"Cockroach" versus Panzers - first tank aces of the Second World War

[Domen123]

Could someone post something about the types of tanks and other AFV that were used by polish army?

Well, the German "line" panzers - III and IV - went through quite a lot of upgrading through the war to keep them battleworthy. The late-war versions were something like ten-twenty tons heavier than the first models, mostly from added armour.

The German tank force at the start of the war was really pretty meh, all things considered.

That's true.

But it is generally said that Polish 7TP light tanks - although not numerous - were better than the German Panzer II tanks.

It is not true certainly.

I mean - they might be better in some aspects, but in conditions of an average battlefield of tank battle - it proved not to be very important and not to have any influence on the result of the combat.

Most of combats between tanks were fought on distances of several hundred metres or shorter.

I know a case, when German Panzer II with 20mm automatic gun (it was during the battle of Tomaszów Lubelski - on 19th of September probably - or on 18th of September, I don't remember the exact date) eliminated Polish 7TP from a distance of around 700 metres...

Of course there is nothing strange in it, considering that Orlik in his "cokroach" eliminated some of those Pz-35(t) which he eliminated during the battle of Sieraków - from a distance of around 600 metres - and his weaponry was very similar to this used in Panzer II tanks.

If it comes to Polish 7TP tank - it was very good, because it was able to eliminate any German tank in 1939, including Panzer IV version C.

But it was also vulnerable to fire of any type of German tank or armoured car, except those equipped only in MGs (so Panzer I and light armoured cars).

So in real - in practice - the winner was the one who hit the enemy first... And Panzer II had got an automatic gun - 7TP not - so rate of fire was even faster in Panzer II - this was certainly an advantage of Panzer II.

In 1940 - as You noticed - it was differently - British infantry tank Matilda or French heavy tank Char B1 Bis had got so strong armours that they were practically impossible to penetrate by bullets from German Panzers.

Also French Renault R-35 and Hotchkiss H-35 had got stronger armours than Polish 7TP, but lower capability of destroying German tanks than Polish 7TP (Polish 7TP and British Vickers E had got better guns for Anti-Tank purposes than French tanks).

In 1939 Poland had got many French Renault R-35, but only several of them were used against the Germans (during only one combat - the battle of Kamionka Strumilowa - which was, by the way, won by the Polish side), because of the Soviet agression.

The majority of them escaped to Romania after some combats against the Soviets or without combat at all.

Also British Vickers E had got better armour than 7TP - Poland had got very few of them in 1939, but they proved to be both efficient (as well as 7TP) and also resistant (certainly more resistant than 7TPs). They were fighting in 10. Motorized Brigade of pulkownik (later general) Stanislav Maczek - which won many combats against the Germans in 1939, and after the Soviet agression withdrawed to Romania with full equipment (it didn't lost any artillery gun during the campaign, it lost only few AT guns, it lost many tanks but those which survived were all evacuated to Romania) and with full combat value.

To summ up - people who say that German Panzer II was a poor tank - are wrong.

In fact Panzer IIs were very good at least during the Polish campaign (even if comparing with the best tanks Poland had), and were still - at least - good at least until the beginning of Fall Barbarossa.

But it is of course a fact that in France they were not able to undertake balanced combat with some types of French and British tanks.

But still their 20mm automatic gun and great speed was their big advantage.

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If it comes to tankettes - Poland had got 574 tankettes TKS, TK-3 and TKF in different versions - they were basic and most numerous AFVs of the Polish army -, but only a few dozens of them were equipped with something more than only a single machine gun (German Panzer I was equipped with two MG 34s). Orlik's TKS tankette was among them.

Polish army planned to rearm / equip all tankettes with 20mm automatic guns, but production of these guns was going too slow and before the war Poland didn't manage to do it.

I think that rearming / equipping all tankettes in 20mm automatic guns could have changed much - if only the Poles had have managed to do it before the war.