Panzerkampfwagen I

Panzerkampfwagen I (lyh. PzKpfw I) eli Sonderkraftfahrzeug 101 (Sd.Kfz. 101) oli Saksassa vuonna 1932 suunniteltu panssarivaunu, jonka sarjavalmistus alkoi 1934. 

Panzer I oli suunniteltu lähinnä koulutusvaunuksi Saksan uudelleen aseistauduttua Adolf Hitlerin päästyä valtakunnankansleriksi 1933 ja hylättyä vuoden 1919 Versailles’n rauhan aserajoitukset

Suunnitelma kevyestä viiden tonnin vaunusta tilattiin jo vuosi 1932 Rheinmetallilta, Kruppilta, Henschelilta, MANilta ja Daimler-Benziltä. 

Prototyypit tilattiin 1933 ja Kruppin suunnitelma hyväksyttiin. Vaunu sai huomiota herättämättömän nimen Landwirtschaftlicher Schlepper, maataloustraktori. Piirustukset perustuivat brittiläiseen Carden-Lloyd Mk. IV:iin, joita oli salaa ostettu kaksi Neuvostoliitosta. Kruppin malliin lisättiin vielä Daimler-Benzin torni.

Panzerkampfwagen IA -mallissa oli 57 hevosvoiman Kruppin M305 4-sylinterinen moottori, joka antoi huippunopeudeksi 37 km/h hyvässä maastossa ja 145 km toimintasäteen. IB-mallissa oli 100 hevosvoiman kuusisylinterinen Maybach NL38TR. Kuten kaikissa saksalaispanssareissa, moottorit olivat bensiinikäyttöisiä. Panzerkampfwagen IA (Sd.Kfz. 101) painoi 5,3 tonnia ja siinä oli 15 mm panssarointi. Aseistuksena oli ainoastaan kaksi 7,92 mm konekivääriä.

Huhtikuussa 1934 valmistettiin 15 vaunua, jotka esiteltiin Hitlerille. Varsinainen tuotanto alkoi heinäkuussa 1934. Parannetun mallin valmistus jatkui elokuussa 1935.

Panzer I toimi esikuvana Panzerkampfwagen II -vaunulle ja alustana monenlaisilla panssarihaupitseille ja ilmatorjunta-ajoneuvoille. Niitä rakennettiin yli 1 500 ennen kuin tuotanto päättyi 1941.

Panzer I:tä kokeiltiin taistelutilanteessa Espanjan sisällissodassa 1936, jossa 106 vaunua palveli Condor-legioonassa. Vaunu osoittautui tehottomaksi ja sen aseistus kehnoksi ja tasavaltaisten neuvostoliittolaisia T-26- ja BT-5-vaunuja huonommaksi. Viimeistään 1938 kävi selväksi, ettei vaunusta olisi taistelukäyttöön, minkä jälkeen siitä aiottiin vaunua jalkaväen tukeen ja tiedusteluun.

Panzer I oli vielä käytössä toisen maailmansodan alkaessa. Vaunu oli tarkoitus korvata Panzerkampfwagen III -vaunulla, mutta tuotannon viivytysten vuoksi Panzer I oli vielä pääkalustona Itävallan ja Tšekkoslovakian miehityksissä. Sitä käytettiin myös Ranskan valtauksessa. Myöhemmin vaunuja käytettiin partiointiin ja koulutukseen. Vuonna 1940 kaikki muunnettiin aseettomiksi ammuskuljetusvaunuiksi.

Unkari käytti myös muutamia vaunuja koulutustarkoituksiin. Kiinan kansalliset joukot ostivat 15 Panzer IA -vaunua, joita käytettiin Kiinan sisällissodassa.
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Panzer-I
Type: Light tank
Place of origin: Germany
Service history: In service 1934–1945 (Nazi Germany)
Used by: Nazi Germany, Bulgaria, Republic of China, Hungary, Spain
Wars: Spanish Civil War, Second World War, Second Sino-Japanese War
Production history: Designed 1934
Manufacturer: Henschel, MAN, Krupp, Daimler
Produced: 1934–1937
Number built: 1493
Weight: 5.4 tonnes (6.0 short tons)
Length: 4.02 m (13.2 ft)
Width: 2.06 m (6.8 ft)
Height: 1.72 m (5.6 ft)
Crew: 2, commander and driver
Armor: 7–13 mm
Armament: 2 × 7.92 mm MG13 machine guns
Engine: Krupp M 305 four-cylinder air-cooled gasoline engine 60 PS (59 hp, 44 kW)
Power/weight : 11.1 PS/t
Suspension: Quarter-elliptical leaf spring suspension.
Range: 200 km (120 mi) on-road; 175 km (109 mi) off-road.
Speed: 50 km/h (31 mph) on-road; 37 km/h (23 mph) off-road.
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Comparison of light tanks in the Spanish Civil War

