Tank museum Axvalla/Strangnas Sweden

Battlefield Flandern with a destroyed tan. Ref 1

Tank museum, Strängnäs
Pictures from museum actual 2007 Axvalla, 2011 Strängnäs
Official links: Museum in Strangnas
Most pictures are from the old museum in Axvalla. Only few of the vehicles are shown in Strängnäs

since 060105
Updated
2012-04-19
© Ref. 1
Björn Bellander

page 1
created 2008

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Swedish version

strv fm31 1935

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strv fm/31. Ref 14

Armored vehicle fm31 was a trial model and it was only built in 1 copy. It was on trial during 1935 and 1940. The cause to this construction was that sufficiently strong bands could not be manufactured. This was what all European countries suffered from. This knowledge was solved later in the 30th. The spring system is almost a copy of a railway carriage from this time. The car was so equipped that it was also possible to drive backwards with the wheels down. This system should save the bands. Later on it was possibly to turn around with one pair of wheels locked. The car had a 8 cyl Maybach engine with 150 hp, weight of 11.5 ton and could be driven with 35 km/h on bands. The Russians had the same idea for their wagons. They could be driven with 100 km/h on wheels.
Later 4 copies were manufactured without wheels. The manufacturer was Landsverk. They were one of the first in Europe to be welded instead of rivet together.

page 2

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Swedish version

strv m21
strv m21-29

Links

Swedish M/21

This tank is from the beginning a German construction. It was not ready to be on duty during WWI. It is in design much alike an English tank called Whippet. It was captured by the Germans in the end of the war. In Germany it was hidden and Sweden bought it later as tractor parts. It was assembled at the navy yard in Stockholm. In Germany everything what they could was hidden in basements and farmers barns. All people had the feeling that the Versailles treaty was unfair. Later Sweden built/bought 10 copies and from them 5 were modernized. They were on duty till 1940. This tank had the serial number of 9 and is roadworthy. The tank could resist normal machine gun ammunition. It has a weight of 10 ton and the engine was a Mercedes Benz 2 block engine with 50 hp. The highest speed was 16 km/h. The 5 modified got a Scania Vabis engine with 85 hp and the speed was raised to 18 km/h. One copy is to be found at the German tank museum in Munster.

page 3

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Swedish version

strv fm28
Renault

Links

Renault NC27

1915 the interest for armored cars started to increase. A French Colonel Etienne made a suggestion. In spite of much resist from other people within in the army a pre serial was manufactured. But the army didn't like it. The weight was 6.5 ton and had a Renault engine with 25 hp. This tank was compared to the English Male and Female tanks much faster. After rebuilding, 2500 copies were ordered. Not until 1918 the type was put in battle. Of course it was further improved and got a cast turn able turret with 37 mm canon and machine gun. This type is the main child for all further tank designs. In the 20th, 25 were produced of this type. It had a weight of 8.5 ton and a 60 hp Renault engine. This gave a speed of 20 km/h. The tank was not approved in France and the production was sold to other countries. Among them Japan, Poland and Sweden bought 1 tank. The big trouble for it's time in Sweden was the design of the belts. It was like skating.

page 4

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Swedish version

Tankett Carden-Loyd-V, VI

Tankett is the English for a Small Tank. The wagon was used during WWI as a deliverer of ammunition and food? for the front lines. It was able to resist gun fire and fire from light machine guns. From the beginning it was a French design and was called "Chantilett". In Sweden it was used as a trial tank for pulling troop on skies. May be it was the pre unit for the Swedish band vehicle 301. Of course the tankett was build with different kind of equipments, as this water cooled machine gun unit. Besides you can see the model VI with an A-Ford engine and folding gates. No. V was equipped with a T-Ford engine at 22.5 hp.
I remember when living in Grums Värmland, in the end of the 40th an amusement park came and built their establishment on the football area named Billevi. It was muddy and their wagons were stuck in the clay soil. They brought out a Tankett in order to free them. Of course my memory is not exact, it could have been a Universial Carrier also. Anyway at that time, very impressing.

