German vs. Czechoslovak Armour 1938

Which side had the better armored forces in 1938?

  • Czechoslovakia

    Votes: 35 47.3%

  • Germany

    Votes: 7 9.5%

  • Well actually, it's far more complicated

    Votes: 32 43.2%
  • Total voters
    74

Admiral Spaun

In a scenario involving a German invasion of Czechoslovakia in September 1938, which side had the edge in armored forces? For the purposes of this discussion, both sides are starting with the units and tactics they had OTL October 1, 1938. Tanks, armored units, commanders, and tactics are all up for debate along with anything you think is relevant to the topic.

Feel free to give your opinion and weigh in on the discussion.
 

Help

I think Germany would outnumber the Czechs, but don't know how well the forts in the Sudetenland were.
 

Deleted member 94680

The German absorption of Czech armour after the occupation would imply they thought the Czech armour was good enough
 
BlackDragon98

BlackDragon98

LT 38 is better than Panzer I and II by a long shot.
Panzer III and IV was still in development by 1938.
German panzer tactics and commanders are better though.
But the Czechs have a defensive advantage using forts.
 

ivanotter

The Skoda works did manufacture an impressive range of things.

If they had refused to give up in 1938, it is a good question whether Germany was not going to get a big surprise. After all, the Czech fortifications were called the 'Eastern Maginot' - with a good reason.

Germany 1938 was not invincible and Czech mobilisations etc could possibly have stopped a German attack.
 

Father Maryland

Stenz said:
The German absorption of Czech armour after the occupation would imply they thought the Czech armour was good enough
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True. I would agree the Czech PZ 35 and PZ 38 were better then their German counterparts.

But the Germans adopting captured weapons systems isn't necessarily proof of their superb quality. The Germans adopted in some form huge numbers and varieties of captured foreign weapons. Partially because the Germans were trying to take on more or less the entirety of the rest of the industrialized world and made up for that by adopting existing captured armaments. And also because during the occupation of Czechoslovakia/The Fall of France/Early Barbarossa the Germans captured absurdly large quantities of armaments and munitions.

The Germans even had a name/official program for it. Namely "BooteWaffen" or "Loot Warfare".
 

Peg Leg Pom

The difference between the Czech tanks and other looted tanks though is that the Germans not only took them into service but kept them in production and in the case of the PZ38 maintained production of variations throughout the war.
 
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Garrison

Donor
Peg Leg Pom said:
The difference between the Czech tanks and other looted tanks though is that the Germans not only took them into service but kept them in production and in the cast of the PZ38 maintained production of variations throughout the war.
Click to expand...

Yeah the Pz I and Pz II were light tanks and basically training vehicles, they did have better machines in development but even then there were issues as they tried to split up the roles of their tanks, with the Pz III intended for armoured engagements and the Pz IV intended for infantry support.
 
marathag

marathag

Banned
There woukd be less than 50 early Mark III available, and they all had suspension issues that would not be solved until the Ausf.E in 1939.

There would be roughly 40 Mark IV ausf.B by October 1938
 

ivanotter

Czech air planes? more potential really, but were produced in numbers.

Czech guns from Skoda? their designs were taken over by the Germans after 1938.
 

Peg Leg Pom

BlackDragon98 said:
I mentioned that already.
but those panzer I and IIs still made up a big chunk of the BoF panzer forces.
Click to expand...
True, but the numbers of PZ III & IV were so small that without the Czech tanks the Germans would not have been able to invade France at all. Without the better tanks to back them up the light tanks just weren't up to the job.
 

Sabre77

Banned
The Germans used a lot of Czech tanks and weaponry in general after the annexation; which really shows just good they thought they were.

On the other hand, having superior tanks(at least to the more common panzers) doesn’t necessarily mean anything if the tactics aren’t up to standard or if one doesn’t have air superiority
 
BlackDragon98

BlackDragon98

Sabre77 said:
The Germans used a lot of Czech tanks and weaponry in general after the annexation; which really shows just good they thought they were.

On the other hand, having superior tanks(at least to the more common panzers) doesn’t necessarily mean anything if the tactics aren’t up to standard or if one doesn’t have air superiority
Click to expand...
Mechanical reliability and the ability to be repaired by crews is also important.
 

Peg Leg Pom

Or having well trained maintenance teams following behind your armoured forces able to quickly recover your tanks and get them back in action.
 
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