German captured 7TP, Panzerkampfwagen 7TP 731(P)

[RazNaRok 616]

The 7TP, the most capable tank in Poland's inventory. It featured a new 37mm Bofors cannon with excellent performance against enemy armor, the proven Vickers suspension, and a number of improvements designed to over the limitations of earlier vehicles. These included a new engine to overcome overheating problems with a turret designed from the outset to accommodate a radio.

 

Would be a nice interesting addition to Germany's tier 1 premium lineup.

 

Genesis.

For the foreign counties government, works of the Polish arms industry at development and modernization of the Vickers mk.E tank construction to prepare tank of domestic construction were not a secret. When the 7TP was first presented at the Independence Parade,  it immediately became the main object of interest of foreign forces. 7TP, which was the Polish development version of the Vickers Mk.E, is perceived as the pride of the Polish arms industry in the interwar period. Polish engineers skillfully combine the products of the Swiss company Saurer (who made the diesel engine) and the Swedish company Bofors (who made the entire armament system), thus created a new vehicle that exceeded the performance of its predecessor. This tank of domestic construction used a number of proprietary solutions, including the perfect Mk.IV periscope. Polish tanks fought on an equal footing with German tanks in the 1939 campaign and many of these tanks ended up in the German hands as trophies.

 

Production

Regardless of the differences in the data on the volume of the production batches and their exact dates, the sources agree on the number of tanks built. Apart from two prototypes, 134 tanks of this type were manufactured. The Ministry of Defense approved the purchase of tanks in the amount of one company per year. After the first batch of 22 tanks in 1935, 16 tanks were built in 1936. 18 7TP was ordered in 1937. Unfortunately, such a slow pace of production was unacceptable, and therefore it was decided to sell 4 company of the obsolete Renault FT tanks to the Spanish republicans, and this in turn made it possible to order another 49 vehicles by 1937. The production capacity of the factories where both the 7TP tanks and the C7P tractors fought for assembly lines could not satisfy the tastes of military authorities. As a result, more tractors than tanks were built before the war.

 

Combat use.
The first recorded combat use of 7TP tanks was their participation in the invasion of Cieszyn Silesia, a disputed territory that was awarded to Czechoslovakia as a result of international arbitration in 1920. Czechoslovakia, which was simultaneously invaded by Germany under the Munich Agreement, did not resist. So the 7TP usage in the Silesia conflict was largely psychological in nature. 32 tanks in the number of two companies were included in the Silesian operational group. In September 1939, after the outbreak of the war, Polish tanks were successfully used against the German forces. Their combat values significantly exceeded those of the German PzI tanks, slightly exceeded the PzII and equaled the LT vz. 35, LT vz. 38 and PzIII used by the Wehrmacht. Tanks in the number of two battalions and two company were directed to defend against Germany, all of them effectively resisting the occupant.

 

Trophies

Faced with the overwhelming advantage of the occupier and the new Blitzkrieg strategy, Polish troops capitulated. The largely numbers of 7TP were in non running condition, abandoned on the battlefields, fell into the hands of the occupiers and after the required repairs were used in France (where they were discovered by the Americans in 1944) and during anti-partisan actions in Poland, Lithuania and Belarus. The retreating 10th Motorized Cavalry Brigade of Stanisław Maczek fought with the Germans near Tomaszów Lubelski. Parts of the brigade managed to break through towards the Hungarian border. After the internment of Polish forces, some Polish vehicles, including TK-S tankettes and 7TP tanks, fell into Hungarian hands. Most of the brigade, however, was captured by the Wehrmacht, which then captured Polish tanks. The captured vehicles were stored in a scrap yard in Tomaszów Lubelski.

 

German usage

Captured 7TP tanks were used by the Germans, but were not adopted as standard equipment. According to unconfirmed information, they were used in the 4th company of the 1st regiment of the 1st armored division during the French campaign in 1940. The available photos show the tanks, provisionally repainted in a standard gray color marked with white crosses, it is likely that they entered service directly from the captured units, but it is not known, if they were used for combat purposes or rather as a kind of trophy ("Beute"). Later, the PzKpfw 7TP (p) tanks were marked with regular German black crosses of a newer pattern, they were often subjected to field modifications, i.e. by adding four spare sets of road wheels on the rear panel and road lights on front plate. The captured vehicles were used mainly for auxiliary occupation tasks in Poland, including in Leichte Panzer Kompanie "Warschau" (1940-41), then for anti-partisan tasks in the Polizei Panzer Kompanie "Mitte" in Lithuania and Belarus (1941-43). At least one tank was found in 1944 in France.