page 5

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Swedish version

Goliath

Links

Goliath in page

Goliath Zündapp

Other types

Between the years of 1943 and 1945 Zündapp together with Zachertz manufactured together 4229 small remote controlled belt driven armored wagons carrying a bomb. These bombs could be up to 100 kg. Remote controlling was done by a cable up to 650 m long. This was rolled out from this wagon from behind.
These machines were named Goliath and the history of these remarkable belt wagons started 1940. The Germans took care of a wagon alike constructed by French Kegresse, beside the river Seine. The French had hidden it there. It was carefully investigated and Borgward got the commission to construct copies. The first model could carry explosives up to 60 kg and was driven by 2 electric motors from Bosch. It got the model name Sd.Kfz.302 and Borgward manufactured them together with Zachretz. The model that Zündapp designed got the model names Sd.Kfz.303a and Sd.Kfz.303b and was motored with 2 cyl 2-stroke 703 cc and 12.5 hp. The most important difference between these two was that that the last one could carry 100 kg and the second 75 kg.
The main purpose with these was that they should be navigated into different enemy areas where soldier could not overtake without heavy losses. Another purpose was to send ammunition and food through enemy lines to supply soldiers that were surrounded. In practice this armor was not used so much. Text from Wikipedia

page 6

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Swedish version

pzkw1

Links

Pzkw I

Battle tanks

This tank type was set in production 1934. Through the cooperation between Genaral Lutz and Heinz Guderian Germany realized that tank divisions were needed. This tank was suggested and every heavy manufacturer such as Rheinmetall, Krupp, Henschel, Mann and Daimler Benz were engaged. Complete history read in the links. The suggestion from Krupp was chosen. A first order of 150 copies was done. Henschel became the main manufacturer 1934. The tank had a weight of 5 ton and the engine which Krupp delivered had 57 hp. From the beginning it was an tank for practice and had only 2 machine guns. In the beginning of Hitler's career you can see this model in most of all military parades. This was the only armored tank Germany had sufficient numbers. It was tested in Spain and was used in battle for the first time in the Polish campaign. Later it was rebuild several times and was equipped with different types of guns. It was also used as a heavy gun tank with a 15 cm canon. This last one became though to heavy and only 40 copies were build. Most tanks that came to Sweden after the war were tanks that the Germans had used or only transported to Norway. When arrived to Sweden vital main parts were destroyed. This tank came to Sweden 1947.

page 7

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Swedish version

Tank car L170 "Paddan"

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Tank troops

This is a Swedish built car at Oskarshams shipyard 1929. It is as one can see riveted and equipped with a 85 hp engine. Landsverk started later with welding. Both front and rear wheels are steerable and can be driven in both directions. For this a special gearbox is mounted. Extra wheel in the middle to protect from being stopped besides road. The armored car was named L-170. Seeing this today it is a horrible construction. As a luck this armored car became so expensive that only one copy was built. Later armored cars were built on Tidaholm lorry chassis. See next picture.

page 8

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Swedish version

Armored car m31,
L-180

Links
Armored car m31

Panzer car fm/25

There were several earlier types of this armored cars. This must be one of the last types because it has double rear and air wheels. L-180. Strictly speaking all constructions for this type of cars were a total chaos up to WWII. No one knew how they should look like. Normally they took lorry chassis from Ford, Volvo or Chevrolet. That means what to get within Sweden. Even war trophies from Finland was used in Sweden. These were normally rebuild Ford lorry chassis. All were equipped with machine guns and canons. The where put at a suitable place. Very common was a canon mounted on the loading area. Air rubber wheels were not common until late 30th. The vehicles possibility to drive in terrain were almost nonexistent. They had also only drive wheels in the rear. In spite of these old fashioned constructions they were used up to beginning of WWII. One can also think upon why not better cars were manufactured. Germany had late 1930 designed good workable band driven cars of good quality. The museum car looks like the Russian BA-10 from 1932. with its double rear wheels and turret. It is only a copy and normally everything was done that way.

page 9

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Swedish version

strv SII m/41

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strv m/41

Swedish m/41

The name SII comes form a Czech development tank. It was ordered by the Czech defense and with full name of TNH P-S I/II. Sweden ordered 90 copies of this tank, but Germany took them as war trophy when they took over in Czechoslovakia. Although Sweden succeeded to get drawings and construction and building started. The tank that was built in Czechoslovakia was riveted and screwed together. This type of design was no good because the rivets went of when hit and went like bullets inside the tank. But generally speaking it was a good design for it's time with 10 ton, a Czech engine with 150 hp. This tank was used by the 7th and 8th German tank divisions in France led by famous Erwin Rommel. Wehrmacht ordered totally 2584 tanks. In Sweden the usual dance started when something new was bought. The army ordered 116 tanks with less armor and 104 copies with thicker protection and stronger engine. It was planned that SII should get a new and stronger engine from Scania, by this reason it had to be lengthened. Before all had been delivered the last version was changed to sav m/43. It was well known that in Germany they rebuild them to canon tanks. For this they were well suited. Later the hull from this tank was used for infantry transport tanks like pbv 301. Se picture.

