 Panzer
Tracts No.2-2 Panzerkampfwagen II Ausf. G, H, J, L, and M, development
and production from 1938 to 1943,
created by Thomas L. Jentz and Hilary Louis Doyle,
Panzer Tracts,
P.O. Box 334, Boyds, MD 20841, USA, www.panzertracts.com,
ISBN 0-9771643-8-1, 56 pages,
US$19.95
Here is a complete description of one of many modellers’ favourite
Panzers, the Luchs, VK1303 or Pz I Ausf L. Its history is a little confusing,
but reading the successive chapters on VK901, renamed Pz II Ausf G, and
VK 903, renamed Pz II Ausf H and M, shows how the successive weight changes
were reflected in the redesigns that resulted in the Luchs. The VK 1603
that became Pz II Ausf M was a completely different design.
All of these emerged from the switch to tactically-driven evolution
to engineer- and designer-driven under Baurat Kniepkamp, who reversed
the old idea that the troops should say what they needed and the designers
and engineers find a solution to instead let the backroom boys create
their dream machines without any regard to actual service requirements.
Most of these “improved Pz II” projects were ordered into
production but cancelled after short series had been built, with only
the Luchs going into real active service and the others relegated to training
or issued to Police units. In reality the concept of a more heavily armoured
reconnaissance tank than the earlier PZ II, with high speed as well as
the 2 cm armament, was never realistic in Germany’s industrial circumstances;
delays of many months would have been needed simply to tool up for full-scale
production and the facilities for this were lacking.
Here are not only quotations from official documents detailing the design
process of each tank and the problems encountered in trying to make it
work, but also reports on its testing and on the operations of those that
saw service. 1/35 scale plans of VK901, the September 1942 production
Luchs, and VK1603 are accompanied by 1/10 drawings of Luchs components
and 1/24 scale plans of the Luchs hull and of its January 1943 production
type, but in the absence of either a survivor or reliable factory drawings
there’s no plan of VK903 or of the re-engined, sloped-armour version
of Luchs. A good collection of photographs shows includes those tanks
as well as all the others, of course, and there are two interior photographs
of Luchs as well as photographic coverage of its exterior.
Luchs modellers will find this book a superb reference for details.
Very highly recommended!
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