighting Vehicles 1918-1948.