page 10

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Swedish version

strv m/38

Links

When a new tank is designed and built the builder normally use mild steel. This is for the possibility to make changes much easier. This actual type was designed by Landsverk already 1936, because they had a contract from Austria. The remarkable construction way was that it was fully welded. This was not normally done in Europe. It was also the first type that used the American Christies type of torsion spring system. It was equipped with radio and periscope. From the beginning it was named L-60 SI/SII. They were exported to Ireland and Hungary before Sweden ordered one copy named L-60 S. It was build only in 16 copies because of 2 reasons. First Landsverk had not the capacity and second a new type was on the way m/41. In Hungary 200 were build on license. These copies were later fighting on the eastern front. The Swedish out of service tanks were during the 50th sold to Dominican Republic. There they were used for many years. These type of countries didn't have need for tanks in the army but used them instead for parades and keeping people down. The same thing was bound for a Russian tank T35 which only were used in parades at Red Market in Moscow.

page 11

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Swedish version

strv m/39/m40L/m40K

Links

Tank m/40

This tank design was manufactured only in 16 copies and named m/38. It was followed by the series m/39, m/40L and m/40K. These designs now started to look like the tanks that were used by the fighting countries during WWII. But we have now reached 1944. At this time Germany and the other fighting countries had tanks weighing up to 60 tons and engines up to 700 hp. What Sweden had were not a fight if we should have needed. During this time the Swedish army leaders prolonged several times with updates and changes so the producing companies was full up with work. None of the Swedish tanks had the slightest chance to fight the tanks of the eventual enemies. They were bad armored, long time to shoot and a canon of kindergarden type. m/40K which was manufactured by Mechanical Works in Karlstad. This type had a better armor but lack of engine powered with only 162 hp. This type started it's life already 1938 and the last got the name S/V. It had now the weight of 11 tons and was updated several times with better armor. The measures of this type was settled by the broadness and bridge possibilities to wear in Sweden. That's why this type was narrow, high and had a to small supporting area of the bands. The tank became unstable. The American Shermans had at this time over 400 hp and a 76 mm high speed canon. The German Panther and Tiger tank had 650-700 hp and armored up to 100 mm in front. Wonder if the Swedish tank crews had bad stomachs if they had understood the situation. Even though these things all of the Swedish tanks were good to rebuild for artillery wagons, like the Germans did with their tanks from the 30th. The latest Swedish tanks m40/K had 22 tons were during the 50th rebuild with a new tower a quite good canon, were even more unstable when they had to keep the main hole in the hull. All this defense chaos was caused by the government way of not giving the army money enough up to 1939. It took time to build up knowledge and manufacturing capacity. Not until in the middle of 1950th Sweden had reached the European level. The same thing was valid for the air force up to 1948.

page 12

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Swedish version

strv m/42

Links
strv m/42

str m/42 Ref 14

When the new 22 tons tank came 1944 the producers stated to get their ideas in good order, even though they were ten years after in development. The tank was still too narrow and the broadness was too small for the bands. Compare the number of carrying wheels with m/40K 6 against 4. Later they took up the German idea with wheels wrap over like Panther and Tiger. In this way they got a bigger carrying area. Bridges in Sweden! The wheels don't give any support between the axles. The engine didn't develop sufficient power for all the updates the tank were given. It had several different gearboxes and the weight became larger every time. Several engine configurations like two Scania 162 hp or Volvo C8 380 hp. For these they mixed with electromechanic or hydraulic gearboxes. No one was good enough because of slow gearing. The Volvo C8 engine was not ready developed and caused much problems. Some tanks were rebuild to work as leading tanks, but kept the outside look. At last during 1950th all with Scania engines were rebuild to tank 74. This type got a new tower and a bigger canon. All with Volvo V8 engine were rebuild to Ikv 74. There were no bigger changes comparing to m/42. Only a change of name.

