Polish Forces

Polish 7tp tanks in Cesin.

Unknown (?Republic of Poland).

Column of Polish 7tp tanks moves through Cesin, Moravia, October, 1938. This town and its district was the subject of a complicated border dispute between the new states of Poland and Czechoslovakia following the collapse of the Austria-Hungarian Monarchy in 1918. In effect, it was divided between the two along ethnic lines, although this division was clearly not stable. As Czechoslovakia disintegrated in the aftermath of the Munich Agreement, Poland effectively absorbed the whole district by force. The 7tp tank was a Polish version of the Vickers 6-ton Tank, a vehicle not taken up by the British Army, but produced as a commercial/export tank by Vickers. The Polish variant was considerably better armed than its British "parent", carrying a useful 37mm wz cannon as main armament, and was also slightly better armoured (17mm frontal as against 13mm for the "6-ton"). It also featured a more reliable (diesel) engine, and up-to-date features including an all-around-view commander's periscope and a radio. As with other "children" of the Vickers 6-ton, a twin-turreted version, armed with machineguns, was also produced, but only in small numbers as it was quickly perceived as seriously undergunned. The 7tp, although still a "light" tank and deficient in armour, was clearly superior to the German PzKpfw I and II light tanks, which formed the bulk of the panzer force involved in the invasion of Poland in 1939, and close in performance to the Germans' Czechoslovak-built PzKpfw 38(t). It consequently put in several very creditable performances against the invading Germans. However, the small numbers of single-turret variant available (perhaps only about 100), and their very poor deployment and tactical employment, limited their impact. Most of those not destroyed in combat were, ultimately, destroyed by their crew to prevent capture, or withdrawn into Hungarian territory as Poland collapsed. A small number of survivors entered German or Hungarian service. Best regards, JR.