Cover art for Light Panzers
Published
Osprey Publishing, September 2025
ISBN
9781472861771
Format
Hardcover, 288 pages
Dimensions
24.6cm × 20cm × 3cm

Light Panzers

Not yet released
Due September 2, 2025.
Fast $7.95 flat-rate shipping!
Only pay $7.95 per order within Australia, including end-to-end parcel tracking.
100% encrypted and secure
We adhere to industry best practice and never store credit card details.
Talk to real people
Contact us seven days a week – our staff are here to help.

This highly illustrated new study tells the full story of the German light Panzers in World War II.

The light Panzers that equipped the first Panzer divisions were originally intended as training or stopgap machines, suitable only until the arrival of the better-armed and -armoured PzKpfw III and PzKpfw IV. However, despite their limitations, they ended up playing key roles in the victorious campaigns waged by the German Army from 1939 to 1942.

This highly illustrated title describes the development and organizational history of the PzKpfw I, introduced in 1934, and the PzKpfw II, introduced in 1936. It explains how the annexation of German-speaking Sudetenland in 1938 and, subsequently, of Czechoslovakia itself delivered an unexpected bonus for the Panzerwaffe in the form of two Czech Army light tanks, introduced into German service as the PzKpfw 35(t) and PzKpfw 38(t). It goes on to cover the considerable operational service of these tanks in Poland, France and the invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941. From late 1941 onwards, they were withdrawn from front-line service but the chassis were used until the end of the war for self-propelled artillery and tank destroyers.

German armour expert Thomas Anderson draws on archival material, after-action reports and rare photographs in this comprehensive study of the German light Panzers that played a key role in the early years of World War II.

Related books