The Å koda T-15 was an experimental
German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany, the country of the Germans and German things
**Germania (Roman era)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...
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Czechoslovakian
Czechoslovakia ( ; Czech and , ''ÄŒesko-Slovensko'') was a landlocked country in Central Europe, created in 1918, when it declared its independence from Austria-Hungary. In 1938, after the Munich Agreement, the Sudetenland became part of Nazi ...
light tank developed by
Å koda Works
The Škoda Works (, ) was one of the largest European industrial conglomerates of the 20th century. In 1859, Czech engineer Emil Škoda bought a foundry and machine factory in Plzeň, Bohemia, Austria-Hungary that had been established ten ye ...
for the German armed forces from 1941 to 1943. The T-15 never entered mass production or combat, and only no more than five prototypes - including two in mild steel - were built.
The T-15 weighed 11-13 tonnes, and was armed with a 37mm gun and
MG 34
The MG 34 (shortened from German: ''Maschinengewehr 34'', or "machine gun 34") is a German recoil-operated air-cooled general-purpose machine gun, first tested in 1929, introduced in 1934, and issued to units in 1936. It introduced an entirely ...
machine gun.
History
Designed by the company Å koda starting in 1940, it weighed between 11-13 tons and had a maximum speed of 50-60 km/h. By 1942 the German government had lost interest in the development of the tank, but the company still continued development in-house. Only four prototypes were made, and the T 15 never saw battle or entered active service. Note that it was supposed to be very modestly armored and armed like most light tanks, with a
5 cm KwK 39 L/60 gun and MG34 and 30mm armor at its weakest point.
Interest in the development of the tank declined in 1942 as the
Panzer II Ausf. L "Luchs" was more advanced, however Skoda continued the development project.
In total, Å koda-Werke has assembled four prototypes. However, the German army abandoned the construction of the fifth tank at the beginning of 1944, since by that time the more advanced
Luchs was already in mass production. As a result, the tanks were simply dismantled, and the projects of their variants T-15A, T-15B, T-15S and T-16 were stopped.
External links
* Pavel Pilar "Pruzkumne tanky Skoda T-15 a Praga TNH n.A.", ''HPM'' c.3/2000
* I.Pejcoch, O.Pejs ''Obrnena technika'' â„–6
References
* ({{usurped,
WebCite archive})
Light tanks of Czechoslovakia