Tancik vz. 33 - Czech Tankette
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Despite the fact that the Czechoslovakian military never fought in the Second World War, as Czechoslovakia was annexed by Germany before war broke out, the Czechs built some of the most impressive military equipment of the interwar period; Skoda howitzers were used worldwide, the LT vz. 35 and 38 became the Panzer 35(t) and 38(t) respectively, and lesser-known export tanks like the LTP and LTH saw service in South America and Switzerland long after their expected useful lives. This is one such vehicle built during the interwar period… this one was just much less successful.
The Czech mechanical firm CKD acquired the license to the illustrious Carden-Lloyd tankette in 1929 and, the following year, produced four exact copies of the Carden-Lloyd designated CL-P. These were tested extensively by the Czech military and found to be, quite frankly, not fit for human use; poor performance, poor survivability, and poor armament. Hence, CKD was… slightly worried that neither the Czech military nor any neighboring armies would want to order it. They quickly promised to bring back an updated version and went back to rework half the vehicle; I will not go through all of the changes as it is a lot and you can essentially see them by looking at a Carden-Lloyd compared to this.
The new vehicle, designated C-I, was brought back to the Czech military and was met rather positively. It still did have its faults, but many of the problems which turned the Czechs away from the Carden-Lloyd had been fixed. Hence, the Czech army placed an order for seventy, both because they might be useful for… whatever… in the future - their tactical usefulness was under debate - and to not let down CKD as they had poured a lot into making this little machine.
Sadly, these little tankettes, now designated Tancik vz. 33, never saw open combat with the Czechs as the annexation came before they could. As such, the vz. 33s were split between the newly-organized Slovak Army and the Wehrmacht. Thirty found their way to the Slovaks, being assigned to training units until 1941 when they were all put into storage; in 1944, they were taken back out for driver training with three being assigned to frontline engineer units. Forty-three (the other forty, plus three prototypes) were transferred to the Wehrmacht. What became of these is unknown; they may have been used for some time in auxiliary units or training units, but they all seem to have been scrapped over the course of the war.
They did, however, see combat eventually; with the beginning of the Slovak Uprising in August ‘44, as a couple were used in their original purpose by the partisans and some were even put into service to fight the partisans by the Wehrmacht. How they performed here is unknown. There is evidence that a few did survive the war and were integrated into the postwar Czech army, but these were destroyed or scrapped soon after, likely used as range targets or something similar.
Pretty simple file. I would recommend printing this in 0.5mm layers or as small as you can go in FDM; resin would almost certainly be better but I do not own a resin printer. Take care with the supports around the exhaust.
The Czech mechanical firm CKD acquired the license to the illustrious Carden-Lloyd tankette in 1929 and, the following year, produced four exact copies of the Carden-Lloyd designated CL-P. These were tested extensively by the Czech military and found to be, quite frankly, not fit for human use; poor performance, poor survivability, and poor armament. Hence, CKD was… slightly worried that neither the Czech military nor any neighboring armies would want to order it. They quickly promised to bring back an updated version and went back to rework half the vehicle; I will not go through all of the changes as it is a lot and you can essentially see them by looking at a Carden-Lloyd compared to this.
The new vehicle, designated C-I, was brought back to the Czech military and was met rather positively. It still did have its faults, but many of the problems which turned the Czechs away from the Carden-Lloyd had been fixed. Hence, the Czech army placed an order for seventy, both because they might be useful for… whatever… in the future - their tactical usefulness was under debate - and to not let down CKD as they had poured a lot into making this little machine.
Sadly, these little tankettes, now designated Tancik vz. 33, never saw open combat with the Czechs as the annexation came before they could. As such, the vz. 33s were split between the newly-organized Slovak Army and the Wehrmacht. Thirty found their way to the Slovaks, being assigned to training units until 1941 when they were all put into storage; in 1944, they were taken back out for driver training with three being assigned to frontline engineer units. Forty-three (the other forty, plus three prototypes) were transferred to the Wehrmacht. What became of these is unknown; they may have been used for some time in auxiliary units or training units, but they all seem to have been scrapped over the course of the war.
They did, however, see combat eventually; with the beginning of the Slovak Uprising in August ‘44, as a couple were used in their original purpose by the partisans and some were even put into service to fight the partisans by the Wehrmacht. How they performed here is unknown. There is evidence that a few did survive the war and were integrated into the postwar Czech army, but these were destroyed or scrapped soon after, likely used as range targets or something similar.
Pretty simple file. I would recommend printing this in 0.5mm layers or as small as you can go in FDM; resin would almost certainly be better but I do not own a resin printer. Take care with the supports around the exhaust.
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| Filename | Size | Last updated |
|---|---|---|
| CKD Tancik vz.33.zip | 1.5 MiB | 2026-03-09 |