 

 

7TP Technical specifications

 

General

• Production run: 1935 - August 1939
• Vehicles produced: 139
• Vehicles captured by German army: 20
• Combat weight: 9,900kg
• Suspension: Leaf-sprung bogies
• Crew: Three (commander, gunner, driver/mechanic)

 

Dimensions

• Lenght: 4.6m
• Width: 2.4m
• Height: 2.3m

 

Armour (degrees from vertical)

• Glacis (upper starboard / upper port / lower): 17mm @ 27° / 17mm @ 0° / 17mm @ 80°
• Hull face: 14.5mm @ 37°
• Hull side: 13mm @ 0°
• Hull rear (upper / lower): 5mm @ 30° / 10mm @ 79°
• Hull roof (deck / engine): 10mm @ 90° / 10mm @ 90°
• Hull bottom: 9.5mm @ 90°
• Turret face: 14.5mm @ 0°
• Turret side (starboard / port): 15mm @ 15° / 15mm @ 10°
• Turret rear: 15mm @ 10°
• Turret roof (front / middle / rear): 10mm @ 74° / 10mm @ 90° / 10mm @ 83°
• Manlet (main / MG): 10mm @ 0° / 8mm @ 0°

 

Armament

• Main gun: 37mm Bofors wz/37 L/45 (80 AP, APHE and HE)
• Sight: wz.37 CA (1.4x)
• Elevation +20° / -10° (manual)
• Secondary: 1 x 7.92mm Ckm wz.30 MG (coaxial) (3,960 rounds in 12 x 330-round fabric belts)
• Main gun rate of fire: 10rds/min

 

Motive Power

• Engine: PZInż.235 (Saurer VBLDb) inverted inline six-cylinder (water cooled) four-stroke direct injection (diesel) 8,550cm³ displacement
• Power to weight: 82kW (sustained) @ 1,800rpm (8.28kW/tonne)
• Transmission: Dry multidisc gearbox; four forward gears, one reverse gear
• Fuel capacity: 110l + 201 reserve

 

Performance

• Ground pressure: 0.60kg/cm²
• Speed (road / cross-country): 37km/h / 32km/h
• Operational range (road / cross-country): 160km / 130km
• Fuel consumption (road / cross-country): 0.81l/km / 1l/km
• Fording: 1m
• Step climbing: 750mm
• Climbing angle: 36°
• Trench crossing: 1.8m
• Ground clearance: 381mm

Gallery:

Two radio-equipped 7TP tanks on parade in Těšín, October 2nd, 1938

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Polish 7TP tank from the 3rd Armoured Battalion (1st platoon) crossing Czechoslovakian anti-tank obstacles on the Czech-Polish border

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Busting stereotypes of the Polish campaign: a Polish 7TP tank with German cavalry in the background

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Polish 7TP light tanks captured by Germans in 1939

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7TP tanks captured after a battle of Tomaszów Lubelski.

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A group of Germans is watching a captured Polish 7TP tank exhibited at the Leipzig Fair. The hole described in chalk after being hit by a 20 mm bullet is visible ca. 1939

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Some captured in 1939 7TP tank was used counter partisans in rear areas.

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Two 7TP tanks with provisional German crosses (different on both vehicles), apparently in Poland in 1939.

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7TP in German service, captured apparently by US troops in France. Note regular late crosses and an additional headlight.

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Sources:

• Polish Amor of Blitzkrieg by Jamie Prenatt
• Panzer II vs 7TP Poland 1939 by David Higgins
• Janusz Magnuski, Czołg lekki 7TP, «Militaria» Vol.1 No.5, 1996
• Rajmund Szubański: «Polska broń pancerna 1939».
• 7TP specification by forum user JanCheIIini

Edited September 4, 2022 by RazNaRok

[kurururocks 210]

Open for discussion

[G1label 143]

+1 I really hope we see this and other ww2 polish tanks in game at some point.

Edited September 4, 2022 by G1label

[JamesPond1200@psn 299]

I'd be happy to see this as a part of multiple tech trees, either premium or standard. We need Polish tanks in general! +1

[Milocat 4,857]

+1, I would really love to see more Polish vehicles in general.  But I also definitely want to see this captured one given that they were actively used in the war!

 

Edited September 5, 2022 by Milocat