thumb|300px|A [[TKS|TKS tankette in the Polish Army Museum]]

thumb|300px|A TKS tankette with a human for scale in a 2019 parade in Poland

A tankette is a tracked armoured fighting vehicle that resembles a small tank, roughly the size of a car. It is mainly intended for light infantry support and scouting. Colloquially it may also simply mean a small tank.

Several countries built tankettes between the 1920s and 1940s, and some saw limited combat in the early phases of World War II. The vulnerability of their light armour, however, eventually led armies to abandon the concept with some exceptions such as the more modern German Wiesel (Weasel) series.

Characteristics

Tankettes were made both in two- and three-man models. Some were so low that the occupant had to lie prone. In 1928, the British Army Council objected to the use of the word "tankette," noting that the "mechanization of the Army" was still in its infancy.

The Italian Royal Army (Regio Esercito) equipped three armoured divisions and three "fast" (celere) divisions with L3/33 and L3/35 tankettes. The L3s were used in large numbers during the Italian invasion of Ethiopia, the Spanish Civil War, and almost every place Italian soldiers fought during World War II. Some L3s went with the Italian Expeditionary Corps in Russia (Corpo di Spedizione Italiano, CSIR) as late as Operation Barbarossa.

The French armoured reconnaissance type (automitrailleuses de reconnaissance, "machine-gun scout") of the 1930s was essentially a tankette in form, specifically intended for scouting ahead of the main force.

In 1935, the Soviets experimented with transporting T-27s by air, suspending one under the fuselage of a Tupolev TB-3 heavy bomber. and jungle warfare. However, by the time of the Second World War, many were already obsolete and some were proven unsuccessful in their appointed task. Many were relegated to tractor duties for artillery or logistics units.

Due to their limited utility and vulnerability to anti-tank weapons (even machine guns), the tankette concept was abandoned, and their role largely taken over by armoured cars.

However, in Vietnam, the US Marines employed the similar, somewhat larger, M50 Ontos tank destroyer with some success.

The 1980s saw the renaissance of a similar concept in the German Wiesel AWC, introduced to provide airborne troops with armoured reconnaissance capability; while these are called "armoured weapons carriers", they fit the definition of a tankette.

Examples

thumb|A [[Wiesel AWC|Wiesel 1 tankette]]

  • Czechoslovakia
  • AH-IV
  • Skoda MU-4
  • Tančík vz. 33
  • France
  • Renault UE Chenillette
  • Nazi Germany
  • Panzer I -Although classified as a light tank, most sub-variants fit the designation of a tankette
  • West Germany
  • Wiesel 1 and Wiesel 2 -similar modern German armoured and tracked weapon carrier systems
  • Italy
  • L3/33
  • L3/35
  • Japan
  • Type 92 Jyu-Sokosha
  • Type 94 tankette
  • Type 97 Te-Ke
  • Poland
  • TKS/TK-3
  • Romania
  • R-1
  • Soviet Union
  • T-17
  • T-23
  • T-27
  • PPG tankette
  • United Kingdom
  • Carden Loyd
  • Morris-Martel
  • United States
  • Marmon-Herrington CTLS - not officially designated tankettes
  • Ford 3-Ton M1918

See also

  • Infantry fighting vehicle
  • Tank classification
  • FV101 Scorpion

References