World War 2 photo: German Kleiner Panzerbefehlswagen tankette (Kl.Pz.Bf.Wg.), destroyed by Russian anti-tank guns on the Eastern Front, based on the light tank Pz.Kpfw. I from the 20 th Panzer Division (20. Panzer-Division) of the German army (Wehrmacht) of the Third Reich. The Eastern front.
Location: Soviet Russia
Date of the photo: 1941
Kleiner Panzerbefehlswagen (Kl.Pz.Bf.Wg.) is a German armored command and staff vehicle of the 1930s (known in Russian literature as a command tank).
Kleiner Panzerbefehlswagen (Kl.Pz.Bf.Wg. is a “small command vehicle”), Sd.Kfz.265 the command tank on the Pz.Kpfw. I Ausf. B chassis. Created in 1935 as an improved version of the Leichte (Funk) Panzerwagen. It was distinguished by a modified armored superstructure of increased height, which made it possible to accommodate a third crew member. In addition, unlike its predecessor, which was devoid of any weapons, the Kl.Pz.Bf.Wg. was equipped with an MG-34 machine gun, located in a ball mount in the front hull. Layout – engine compartment at the rear, transmission at the front, combined combat and control in the middle. The engine is an in-line 6-cylinder carburetor liquid-cooled. The suspension is interlocked in pairs, on leaf springs and individual on vertical springs. Armor – rolled chromium-nickel steel.
A total of 184 command tanks of this variant were produced from the summer of 1936 to the end of 1937. The first combat use of the Kleiner Panzerbefehlswagen took place during the Spanish Civil War; later they were actively used at the initial stage of the Second World War, but due to weak armor they were largely replaced by 1941 by the more advanced command tank Panzerbefehlswagen III with a crew of 5 people (4 officers and a radio operator) on a Pz.III chassis.