LK II
| Light combat vehicle LK II Stridsvagn fm / 21 |
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|---|---|
.JPG)
Stridsvagn fm / 21 in Strängnäs |
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| General properties | |
| crew | 3 (commander, driver, gunner / loader) |
| length | 5.70 m |
| width | 2.05 m |
| height | 2.52 m |
| Dimensions | 9.70 tons |
| Armor and armament | |
| Armor | 4–14 mm armor steel |
| Main armament | 1 × 6.5 mm m / 14 machine gun |
| Secondary armament | 1 × 6.5 mm machine gun m / 14 |
| agility | |
| drive | 1 × 4-cylinder gasoline engine Benz 40 kW (55 PS) |
| Top speed | 16 km / h (road) |
| Power / weight | 4.12 kW / t (5.61 hp / t) |
| Range | 60-70 km |
The LK II (Leichter Kampfwagen II) was a German tank developed in 1918 from the time of the First World War .
history
The LK II was a further development of the LK I - a light tank that was built on the chassis of a civil Daimler car. Like its predecessor, it was designed by Joseph Vollmer .
Two versions should be made. Like the previous model, one had a turret with machine-gun armament in the rear. The second variant received the "parapet", a fixed structure in the stern area, instead of the tower. In these, a 37-mm should optionally gun from Krupp or a captured 57 mm gun to be installed. At the end of the war a prototype of his was ready. In June 1918 the first 580 vehicles were ordered by the War Ministry, later the order was increased to 800 units. A monthly production of 200 LK IIs was planned from April 1919, but they were no longer delivered to the army. The first six copies are said to have been ready by the end of 1918. The vehicles should be assembled by the company Steffen & Heymann, (Berlin) -Charlottenburg, engine and chassis should be provided by Daimler, (Berlin) -Marienfelde.
A total of at least 24 complete tanks were made. These differ from the prototypes in the design of the bug. Due to the Peace Treaty of Versailles , however, the German Reich was forbidden to own tanks, which is why further series production had to cease. The half-finished LK II were secretly sold to Sweden and Hungary - bypassing the Allied Control Commission .
Although the LK II was still in prototype status, work was already being carried out on the LK III as a successor. In this case - following the example of the Renault FT - the fighting compartment should be moved to the front and the engine to the rear. However, this vehicle was no longer built.
Use in Sweden - Stridsvagn fm / 21 and m / 21-29
In the summer of 1921, Sweden bought ten LK II vehicles for 100,000 crowns. These were exported to Sweden in the autumn of 1921 under the greatest of secrecy, disguised as "steam boiler plates" and "tractor parts". There they were first given the name Pansarvagn fm / 22 after their assembly in the “Flottans varv” in Stockholm , later they were called Stridsvagn fm / 21 (Strv fm / 21) . They were first used by the Svea Livgarde and then later used by the Göta Livgarde.
In 1928 the artillery department arranged for a vehicle to be modernized at Nydqvist och Holm in Trollhättan. It received a Swedish engine (Scania-Vabis type 1554 with 85 hp) and a new gearbox. This increased the top speed to 18 km / h. Modifications were also made in the front area, so it received two headlights that could be closed by flaps. The MG m / 14 previously used were replaced by MG m / 14-29 as part of this measure. The vehicle delivered in 1930 was given the new designation Stridsvagn m / 21-29 (Strv m / 21-29) . From 1931 to 1934 four more tanks (two more from NOHAB and two from AB Landsverk ) were converted accordingly. Car No. 10 was given to the German Reich as a museum piece at the end of 1938 because there were no more early tanks from the First World War. He was lost in World War II . The remaining nine Strv fm / 21 and Strv m / 21-29 were in service with the Swedish army until 1939.
Use in Hungary - "vontatók"
14 copies of the LK II are said to have reached Hungary, the first two as early as the spring of 1920. They were tested there. Since the Trianon peace treaty also imposed arms restrictions on Hungary as the loser state of World War I, the remaining ten came into the country packed in boxes and disguised as individual and “tractor parts”. In order to hide them from the Allied Control Commission, these were then frequently moved back and forth across the country in the dismantled state. The designation of the tanks at that time was V-1 to V-14. When the Control Commission left Hungary in 1927, the vehicles were to be assembled and put into service. At this point, however, not all parts were available or parts had become unusable. From 1930 onwards, only six tanks could be used by RUIS as "I" to "VI" ; they were used there until 1932. The Hungarian army had also lost interest in the vehicles because they had the Fiat 3000 B available from 1931 .
Received vehicles
In Sweden there is one Strv fm / 21 and one Strv m / 21-29. They were exhibited for years in the tank museum in Axvall and can now be seen in the Strängnäs arsenal. The LK II presented in Germany at the Munster Tank Museum is also a former Swedish Strv m / 21-29. The data given there refer to the prototype with cannon armament.
literature
- Didrik von Porat: Svenska armens Pansar. Army Museum Stockholm, 1985.
- Werner Oswald : Motor vehicles and tanks of the Reichswehr, Wehrmacht and Bundeswehr. Stuttgart 1990, ISBN 3-87943-850-1 .
- Attila Bonhardt, Gyula Sárhidai, László Winkler: A Magyar Királyi Honvédség Fegyverzete. 1992, ISBN 9633271827 .
- Gisela Zincke: Joseph Vollmer - designer and pioneer. Gaggenau 2001.
- FMvon Senger and Etterlin : The battle tanks from 1916–1966. Bonn 2001, ISBN 3-7637-6221-3 .
- Munster tank museum. Munster 1996.
