R-3 was a proposed

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

tank A tank is an armoured fighting vehicle intended as a primary offensive weapon in front-line ground combat. Tank designs are a balance of heavy firepower, strong armour, and battlefield mobility provided by tracks and a powerful engine; ...

design for use in

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. It was basically a variant of the Czechoslovak S-II-c tank prototype (known as the T-21 tank after 1939), which was itself a variant of the Panzer 35(t) tank with pneumatic steering which was going to be built in Romania because of the repeated acquisition failures. Because of political reasons and the limited industrial capacities of both Škoda Works and the Romanian industry, the design never entered production.

History

In the summer of 1940, Romania's traditional interwar arms delivery partners,

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

and

Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia ( ; Czech language, Czech and , ''Česko-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 beca ...

, were under German occupation. Romania's armored forces were equipped with 126 light R-2 tanks (LT vz. 35s), 75 Renault R-35 tanks (41 of which were interned Polish tanks), 35 R-1 tankettes and 75 obsolete

Renault FT The Renault FT (frequently referred to in post-World War I literature as the FT-17, FT17, or similar) is a French light tank that was among the most revolutionary and influential tank designs in history. The FT was the first production tank to h ...

tanks. As the country was basically surrounded by hostile neighbours from all sides and the Renault R-35 tank deliveries were stopped, the

Romanian Army The Romanian Land Forces () is the army of Romania, and the main component of the Romanian Armed Forces. Since 2007, full professionalization and a major equipment overhaul have transformed the nature of the Land Forces. The Romanian Land Forc ...

sought to buy a

medium tank A medium tank is a classification of tanks, particularly prevalent during World War II, which represented a compromise between the mobility oriented light tanks and the armour and armament oriented heavy tanks. A medium tank's classification ...

The chosen design was the Czechoslovak S-II-c prototype, the successor of the LT vz. 35 light tank. The Romanian trials and field testing of the tank started in late 1939. This choice came naturally, as Romanian troops were already familiar with its predecessor. The prototype was later designated by

Škoda 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 ...

as the T-21 medium tank.

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...

refused to deliver tanks to Romania because the country was not yet part of the

Axis An axis (: axes) may refer to: Mathematics *A specific line (often a directed line) that plays an important role in some contexts. In particular: ** Coordinate axis of a coordinate system *** ''x''-axis, ''y''-axis, ''z''-axis, common names ...

. In August 1940, the talks were resumed, as Germany sold the license of an improved variant of the T-21 tank to

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...

. The Hungarian engineers improved the two T-22 prototypes sent to them by Germany and used these as the basis for their 40M Turán I medium tank. Romania, now part of the Axis, placed an order for 216 tanks in January 1941, but Germany couldn't deliver the tanks because of the limited resources. The delivery would have disrupted the production of other tanks. In June 1941, Romania ordered 287 R-3 tanks from Škoda, but Germany only delivered 26 worn-out Panzer 35(t)s. Rebuffed repeatedly, Romania eventually offered to build the tanks locally, but the country lacked the industrial resources to produce medium tanks and the project was eventually canceled.Skoda S-II-c

References

* Mark Axworthy, Cornel Scafeș, Cristian Crăciunoiu,''Third Axis. Fourth Ally. Romanian Armed Forces in the European War, 1941-1945,'' Arms and Armour, London, 1995.

External links

Picture of a S-II-c prototype

Pictures of T-22 during trials in Hungary
{{WWIIRomanianAFVs World War II armoured fighting vehicles of Romania Tanks of Romania World War II medium tanks Tanks introduced in 1938