page 13

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Swedish version

Strv 103 S

Links

Site from P18

Wikipedia 103S

Pictures 103S

Perhaps the Swedish tank army got their own "Nordenskiöld" who decided that the new tank could be build without a tower. This man was Sven Berge who suggested a tank without a tower to save money and weight. This happened in the beginning of the 50th. Earlier the army had only got rest products without any fighting value, far away when the Renault 28 was on service. Nordenskiöld was the man in the air force. He refused all old junk airplanes. Also he could not stand all so called "besser wisser", as von Porat wrote in his book. Only the best or nothing. Bofors, Landsverk and Volvo established a company. They designed a hull which was called KRV and was aimed for a tower tank. 2 prototypes were build by Landsverk. This was going to be very expensive and Berge who had his working place in the army stab suggested that they could build a tank without a tower. This should be cheaper and a less heavy tank. But there were several problems that must be solved. All in the leading group put their hope in this tank design. 1958 Bofors got an order to design a prototype. With the 2 tanks build by Landsverk Bofors designed a very unconventional tank without a turning tower. You should also know that from the beginning several foreign conventional tanks stood on the list. It was American M60, the German Leopard 1 and the French AMX. The air force had succeeded so good with the fully Swedish designed fighters. We were not members of Nato and had to pay all by ourselves. Why could not the tank designers in Sweden do that too and be independent of foreign countries. May be the army commanders had this in mind. This case went through despite heavy discussions. Remember also that in the beginning of 50th the stabilized canon was not yet possible to use. Sweden needed for it's defense a tank not in the first place for attaching nor to stop attacks. It should be good to stand hidden, be difficult to see and destroy. For this the 103S was extraordinary good. This tank had several good advances. Several "besser wisser" tried to give this type bad reputations without knowing that it should be used for what it was build for. 103S became though not perfect at once. 3 versions were build, even a 4th called D, but was cancelled when decision 1995 to buy Leopard 2 came. Now the development had come so far that the only thing that was missing were a stabilized canons and more power, but during 20 years the 103S succeeded to scare the enemies when they planed for an invasion of Sweden. A tank that no canon at that time could penetrate the front because of its low profile, sloping armor and with the last version the high speed. But development and upgrading had been cheaper if money had been put on the tower KRV.

page 14

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Swedish version

strv 74

Links

strv 74 (eng)

In the beginning of the 50th a demand for a lighter armored tank came up. This was to fill the gap while waiting for the heavy KRV (later 103S) to be ready. This was because the Swedish army didn't have money to buy the French AMX. Now a request was to look in all storerooms and see what quickly could be upgraded. Well, lots of outdated m/42 tanks. These were already when they were new hopeless outdated with its bad canon and underpowered engine. This tank was from the beginning a updated m/39 and earlier models. These designs suffered of the bureaucratic Swedish rules about weight and broadness which ruled the Swedish roads. By this reason the hull had been high and narrow and of course hard to drive. In order to follow the politicians wish the army said that we can change the tower and in that way get a better canon. There were several air defense guns in store from 1937. Now the problem started. The main hull diameter was to small to make a tower in order to get place for the canon and all sub devices. The canon was set offset 300 mm and could not be balanced. It was solved by a heavy spring to compensate. The tank became of course even higher and it was easy understood that it could turn over in forest. Before it was decided that a long canon could not be used in Swedish forests to support the infantry but this was changed when Centurion came to Sweden. From the English tank lots of solutions were stolen. Next was the problem to turn the tower. The tank had got 2 Scania 6 cyl engines and these were just only for driving. No generator may take power for turning the tower. Therefore an ordinary VW type 1 engine and a generator given 6 Kw was mounted in a box outside the tower with it's own gasoline tank for 4 hours running. The gun was put in position sideways by this generator and leveled vertical by the gunner. Imagine that 103S was complained not having a stabilized canon! All these old tanks were ready upgraded 1960 and the job was done at the tank works of the army. Of course it became cheap. 360000 skr/tank. We got 3 for one Centurion. These tanks was not better than when they after 6 years were moved to second line for support. It was just as buying cheap tomatoes which are uneatable after 3 days.

page 15

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Swedish version

strv "Leopard 1"

