PANZERKAMPFWAGEN II (SDKFZ 121) IN 1/15 SCALE. The Panzerkampfwagen II had a combat loaded-weight of 8.9 tones. It had a three-man crew comprised of a Commander, who also acted as gunner, a wireless operator and a driver. Armament was one 2 cm KwK30 automatic cannon mounted on the left of the fully-traversing welded turret which had a cyclic rate of fire of 280 rpm plus a co-axially mounted MG 34 machine gun. Over 2000 Pzkpfw II’s were produced between 1937 and 1940, making the Pzkpfw II the most numerous type of tank in the Panzer Divisions at the start of the war. It was to bear the brunt of the fighting in both the Polish and French Campaigns. Spearheading the Blitzkrieg in Poland; The Pzkpfw II’s slashed through the thin Polish armies like knives through butter. Polish horse cavalry brigades that attacked the Panzers with drawn sabres -----probably the very last time such a classic manoeuver was ever attempted in modern war-----were crucified. The few Polish prisoners the Germans took that survived these wild charges kept touching the German Panzers in amazement which puzzled the Germans greatly until they discovered that they had been told that the Germans only had cardboard tanks and that was why they had charged the German tanks with drawn sabres! The Campaign in Poland was won and over in a matter of days. The Campaign in France was also swift, in spite of the fact that France is as large as Poland. Despite the fact that the Pzkpfw II was a scouting tank, it was able to perform amazing feats, it would realize an unprecedented feat in the west; to advance 120 miles in one day; it was unheard of at the time, at that rate the Pzkpfw II’s would reach Paris in one week. There, one would see for the first time a small motivated German flimsy scouting tank route a large poorly-led clumsy French tank. It threw the whole French Army off balance and routed the allied forces. The Pzkpfw II had achieved the impossible, the world could not help but be impressed……
PANZERKAMPFWAGEN II (SDKFZ 121) IN 1/15 SCALE.
