Boring to some, I know but Skoda where responsible for building some truly revolutionary military vehicles. Indeed, they where the weapons foundary for the Austro-Hungarian empire and later became affiliated with the axis powers during WWII after Austria and Czechoslovakia where annexed by Germany .

Their model LT vz.35 Tank was the best ground weapon available, employed by Germany for the invasion of Poland and was still the major tank used in the invasion of France. It had better terrain crossing capabilities than the later German designs such as the panzer IV but lacked the fire-power to knock out heavier french and british designs. The follow-up LT vz.38 suffered no such problem.

They also designed the battleship triple turret which used by the Kriegsmarine's heavy cruisers and pocket battleships such as Sharnhorst and Graf Spee.

Skoda were worldbeaters in their heyday and almost world conquerors. Thank the lord for nazi beaurocracy and a few decades under communism or we'd all be driving one.

Anyway where was I ? I heard that Skoda made an amphibious car in the 50's has anyone got one or any pics or details? would love to hear about it.

Hairy

Czechoslovakia

Once under Nazi ownership, Skoda did indeed produce the Panzer 38(t) - the t is the initial letter of the German for Czechoslovakia - and it was the finest light tank in the West.

In 1940 the Germans used 2 whole Panzer divisions of Pz 38(t)s in their attack on France.

When the Germans launched into Russia in May 1941, they used over 800 Pz 38(t)s, over a quarter of their armoured strength. The Germans got a shock when they came across the T34, a tank that immediately made the Pz 38(t) obsolete.

The tank got a completely new life when its chassis became a basis for a long line of light self-propelled guns. Captured Russian 76.2mm guns were modified to take German rounds and mounted in a thin armoured box to become the Marder [Pine Marten] series of tank-hunters, with German 75mm guns mounted later when they ran out of suitable captured weapons. Other carried 150mm howitzers or anti-aircraft cannons, with yet others converted to recovery vehicles and ammunition carriers. Which then leaves me to finish with the most numerous variant, the tank-hunter Hetzer (Baiter, as in the nasty little kid making your life at school miserable) with over 1,600 produced. Despite being disliked by its crews - it was cramped and gun traverse was particularly limited - post-war it was retained by the Czechs and was sold to the Swiss.

You can see a Hetzer at both the IWM Duxford (Cambs) the Bovington Tank Museum (Dorset).

Incidentally, Afghanistan were in discussions to buy the tank but were thwarted when the Nazis took over all production.

The variants had engines of either 120bhp or 150bhp, so many reading this will have cars with more power than Skoda tanks.......

Ian

Edited 14 January, 201016 yr by Ian_D

Didnt they also use the 38t in 39' in thier blitzkrieg of Poland?

I can't believe the old ones that had a 5000cc engine and only 38bhp! Unbelieveable how much the technology has come. I mean a modern 1 litre engine will have over 50bhp these days!

It is quite interesting to look back at skoda's history especially with something so obscure like tank building! lol

On the military side it should also be remembered that the Skoda Werke were also utilised [with an Austrian designer] in small aircraft production - the Skoda Kauba.

I found a amphibious Skoda - the Skoda 972. This is the English information the site provides over it:

This photo shows the one and only prototype of "Skoda 972" that still exists, but there where built 5 prototypes in the year 1950. This last one you can see at "Lesany Museum" in Czech Republic.

"Skoda 972" (army name: MOZ-2) is a 4x4, that can carry 4-passengers, self support body/no-frame construction.

Engine(s): 1,2L - 45HP / 1,5L - 52HP, in-line.

4-step gearbox and 2-transmission.

Dimmentions: (LxWxH) 4520mm x 1735mm x 1770.

Top speed: 85km/h (land) / 10km/h (water).

That quote is from the following site:

The Amphiclopedia

Final link is for a site that appears to be in Spanish:

Semolites

Edited 24 February, 201016 yr by rx20a

hmmm in military side skoda is doing really good job..launching new models..greatt going..

On 14/01/2010 at 20:48, Ian_D said:

Once under Nazi ownership, Skoda did indeed produce the Panzer 38(t) - the t is the initial letter of the German for Czechoslovakia - and it was the finest light tank in the West.

In 1940 the Germans used 2 whole Panzer divisions of Pz 38(t)s in their attack on France.

When the Germans launched into Russia in May 1941, they used over 800 Pz 38(t)s, over a quarter of their armoured strength. The Germans got a shock when they came across the T34, a tank that immediately made the Pz 38(t) obsolete.

The tank got a completely new life when its chassis became a basis for a long line of light self-propelled guns. Captured Russian 76.2mm guns were modified to take German rounds and mounted in a thin armoured box to become the Marder [Pine Marten] series of tank-hunters, with German 75mm guns mounted later when they ran out of suitable captured weapons. Other carried 150mm howitzers or anti-aircraft cannons, with yet others converted to recovery vehicles and ammunition carriers. Which then leaves me to finish with the most numerous variant, the tank-hunter Hetzer (Baiter, as in the nasty little kid making your life at school miserable) with over 1,600 produced. Despite being disliked by its crews - it was cramped and gun traverse was particularly limited - post-war it was retained by the Czechs and was sold to the Swiss.

You can see a Hetzer at both the IWM Duxford (Cambs) the Bovington Tank Museum (Dorset).

Incidentally, Afghanistan were in discussions to buy the tank but were thwarted when the Nazis took over all production.

The variants had engines of either 120bhp or 150bhp, so many reading this will have cars with more power than Skoda tanks.......

Ian

My hobby is plastic modelling...have a couple built by Skoda.

38(t) ausf f 1/16 scale

35 munitions carrier in 1/35 scale.

Can post up pictures if any interest