The base armament of the PzKpfW 38(t) consisted of a single 37mm Skoda A7 main gun mounted in a traversing two-man turret which was also fitted with a co-axially mounted 7.92mm general purpose, anti-infantry machine gun. The commander doubled as the gunner and the radio operator doubled as the loader - both men took their positions in the turret. The driver was seated at the front-right with the bow-gunner to his immediate left, this person manning the additional 7.92mm machine gun in the bow. 2,500 rounds of 7.92mm ammunition were provided for the machine guns along with 90 projectiles of 37mm ammunition for the main gun. The main gun was cleared to fire both AP (Armored Piercing) and HE (High-Eplosive) rounds as deemed by the commander/gunner depending on the target. AP was generally reserved for armored targets and HE for troop concentrations or fortifications. Power for the tank was derived from a single Praga EPA 150 horsepower petrol engine fitted to a rear hull compartment. The transmission system was coupled closely nearby in the rear and offered five forward speeds and a single reverse. The drive sprocket was at the front of the track arrangement with the track idler at the rear and two track return rollers under the upper portion of the track length. Four large, rubber-tired road wheels - set as pairs on leaf spring suspension systems - dominated each track side.
Though highly outclassed and mostly obsolete by 1943, the chassis of the PzKpfw 38(t) was put to excellent use by the Germans to form the Marder III and Jagdpanzer "Hetzer" assault guns. The Marder III appeared in two distinct forms receiving the different German inventory markers of SdKfz 138 and SdKfz 139. The former fitted the German 75mm anti-tank gun while the latter fitted captured Soviet 76.2mm anti-tank guns. Both versions sported an open-topped fixed superstructure with limited protection given to the gunnery crew. Similarly, the SdKfz 138/1 "Grille" was designed from the PzKpfW 38(t) chassis to incorporate the German 150mm infantry howitzer in an open-topped superstructure. The cost-effective Jagdpanzer 38(t) "Hetzer" became one of the PzKpfW 38(t)s most notable and successful conversion forms and fitted the 75mm L/48 anti-tank gun in a fixed, fully-enclosed hull structure. The gun had limited traverse and required the entire vehicle to point towards the target but proved an excellent ambush platform with a low profile and sloped superstructure. The Jagdpanzer 38(t) proved a highly successful tank-killer for its time and was accepted into service with Switzerland forces after the war as the G-13.
Other PzKpfW 38(t) forms pressed into service became the Flammpanzer self-propelled, armored flamethrower and SdKfz 140 Flakpanzer 38(t) anti-aircraft gunnery platform. The latter was fitted with a 20mm anti-aircraft autocannon and available in 141 total production examples in January of 1944 but these numbers severely declined to just 9 operational units by December of that year, her losses not being replaced. The SdKfz 140/1 was developed as a light reconnaissance fast tank mounting the turret of the complete SdKfz 222 series armored car - another cost-effective measure.
At least some 4,000 PzKpfW 38(t) related production vehicles (of all forms) were ultimately pressed into service - sometimes used in Soviet hands as captured specimens - during the war and in the years following. The 38(t) was gradually phased out of frontline duties, relegated to second line roles in support of armored divisions, by 1943 though serial production continued on in the after-war years to help replenish Czech Army inventories. Czechoslovakia remained a German interest from its occupation by Hitler to the end of the war in 1945.
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