Myths about the superior German Tanks - Panzer I

According to the YouTube historians, the only WWII tanks worth mentioning were made by Germany. And about 90% of them were the unbeatable Tigers and Panthers. I'm wondering why the Soviets called this beast Zveroboi...? The American Shermans were deathtraps waiting to explode and combust, and the French and British tanks never existed. History lesson - finished! Please subscribe to my awesome channel for more videos like this.

This myth was also perpetuated by the movies, in which we can see all varieties of tanks including T-34/85, Shermans and even Pattons acting as the Panzers.

But it was not that simple at all, and the truth is a bit inconvenient for the Allies because in the early stages of the war the bulk of German tanks consisted of Panzer I and Panzer II tanks.

Let's see both of them in their late iterations.

Panzer I

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The first modern German tank was introduced in 1934. It was made by Krupp, and it was considered as the light tank, with the specifications common for that era.

Before the war broke up in 1939, Germany had 1.893 Panzer I tanks, 1.223 Panzer II and 386 Panzer 38t, III and IV - combined. Until the end of 1941, Panzer I was the most abundant tank until it was surpassed by Panzer III. Thus all major victories, Poland (320 of 830), Lowlands, France (523 of 2574), Balkans, Barbarosa (410 of 3.300) - there were no big, heavy German tanks. Those were yet to be invented.

The most important lesson was the coordination with other branches of the army.

Let's see the characteristics of the Panzer I versions:

• Ausf A, 1934-1936, 818 produced, 5.4 t, 6-13 mm of armour and two MG13 machine guns. Distinguishable by having 4 wheels
• Ausf B, 1935-1937, 675 produced. The engine was upgraded from 60 to 100 hp, it was 40 cm longer and had 5 wheels
• Ausf C, 1942, 40 examples were produecd, according to Wiki, 400 were produced, but it sounds impossible to me. The armour was thickened up to 30 mm, and the weight was increased to 8 t. As the consequence, it got the engine upgraded to 150 hp, interleaving wheels and the nickname "Little Tiger". It also got a bit better machine guns, the MG 34 was paired with EW 141 MG
• Ausf F, 1942, only 30 examples, with the magnificent 80 mm of armour (thicker than Sherman!?), 21 t and 2 MG-34

As you can clearly see, those were in the range of tankettes.
During the career, those acted as the training vehicles, command vehicles, close infantry support in the early stages of the war and as the anti-insurgency vehicles.

Contrary to popular beliefs, during the early stages, German guns were meant to destroy the tanks, not the tanks themselves.

Give me back my MGs, I'm mean little tank, grrrrr! What's my full name?