Panzerkampfwagen I

History

The intention of introducing the Tank Model I (Sd.Kfz. 101) into the Wehrmacht was to use it as a training and exercise vehicle until the successor Tank Models II, III and IV were developed and available. Krupp commenced mass production of this tank (version A) in 1934.

The Tank Model I was first seen in action during the Spanish civil war in 1936. At the beginning of the Second World War the Wehrmacht was using about 1500 of these tanks in the ‘Blitzkrieg’ against Poland. After this operation the number of this kind of tanks in action was constantly reduced. However, the basis of this vehicle was still in use for a large variety of other Wehrmacht vehicles (e.g. tank hunters).

PzKfw I version A.

next page