LIGHT PANZERS

Thomas Anderson

Osprey Publishing 2025

ISBN 978-1-4728-6177-1

Hard Cover, 288 pages

Osprey Publishing brings us Light Panzers from German authorThomas Anderson. Unlike Osprey’s familiar slim, softcover series of books, this is a weighty hardcover volume of 288 pages in A5 format, on high quality paper and copiously illustrated with black-and-white photographs.

The book is divided into an introduction and nine chapters, plus an index and acknowledgements at the back of the book. As one would expect, the book covers the German Pz.Kpfw.I and II, but goes further than this to deal with the Czech light tanks which became the Pz.Kpfw.35(t) and 38(t), prototype light tanks such as the Pz.Kpfw.I Ausf.C and Pz.Kpfw.II Ausf.J, self-propelled gun variants and even light tanks fielded by other nations during WW2.

The book begins with a 6-page introduction that briefly covers the origin of armored combat vehicles, beginning with war wagons in the15th century, progressing through Leonardo Da Vinci’s designs and evolving to tracked vehicles based on artillery tractors from Holt and Hornsby.

Chapter 1, Light Tank - Origins is comprised of 24 pages. It briefly discusses the creation of the original tanks by Britain and France, the somewhat chaotic development of the German A7V and the evolution of the light tank concept in the post-WWI period with the GrossTraktor and KleineTraktor/LeichteTrakor.

Chapter 2, Rearmament, devotes 48 pages to the early 1930s, when Germany began to develop armored vehicles in contravention of the terms of the Treaty of Versailles. This was a time of considerable innovation, not just in Germany but also in Britain, and Anderson touches upon the influence of the Carden Lloyd designs on inter-war armored vehicle designs and doctrine, as well as the development of the Pz.Kpfw.I and II. The book also discusses the organization and tactics developed by the Panzerwaffe during this period.

The Spanish Civil War was the first real test of German armored vehicles. Chapter 3, Condor Legion, covers this period in 12 pages, and describes the experiences of the German armored troops in support of Franco’s Nationalists.

Chapter 4, Skoda and CKD, takes 22 pages to cover the development of Czech light tanks culminating in the Skoda LT vz 35 and CKD LTvs 38. These would become the Pz.Kpfw.35(t) and 38(t) respectively, after Germany annexed Czechoslovakia in 1938.

The book devotes 74 pages to the use of light panzers in the Polish, Nordic, French, Balkan and Russian campaigns in Chapter 5 – Poland and Beyond. During this period, the Wehrmacht began to realize theshortcomings of the Pz.Kpfw.I and II, and the book deals with the redirection of those vehicles to special uses such as bridgelayers, demolition charge carriers, flamethrower tanks etc.

As early as the French campaign, the need for self-propelled guns became evident. The first such vehicles were based on the Pz.Kpfw.I andsoon thereafter, on the Pz.Kpfw.II. Chapter 6 Self-Propelled Artillery covers these vehicles in 24 pages, including the sIG 33, PanzerJager I and Marder series, as well as the Flakpanzer 38(t).

Chapter 7 New Light Tanks devotes 28 pages to the later German light tanks including the Pz.Kpfw.I Ausf.C and F, the Pz.Kpfw.II Ausf.Jand L (Luchs) and the Pz.Kpfw.38(t) neuer Art. The book covers the plans to use these vehicles in the proposed invasion of Malta and, after the cancelation of that operation, their use in Russia against partisans.

Chapter 8 Projects and the Enemy takes 36 pages to discuss experimental projects such as the E-series and the Pz.Kpfw.38 D, as well as light tanks of other nations including Britain, France, the Soviet Union and United States. The author takes the notion of ‘light’ tank somewhat loosely here because the narrative includes the British Vickers Medium Tanks as well as the Soviet BT series of fast tanks, though both types do fall into the ‘light’ category in terms of tonnage.

Chapter 8 Conclusion wraps up the book with a brief, 3-page summary.

The book also includes a 4-page index and one final page devoted to Acknowledgements and Bibiography.

In summary, the book provides a useful primer on the design, development and combat use of light panzers in the German Panzerwaffe. It does not, however, go into any significant depth on specific vehicle types.  For that, the reader will need to consult other works such as the Panzer Tracts series, which are cited in the Bibliography.

Recommended for those wanting a useful overview of German light tank development.