Panzerkampfwagen I, SdKfz 101

          When Germany began rearming openly after the Nazis took power and repudiated the Treaty of Versailles, one of the army's most urgent needs was a suitable training vehicle. The turreted, fully tracked vehicle would provide future tank crews with practice for the basic skills of operating a tank. Henschel built the PzKpfw I from an earlier series of vehicles with the cover name "agricultural tractors" (Landwirtschaftschlepper) to meet the requirement. It used many ideas from the British Carden-Lloyd carriers but was not exactly a "real" tank. During the Spanish Civil War the PzKpfw I equipped part of Oberst Wilhelm von Thoma's Panzer Korps in the Legion Kondor and was found vulnerable. Nonetheless it continued to serve as a reconnaissance vehicle in Poland and France, and some were still in service in the opening stages of Operation Barbarossa in 1941.
          The PzKpfw I had a two-man crew (driver and commander/gunner) as these two roles needed the most specialized training. The driver sat on the left, and the commander/gunner on the right in the small offset turret. Eight hundred PzKpfw I Ausf A were built until they were surpassed by the slightly bigger and more powerful Ausf B, of which about 2,000 were manufactured. Another 184 were built as command vehicles with two radios and a box-like superstructure instead of a turret, and they served until as late as 1943. Forty more were also manufactured as airborne tanks to be flown in and landed by glider.
          The chassis were also used as tractors for captured Czech 47mm anti-tank and 150mm infantry guns (sIG 33), and auxiliary vehicles such as ammunition carriers and engineer tractors.

Technical data and/or diagram of Panzerkampfwagen I.

Parade of PzKpfw I's through the Brandenburg Gate on Hitler's birthday, 20 April 1936.

Armor in concentration - masses of PzKpfw I's.

PzKpfw I's fording a stream in Poland.

Two PzKpfw I's and a heavier PzKpfw III in France in 1940. About 500 of the little light tanks were used in the campaign, despite their vulnerability in combat.

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	Technical data and/or diagram of Panzerkampfwagen I.
	Parade of PzKpfw I's through the Brandenburg Gate on Hitler's birthday, 20 April 1936.
	Armor in concentration - masses of PzKpfw I's.
	PzKpfw I's fording a stream in Poland.
	Two PzKpfw I's and a heavier PzKpfw III in France in 1940. About 500 of the little light tanks were used in the campaign, despite their vulnerability in combat.