The No. 1 tank is the first tank equipped after Germany announced the abolition of the Treaty of Versailles, initially used for troop training, and later in order to quickly establish the armored force, since 1935, the German army began to mass-produce the No. 1 tank, the No. 1 tank played an important role in the process of entering the Rhine region, Austria, and the annexation of the Sudetenland region, and was also an important armored force of the German army in the early days of World War II.
In 1931, the German Army Ordnance Bureau requested the order of a 5-ton light tank, and according to the request, five companies, Rheinmetall, MAN, Krupp, Henschel and Daimler-Benz, proposed a design.
Krupp completed the prototype in July 1932 and, for the sake of secrecy, referred to the light tank as an "agricultural tractor", abbreviated LaS in German. The LaS was equipped with a Krupp gasoline engine, front-mounted active wheels, 4 load wheels, 1 induction wheel, and 2 MG13 machine guns.
Since the LaS was well in line with the German requirements for light tanks, the military quickly ordered and asked Daimler-Benz to be responsible for the manufacture of the turret and the upper part of the hull, and in 1933, in order to increase the experience of manufacturing tanks and expand production capacity, the German army asked Henschel to also start manufacturing prototypes of laS.
In July 1934, testing of the prototype was completed and mass production began, code-named No. 1 A LaS Krupp, also known as the No. 1 A tank.
It uses a Krupp 4-cylinder air-cooled engine, 57 hp, and is equipped with 2 MG13 machine guns.
Type 1 A:
Members: 2 people
Vehicle weight: 5.4 tons
Length: 4.02 metres
Width: 2.06 metres
Height: 1.72 meters
Engine: Krupp M305 air-cooled engine
Gears: 5 forward gears, 1 reverse gear
Maximum speed: 37km/h
Full oil travel: 145km
Weapons: 2 MG13 machine guns
Turret rotation angle: 360 degrees
Sight: TZF2
Ammunition reserve: 2250 rounds
Armor: 13mm/10 degrees in front of the turret, 13mm/22 degrees on both sides, 13mm/22 degrees in the rear, 8mm/82-90 degrees on the top
13mm/22-27 degrees front, 13mm/0-22 degrees on both sides, 13mm/15-17 degrees on the rear, 6mm/82-90 degrees on the top, 6mm/90 degrees on the bottom
Machine Gun Shield: 13 degree curved shield
By 1936, a total of 818 Model 1A models had been produced, but in use, insufficient horsepower and poor off-road capabilities were found. So Krupp and Daimler jointly improved the A type, using a Maybach 6-cylinder 100 hp water-cooled engine, adding a carrier wheel, and the improved version was the No. 1 B type.
Type 1 B:
Vehicle weight: 5.8 tons
Length: 4.42 metres
Engine: Maybach NL38TR water-cooled engine
Maximum speed: 40km/h
Full oil travel: 170km
The No. 1 B tank was first produced in Krupp and Henschel, and then MAN and Borgman began production, and by 1937, Krupp had produced 750 Panzer 1 tanks (including Models A and B), 349 Henschel, and 203 MAN.
In 1939, the German army commissioned Klaus-Maffei to develop a rapid reconnaissance tank based on the chassis of the No. 1 tank, and Daimler-Benz also participated in the development of the load wheel of the No. 1 tank, and developed the tank code-named VK602, which is the No. 1 C type. The C type adopts a staggered load wheel design, which increases the speed of the car, with a maximum speed of 79km/h
Type 1 C:
Vehicle weight: 8 tons
Length: 4.19 metres
Vehicle width: 1.92 meters
Height: 1.94 meters
Engine: Maybach HL45P water-cooled engine
Gears: 8 forward gears, 2 reverse gears
Maximum speed: 79km/h
Full oil travel: 300km
Armament: 1 EW141 machine gun, 1 MG34 machine gun
Pitch angle: -10 to +20
Sight: TZF10
Armor: 30 mm/13 degrees in front of the turret, 20mm/24 degrees on both sides, 20mm/6.5 degrees in the rear, 10mm/80-90 degrees on the top
30mm/10-20 degrees front, 20mm/0 degrees on both sides, 20mm/15-30 degrees on the rear, 10mm/82.5-90 degrees on the top, 10mm/90 degrees on the bottom
Machine Gun Shield: 30 degree curved shield
Type 1 F
On the basis of the No. 1 C type, KraussMaffei strengthened the armor protection, using staggered load wheels and torsion bar suspension, and developed the F type.
Type 1 F:
Vehicle weight: 21 tons
Length: 4.38 metres
Width: 2.64 metres
Height: 2.05 meters
Gears: 4 forward gears, 1 reverse gear
Maximum speed: 25km/h
Full oil travel: 150km
Weapons: 2 MG34 machine guns
Sight: TZF8
Armor: 80mm/0 degrees in front of the turret, 50mm/10 degrees on both sides, 50mm/10 degrees in the rear, 25mm/90 degrees on the top
80mm/10-20 degrees front, 50mm/0 degrees on both sides, 50mm/10-14 degrees on the rear, 25mm/90 degrees on the top, 25mm/90 degrees on the bottom
Machine Gun Shield: 80mm curved shield
As the war progressed, the No. 1 tank was increasingly unable to meet the needs of the war, the 554 No. 1 tanks when blitzkrieging France, after the end of the battle, only 150 could be used normally, the first three months after the invasion of the Soviet Union, the Loss of the No. 1 tank reached 284, and then the German army ordered all the No. 1 tanks to withdraw from the front line, mainly for training, domestic garrison and occupation zone defense.
Throughout the war, the chassis of the Panzer 1 was used to derive many various types of vehicles:
Command tank No. 1
Members: 3 people
Vehicle weight: 5.9 tons
Height: 1.99 meters
Armament: 1 MG13 machine gun
Sight: KgZF2
Ammunition reserve: 900 rounds
150 mm sIG33 self-propelled infantry gun
Members: 4 people
Vehicle weight: 8.5 tons
Length: 4.67 metres
Height: 2.8 meters
Full oil travel: 140km
Armament: sIG33 type 11 times caliber 150 mm gun
Turret rotation angle: 12.5 degrees left and right
Pitch inclination: -4 to +75
Sight: Rblf36
armor:
Gun shield: 10mm/0-25 degrees front, 10mm/0 degrees on both sides, open at the top and rear
No. 1 47 mm anti-tank gun
Vehicle weight: 6.4 tons
Height: 2.25 meters
Armament: Czech Škoda Arsenal 43.4 times caliber 47 mm anti-tank gun
Turret rotation angle: 17.5 degrees left and right
Pitch inclination: -8 to +12
Sight: ZF2
Ammunition reserve: 86 rounds
Gun shield: 14.5mm/27 degrees at the front, 14.5mm/27 degrees on both sides, open at the top and rear
Sapper Tank No. 1