	T-26	Panzer-I	CV-33 + CV33
	9.4 t	5.4 t	3.15 t	2.3 t
	45 mm cannon 1x 7,62mm mg 2961 rounds	2× 7.92 mm MG 13	6.5 mm or 8 mm machine gun	8 mm Breda machine gun
	122 rounds	2,250 rounds	3,200 8 mm or 3,800 6.5 mm	3,200
	175 km	200 km	125 km	125 km
	7–16 mm	7–13 mm	5–15 mm	5–13.5 mm

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The Panzer I's design history can be traced to 1932's Landwirtschaftlicher Schlepper (La S) (Agricultural Tractor) armored fighting vehicle. The La S was intended not just to train Germany's panzer troops, but to prepare Germany's industry for the mass production of tanks in the near future: a difficult engineering feat for the time.

In July 1932, Krupp revealed a prototype of the Landswerk Krupp A, or LKA, with a sloped front glacis plate and large central casemate, a design heavily influenced by the British Carden Loyd tankette. The tank was armed with two obsolescent 7.92-millimeter (.312 in) MG-13 Dreyse machine guns. 

Machine guns were known to be largely useless against even the lightest tank armor of the time, restricting the Panzer I to a training and anti-infantry role by design.

A mass-produced version of the LKA was designed by a collaborative team from Daimler-Benz, Henschel, Krupp, MAN, and Rheinmetall, exchanging the casemate for a rotating turret. This version was accepted into service after testing in 1934. 
Although these tanks were referred to as the La S and LKA well beyond the start of production, its official designation, assigned in 1938, was Panzerkampfwagen I Ausführung. A ('model A' or, more accurately, 'batch A'). 

The first fifteen tanks, produced between February and March 1934, did not include the rotating turret and were used for crew training. Following these, production was switched to the combat version of the tank. The Ausf. A was under-armored, with steel plate of only 13 millimeters (0.51 in) at its thickest. The tank had several design flaws, including suspension problems which made the vehicle pitch at high velocities, and engine overheating. 

The driver was positioned inside the chassis and used conventional steering levers to control the tank, while the commander was positioned in the turret where he also acted as gunner. The two crewmen could communicate by means of voice tube.
Machine gun ammunition was stowed in five bins, containing various numbers of 25-round magazines. Author Lucas Molina Franco suggests that 833 Panzerkampfwagen I Ausf. A tanks were built in total, while authors Bryan Perrett offers the number of 300 and Terry Gander 818 units.

Many of the problems in the Ausf. A were corrected with the introduction of the Ausf. B. The engine was replaced by the water-cooled, six-cylinder Maybach NL 38 TR, developing 98 horsepower (73 kW), and the gearbox was changed to a more reliable model. 

The larger engine required the extension of the vehicle's chassis by 40 cm (16 in), and this allowed the improvement of the tank's suspension, adding an additional bogie wheel and raising the tensioner.

The tank's weight increased by 0.4 tons. Production of the Ausf. B began in August 1935 and finished in early 1937—Franco writes 840 were constructed, but notes that only 675 of these were combat models, while Perrett suggests a total number of 1,500 (offsetting the low number of Ausf. A he proposes) and Gander a total of 675.

On 18 July 1936, war broke out on the Iberian peninsula as Spain dissolved into a state of civil war. After the chaos of the initial uprising, two sides coalesced and began to consolidate their position—the Popular front (the Republicans) and the Spanish Nationalist front. In an early example of a proxy war, both sides quickly received support from other countries, most notably the Soviet Union and Germany, who wanted to test their tactics and equipment. 

