German Armored Rarities 1935-1945

The efforts to continue the development of the Panzer I and II, which had been regarded from the start as only transitory solutions, and in particular the development of an urgently needed armored scout car ("Luchs"), are portrayed, as well as the strivings for uniformity in Panzer III and IV on the one hand and V ("Panther") and VI ("Tiger") on the other. The invasion of Britain that was discussed in the autumn of 1940 brought about intensive development of floating and diving tanks, which later gained importance again as the deep wading capability of the heavy tanks that exceeded the load limits of many bridges, and to this day is taken for granted as one of the requirements of a modern tank. A series of tanks was fitted with flamethrowers instead of their primary weapons, in order to give flamethrowers off-road capabil­ity and bring them into action with armored protection; other viewpoints were influential in the mounting of rocket launchers on tank chassis, which, to be sure, did not get beyond the project stage. In view of the growing Allied air superiority, the call for effective Flakpanzer vehicles became more and more urgent and manifested itself in a number of such developments, many of which have already been portrayed in Volume 51 of this series. Several other interesting projects will be portrayed here. The conclusion will consist of several drawings of heavy tanks about which little or nothing was previously known. They will serve as documents of what arose on the drawing boards of the designers without being able to be turned into reality.

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