Links

Krauss-Maffei

When people study the development of tanks one starts to understand what the most important construction principles are. Big carrying wheels and supporting wheels carrying the band. The number of wheels should be at least 6 to 7 depending of the smallest diameter that is accepted. The carrying wheel have to be spring supported by torsion bars. Sloping panzer round the whole tank. A high speed canon at up to 120 mm, which is stabilized and can be used with different kind of ammunition. It shall also be equipped with automatic loading system. The pointing system must be controlled by a computer. Engine has to be a diesel with up to 1000 hp for tanks up to 40-50 tons. It has to be placed in the rear and put power over rear breaking wheels. The crew must be 4 persons. The tank must be able to reach min 50-60 km/h and an operation length of over 500 km on roads.
In order to reach this Germany from 1955, developed during a 10 years of period a tank named Leopard. This tank was upgraded 6 times with large changes and was placed in the first line up to 1990. At that time it was changed to Leopard 2. Some important differences between 103S and Leopard 1 was that the Swedish S-tank had 200 hp less but the same weight. It had not a stabilized canon and could not shoot while moving. It had only 4 carrying wheels and only 3 crew members. A notable similarity was that both tanks had hydro pneumatic spring system with which the tank was able to be put in angels. Sweden kept the 103S in service just as long as the Leopard was on duty in Germany when the next generation was built. Tanks started, during the beginning of 2000, to be so expensive that smaller countries could not afford to design those warships on land themselves.
Germany had extraordinarily knowledge to design good tanks. All their knowledge during WWII to build tanks was still available. Of course all the leading designers was gone but their pupils*) were now in lead. The companies like Krauss-Maffei, Krupp, Rheinmetall and others had good knowledge to build them. The leading construction office was still Porsche. Leopard 1 was produced in over 6000 copies during the period and was sold to Australia, Canada, Turkey, Denmark, Belgium, Chile and Italy, Even Norway bought 172 copies. This of course over the Nato membership.

*) Some history. Joachim Peiper well known SS officer within the panzer troops. He was released free from his lifetime judgment 1956 and got job at Porsche works, which had the main design commission for Leopard. Joachim who worked at Porsche till 1961 had extremely good knowledge about how tanks should be developed. 1961 he got work at Volkswagen as a salesman. Later he was killed 1976 in France.

page 16

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Swedish version

Stug III D

Links

King Tiger
Hetzer
Marder
Stug III G
Sturmgeshütz
Pics King Tiger
Tiger 1
Sinsheim Panzer

The Stug tanks were produced in many different models. They had a weight of 10 to 14 tons. They were build on all from pzkw III to Panther and Tiger hulls. They were much cheaper to produce without tower and didn't need so power full engine and thick panzer. Price for one copy was only 24000 RM. This was 1/3 of the price of a Panther or Tiger. They had the model designation of A to G. About 10000 copies were built of all different designs. The problem was of course that the canon couldn't be angled so much. It was von Manstein who put effort on this type of tank. At the end of the war when there were hardly any tanks left the Stugs were used in first line. The Hetzer was alike construction and was built on the 38 ton chassie. This was the tank from Czechoslovakia. The same tank Sweden had built a variant on. This tank is recognized for the 4 big carrying wheels. Se page 9. Sweden did also produce a variant like Hetzer.

According Panzermuseum Axvalla Sweden bought 1947 one King Tiger and one Panther from France. Note that one of my links state that Sweden already 1943 bought one Panther. From the Tiger there is only the engine and a tower cover left. The cover was found at a shooting field. As the Tiger tank was not drivable, see the middle picture it was transported to Finnerödja by train and then towed the remaining 60 km to the shooting field of Karlsborg. For the towing one Sherman and one M25 Dragon Wagon were used. The Tiger was totally destroyed there except the tower which was moved to the shooting field of Kråk. This means that the rests of the Tiger tower lies rusty at Kråk. The type of this King Tiger and Panther look just the same. To separate them one must almost control the weight. The Tiger had a weight of 69 ton and 100 mm panzer in front.
The Panther was used as late as 1960. 1961 it was sent as a gift to panzer museum Munster Germany.