The first shipment of foreign tanks, 50 Soviet T-26s, arrived on 15 October. The shipment was under the surveillance of the German Navy and Germany immediately responded by sending forty-one Panzer I's to Spain a few days later.
This first shipment was followed by four more shipments of Panzer I Ausf. B's, with a total of 122 vehicles.

The first shipment of Panzer I's was brought under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Wilhelm Ritter von Thoma in Gruppe Thoma (also referred to as Panzergruppe Drohne). Gruppe Thoma formed part of Gruppe Imker, the ground formations of the German Condor Legion, who fought on the side of Franco's Nationalists. Between July and October, a rapid Nationalist advance from Seville to Toledo placed them in position to take the Spanish capital, Madrid. 

The Nationalist advance and the fall of the town of Illescas to Nationalist armies on 18 October 1936 caused the government of the Popular Front's Second Republic, including President Manuel Azaña, to flee to Barcelona and Valencia. In an attempt to stem the Nationalist tide and gain crucial time for Madrid's defence, Soviet armor was deployed south of the city under the command of Colonel Krivoshein before the end of October.

At this time, several T-26 tanks under the command of Captain Paul Arman were thrown into a Republican counterattack directed towards the town of Torrejon de Velasco in an attempt to cut off the Nationalist advance north. This was the first tank battle in the Spanish Civil War. Despite initial success, poor communication between the Soviet Republican armor and Spanish Republican infantry caused the isolation of Captain Arman's force and the subsequent destruction of a number of tanks. This battle also marked the first use of the molotov cocktail against tanks.

Ritter von Thoma's Panzer Is fought for the Nationalists only days later on 30 October, and immediately experienced problems. As the Nationalist armor advanced, it was engaged by the Commune de Paris battalion, equipped with Soviet BA-10 armored cars. The 45-millimeter gun in the BA-10 was more than sufficient to knock out the poorly armored Panzer I at ranges below 500 meters (550 yd).

Although the Panzer I would participate in almost every major Nationalist offensive of the war, the Nationalist army began to deploy more and more captured T-26 tanks to offset their disadvantage in protection and firepower. At one point, von Thoma offered up to 500 pesetas for each T-26 captured. 

Although the Panzer I was initially able to knock out the T-26 at close range—150 meters (165 yd) or less—using an armor-piercing 7.92 millimeter bullet, the Republican tanks began to engage at ranges where they were immune to the machine guns of the Panzer I.

The Panzer I was upgraded in order to increase its lethality. On 8 August 1937, Major General García Pallasar received a note from Generalísimo Francisco Franco which expressed the need for a Panzer I (or negrillo, as their Spanish crews called them) with a 20-millimeter gun. Ultimately, the piece chosen was the Breda Model 1935, due to the simplicity of the design over competitors such as the German Flak 30. 

Furthermore, the 20 mm Breda was capable of perforating 40 millimeters of armor at 250 meters (1.57 in at 275 yd), which was more than sufficient to penetrate the frontal armor of the T-26. Although originally forty Italian CV.35 light tanks were ordered with the Breda in place of their original armament, this order was subsequently canceled after it was thought adaptation of the same gun to the Panzer I would yield better results. 

Prototypes were ready by September 1937 and an order was placed after successful results. The mounting of the Breda in the Panzer I required the original turret to be opened at the top and then extended by a vertical supplement. Four of these tanks were finished at the Armament Factory of Seville, but further production was canceled as it was decided sufficient numbers of Republican T-26 tanks had been captured to fulfill the Nationalist leadership's request for more lethal tanks. 

The Breda modification was not particularly liked by German crews, as the unprotected gap in the turret, designed to allow the tank's commander to aim, was found to be a dangerous weak point.

In late 1938, another Panzer I was sent to the Armament Factory of Seville in order to mount a 45 mm gun, captured from a Soviet tank (a T-26 or BT-5). A second was sent sometime later in order to exchange the original armament for a 37-millimeter Maklen anti-tank gun, which had been deployed to Asturias in late 1936 on the Soviet ship A. Andreiev. It remains unknown to what extent these trials and adaptations were completed, although it is safe to assume neither adaptation was successful beyond the drawing board.