- Yes
- No
caid’s suggestion #66
I would like to suggest a rather unique tank, the Swiss Nahkampfkanone I F2 or NK-I F2
The Development of the NK-I started in the middle of WW2. Switzerland was not blind to the war in Europe but while maintaining a neutrality policy, they knew they weren’t without risk of being invaded as well. having a strong defense due to the heavy mountain fortification, the Swiss were still capable of holding against stronger enemies but remained with weak mobility. unable to import any vehicles because the only bordering countries who could provide them with armor were Italy and Germany who were at the same time the main threat to them, they would see it as a provocation or an insult to see Switzerland importing tanks while they were no other potential treat than themselves. as such Switzerland had no choice but to produce new tanks with whatever they had in hand.
in 1943, the Swiss company Adolf Saurer AB took one of the few Panzerwagen 39 and modified it. extending the chassis by adding a new road wheel modifying the hull and adding a superstructure instant of the turret, they created a gun carrier that was capable of carrying a 75mm anti-tank gun. this tank can easily be compared to the German Marder II as the concept was quite similar. this tank was called Nahkampfkanone which means “mele tank” but only meant that it was created to provide direct fire and not fight up close. the tank also featured thin armour which was just enough to protect against shrapnel and small arms. the result was a pretty decent and cheap tank destroyer that could effectively engage the WW2 tank of 1943. the tank was studied until 1945 and it was decided it would not be good enough for services. but the design by itself was not the best for combat. an alternative version was studied to provide fire support. as such a 105mm was installed on the tank instead of the 75mm. this allowed to fire of much more powerful HE rounds and gave Switzerland a powerful artillery tank for close support. but the design wasn’t adopted as the NK-II was in development and was also intended to have a 105mm gun. this prototype was built in 1944 but soon reverted to a 75mm gun.
Firepower
the main armament of this tank is a 10,5 cm Haubitze 42 L/22. this gun was an artillery gun massively to Switzerland. Surprisingly enough it was capable of using an APCR but many details are not known to me about this round. there are also a lot of missing details about almost every round used by this tank. but the HE round should have a blasting penetration of around 25-27mm which is enough to destroy tanks, especially in low rank. the velocity is just under 500 m/sec which is decent enough to engage in medium range. this gun is mainly a Durp gun but still has a reload of 12 sec which is not that bad.
Mobility
The tank’s mobility wasn’t very great. but it was still decent. much heavier than the PzWg 39 on which it was based, it had about no modification on the propulsion making it slower in acceleration due to the lower power-weight ratio. powered by a Czech Vabis 1664 of 118 hp (often said to have 120 hp, but the exact number is 118 hp) it was 12.5 tonnes. this gives the power weight of 9.44 hp/tonnes. it was still capable of reaching 45 km/h with some effort. the tank would not be very mobile but still acceptable to fight.
Protection
the NK-I was built on the chassis of the PzWg 39 which means the tank was probably having the same armor on the lower part. the superstructure is thinly armored and only capable of protecting against small arms and Shrapnel. this gives about 40mm on the front of the chassis and 25mm on the side, but only around 8mm on the front of the turret which was doubled up with the gun shield. this makes this tank rather vulnerable to the main gun but capable of taking LMG safely. the superstructure is also fully closed making it a lot less vulnerable to aircraft but as soon they have 12.7mm, it would penetrate you easily. The crew of 5 men allows good survivability but most of them are all together in the superstructure.
source
- Nahkampfkanone I - Nahkampfkanonen - Raupenfahrzeuge | militärfahrzeuge.ch
- Nahkampfkanone 1 - Wikipedia
- https://wikiwarriors.org/wiki/Истребитель_танков_NK_I_Ausf_F2
- https://alternathistory.com/shhvejtsariya-vo-vtoroj-mirovoj-1939-1945/
- 10,5 cm Haubitze 1942 L22 - Haubitzen - Geschütze | militärfahrzeuge.ch
The Switzerland supporter discord is open to everyone
If you like to see some wacky tanks if you want to see unique aircraft, if you want to see something about a new nation that could make it to the game. Switzerland is for you
the Swiss Discord is dedicated to researching Swiss military material and support. no qualification is needed. if you want to help or have a look around, follow this link and we would be happy to welcome you
this link is valid for the first 100 persons
the 50 first to join get an automatic membership