page 17

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Swedish version

Comet 1
Churchill MKIII
AMX13
Centurion 81
strv 104R

Links

The pansar Vikings

Churchill MKIII

The British tank designers during WWII were far behind the Germans. The English tanks were constructed with the premises as low speed, good panzer protection and a small canon. They were not "blitzkrieg" tanks. In order to raise the English level, the industry got order to design tanks in parity with the Germans. But the time marginal was too short. The old thinking showed up all the time. Tanks like Cromwell, Challenger and later Churchill were all at that time behind the Germans. The last one, Churchill, was projected for good passable, good protection, small canon and therefore low speed. Look at the small carrying wheels. They could easy be destroyed in stony areas and also be cogged up in clay. The good thing was that they gave the tank good carrying surface. The band slipped direct on a plate in the upper side and used lots of power, by friction, from the engine. The machine gun was mounted so low that it could not fire to the sides without hitting the bands. See picture below. Compare the big picture from a Comet from 1944 where the machine gun is mounted a bit higher but not good enough. It was later put away completely. Although the British designers were on the right path. The comet became later quit a good tank and was often used in the Korea war. The next generation of Comets became the Centurions. The Comet tank that is on display at Axvalla came to Sweden 1955. The tower is tested by a canon shoot. The hole where the grenade got out is still left.

The centurion tanks came to Sweden early 1953 because of the England had bad balance of trade with Sweden. These tanks were named strv 81. This meant 84 mm canon and model 1. This system was later used on the development models in Sweden. From this we have strv 101 and so on. Before the buying of the English Centurion the American M60 and the French AMX were tested. All of these had their advantages but it was judged that Centurion had the best development potential. The tank was equipped with the Rolls Royce V12 Merlin engine rebuild for tank design. When Sweden scraped the Centurion the spare engines were sold on the open market for 20000 Skr. Nice thing to have in garage and start early in the morning. Better than the morning bell. Centurion was used in Sweden at the same time as tank 103S A-C. It was decided that a new tank, Leopard 2, was not going to be bought until year 2000. That's why Centurion was upgraded to strv 104. Even upgrading to 105 and 106 were on the spot but was not realized. Look at the picture from Vislanda scrapping station showing tank 302. It could have been 103S or Centurion. Here the Swedish pride like the strv 103S and all steam locos which had been stored since the early 1960th under the hands of a skilful used cutting blowpipe. This was a sight. I was there.

page 18

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Swedish version

"ChieftainMk10"
Sherman
Different engines

Links

site from P18

Chieftain 1

MBT Chieftain

Chieftain history

M4 Sherman

General Sherman

Sherman Firefly

Ford V8 engine

When Centurion had reach the version 7 Chieftain was developed. Mainly the chassis or as it's called "hull" was a copy of Centurion, except that only 5 main carrying wheels were used. A new tower had been designed and the driver had been place in a lower position. 1963 it was acknowledge for English panzer forces. Sweden bought one copy for trial, when discussion time was on for replacing 103S. Chieftain was sold in over 1000 copies to Iran, where it was needed for the war against Iraq, and others, but Israel was denied to buy it. The great in the new design was that no partridge were used. The engine was a 2-stroke diesel with 750 hp. Compare Junkers air engines.

Centurion was equipped with a V12 Rolls Royce. A well approved engine. Two pictures above show an installation for education.
The first version of Sherman had a Wright Whirlwind 9 cyl. 350 hp star engine, manufactured by Wright Continental. It was air-cooled and was started with compressed air. The small 2-stroke compressor engine is standing behind. Sherman Firefly version which was manufactured by greatest number had a complicated engine from Chrysler. It was put together by 5 Chrysler side valve engines and worked together through 4 crankshafts. The lowest crankshaft was delivering the power and got power from the other three over gear wheels. A somewhat complicated construction. It had 30 cylinders and a power output of 450 hp. A very careful adjustment of the engine had to be done, in order to have the power from the different blocks to work alike. Evil tongues said that only three blocks delivered power. Ford constructed one (no picture) petrol V8 called GAAIII with 18 litre and 450-500 hp. This last engine was the next most produced one. See link Ford V8.

