World War 2 In Review No. 34: Fighting Vehicles

By Merriam Press

Merriam Press World War 2 In Review Series. This issue contains the following articles on these military vehicles of World War II: (1) Polish TK/TKS Tankette (2) Soviet BA-20 Armored Car (3) American Ford GPA Amphibious Jeep (4) American M1 Heavy Tractor (5) American M4 Medium High-Speed Tractor (6) Hungarian Armored Car 39M Csaba (7) Stuart Tanks in the Desert (8) German Self-propelled Gun 7.5cm Pak 97/98(f) auf Pz. 740 (r) (9) German Self-propelled Howitzer 15 cm sFH 13/1 auf Lorraine Schlepper (f). 391 B&W and color photographs and illustrations.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Jan 11, 2018
• ISBN: 9781387498611

Book preview

World War 2 In Review No. 34: Fighting Vehicles

World War 2 In Review No. 34: Fighting Vehicles

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Hoosick Falls, New York

2018

First eBook Edition

Copyright © 2018 by Ray Merriam

Additional material copyright of named contributors.

All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.

The views expressed are solely those of the author.

ISBN 9781387498611

This work was designed, produced, and published in the United States of America by the Merriam Press, 489 South Street, Hoosick Falls NY 12090.

Notice

The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. Criminal copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to five years in federal prison and a fine of $250,000.

Mission Statement

This series presents articles and pictorials on topics covering many aspects of World War 2. In addition to new articles and pictorials on topics not previously covered, future volumes may include additional material on the subjects covered in this volume. The volumes in this series will comprise a single source for innumerable articles and tens of thousands of images of interest to anyone interested in the history and study of World War 2. While no doubt some of these images and other materials could be found online, countless hours could be spent searching thousands of web sites to find at least some of this material.

The Images

These photos are seventy-plus years old, were taken under less than ideal conditions, and some were taken by individuals who were neither professional photographers nor using professional equipment. Thus the quality of the original image may be less than perfect. While Merriam Press tries to obtain the best quality images possible, the quality of the images in this publication will no doubt vary greatly.

This series of publications utilizes the editor’s collection of tens of thousands of photographs and other illustrative material acquired since 1968. Hundreds of sources over the years have been searched for material on every subject.

Photographs Needed

Merriam Press welcomes any contributions of photographs

of this or any subject for future volumes in this series.

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Welcome to No. 34 of the World War 2 In Review Series

The following articles are in this issue of World War 2 In Review:

(1) Polish TK/TKS Tankette

(2) Soviet BA-20 Armored Car

(3) American Ford GPA Amphibious Jeep

(4) American M1 Heavy Tractor

(5) American M4 Medium High-Speed Tractor

(6) Hungarian Armored Car 39M Csaba

(7) Stuart Tanks in the Desert

(8) German Self-propelled Gun 7.5cm Pak 97/98(f) auf Pz. 740 (r)

(9) German Self-propelled Howitzer 15 cm sFH 13/1 auf Lorraine Schlepper (f)

with 391 B&W and color photographs and illustrations.

Watch for future issues of this series with more articles on the history of World War II.

Polish TK/TKS Tankette

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TK-3 tankette.

The TK (TK-3) and TKS were Polish tankettes during the Second World War.

Design and Development

The TK (also known as the TK-3) tankette was a Polish design produced from 1931 based on the chassis of the British Carden Loyd tankette, with an improved hull and more powerful engine, and armor up to 8 mm (0.31 in) thick (10 mm or 0.39 in on the TKS). In 1939, up-arming of the tankettes with Nkm wz.38 FK 20 mm (0.79 in) machine guns began, but only 24 of these were completed before the outbreak of World War II.

On 6 November 1934 Estonia purchased 6 vehicles from Poland, with the contract deal worth over 180,000 krones. The deal also included one additional tracked-lorry, and a motorcycle was given free as a bonus.[1] After the Soviet Union occupied Estonia, these vehicles were put into service with the Red Army.

Combat History

The 575 TK/TKS tankettes formed the bulk of the Polish armored