page 19

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Swedish version

Russian T34

Links

T34 Medium tank

Russian T34

Private T34

Saving T34 after 56 years

No one thought that the Russians could produce a tank that was better than all others at that time in the war. This was not easy for them and as always there were different meanings how it should be designed. Thanks to the high pressure and the serious situation in the war against Germany and also the heavy losses in Finland. This showed that the tank models in the army were not adaptable for this war. Most designers thought as whole Europe that the tanks should not cooperate with the infantry and the air born forces. Constructions with several towers and so called cavalry tanks equipped with wheels that could be let down, for quick transport. See picture on page 1. In action they were big, heavy, slow and with bad panzer. One forerunner, T32, was stopped by the administration and even the follower of T32. As a luck Russia had a good diesel engine with 500 hp. This made that from Stalin's leading group a decision came that T32 must be developed, and this became T34. The characteristics for this tank was the engine, broad bands, big carrying wheels, sloping panzer and a 76 mm canon. The ergonomics of the tank took no consideration for the living crew inside. The casting was coarse and to save time not painted. Forget the finish, it's lifetime was too short for putting time on such things. A logistic masterpiece was it when several works had to be moved behind Ural mountains to the city "Tankograd". The famous fighting area in Stalingrad, Tractor works, produced 50% of all tanks before the German army came there. Consider the bad roads and railways in Russia it was a achievement to produce up to 50000 tanks till the end of war. Before this model was stopped producing near 100000 copies had been made in several countries. Only a few of the copies were equipped with radio. The tank chief had very hard to form an opinion of the situation on the fighting place and also the driver (see picture with the driver's chair) to see, must have the closing lock partly open, because the tank had a bad prism. The education of the crew was only 72 hours and this made cooperated operations bad. Worst was that the mechanical persistent in engine and gearbox caused 50% of all losses. But what the matter it was so many of them. 1941 when the first tanks after a 2000 km test were sent to front the German were really afraid. Their 37 mm canon and the pzkw III and IV could not match the T34. But as a luck the drivers had bad sight and normally drove with full speed straight ahead and didn't take advantage of the terrain. In this way the tanks were often caught and lost visual contact with the leading tank. The tank leader ruled the tanks in action by flags and these where hard to be seen by the other tanks. The wagon had never time to stop for shooting. The German tanks had radio and started the tactic to drive crisscross and didn't stop for firing, instead they shot moving in spite of they often didn't hit the target. This made that with pzkw III and IV could place themselves behind the T34:s or on the sideway. In this way they could penetrate the T34 where the panzer was thinner. At this moment the Russian infantry already had been thrown off their wagons. The German tactic ended later with the air defense gun 88 could stop the T34 in the distance of 2000 m. But the 88 was very vulnerable from air fighters. The T34 was of course developed all the time and new and heavier models came to. At the same time it took Germany 1 year to design the Tiger and Panther tanks. Germany could by no means conquer the production speed of Russia. 1943 the JS (Josef Stalin) tanks started to show up and now Russia was on level with Germany. The result after the war can be summarized that the Russian panzer tactic and education level never reach up to the German. The Russian suffered from big losses could always be replace by new tanks. This was not possibly for the German army.

page 20

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Swedish version

Links
There is nothing written on internet about this wagon.

One copy of tank S was rebuild as a mine destroyer. It was a modern habit in Sweden to try to make something in order to bring life to a higher level in those war countries in Asia. Mines are a big trouble there. The organization for help in Sweden, SIDA, had money and put it on this project. Much was written in papers about this and all were very proud and hopefully when the tests went on.
A marine developed engine from Hedemora works was build in. It was a V8 diesel rated at 1500 hp. It was given a higher rpm to reach this effect and was coupled to oil pumps and a generator. This oil pressure power was used for the rotating deminer and also for driving of the wagon. As I was working at Hedemora Diesel with the submarine engines for Australia, I very well know about these kind of engines. They were very big, heavy and consumed lots of diesel. About the deminer one can have many opinions of, but there were parts as spare if something was blown in pieces. How to manage, when it dug down in clay, I don't know. Another is how they succeeded to cool the engine. Lots of electricity for the 4 fans. There was problems that the wagon was rocking and could not keep the suitable depth. This may be caused by that only 4 carrying wheels and that the hydro pneumatic system had not power enough to fight the forces from the deminer wheel. Note the trial with lorry wheels in the rear. This project was cancelled as none was interested from the countries where it should work. Not even SIDA. Any way the Swedish government had trusted our conscience and the project was buried in the forgetfulness of silence. A firm Scaniac in Vikmanshyttan took the idea and build one from their forest tractors. This construction succeeded to be sold in several copies.

Link to other musems with tank exposures
Sinsheim military vehicles

Pictures from the following owners has been used in bjorns-story with the appropriate permission:
Reference 1: ©Björn Bellander
Reference 14: ©Tankmuseum Axvalla
Reference 15: ©Hedemora Diesel

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© Björn Bellander