Pz I A or B DAK 1941

Discussions on the vehicles used by the Axis forces. Hosted by Christian Ankerstjerne
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yantaylor
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Pz I A or B DAK 1941

#1

Post by yantaylor » 03 May 2020, 21:25

Hi everyone, I hope you are all keeping safe in these taxing times.

Can any of you give me any info on which Pz I was sent to Africa with German panzer units in March 1941. From what I have read Rommel had both ausf As and ausf Bs, but did he have more As or Bs.

Thank you all.
Yan

Alanmccoubrey
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Re: Pz I A or B DAK 1941

#2

Post by Alanmccoubrey » 04 May 2020, 15:04

The "A's" were in Panzer Regiment 5 which had 45 of them while the "B's" were used as command vehicles in Panzer Jäger Abteilung (mot)605 in suuport of their Panzerjäger I. There is a thread on this forum which shows that a second batch of "A" were shipped to North Africa but with no certainty of which unit received them.
Alan


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Re: Pz I A or B DAK 1941

#3

Post by yantaylor » 04 May 2020, 15:47

Thank you Alan, that is a great help.
I was asking because due to the lock down I have started to make plastic kits, well a boy needs something to do! And I found two Pz I kits, one was ausf A and the other B, so I wanted to buy the ausf which was more numerous in North Africa, but having reading you post about 5. Pz Rgt having 45 of them, in the Nafziger book regarding Panzers and Artillery, it list the 5. Pz Regt total tanks available March 41;

45 x Pz Mk IIs
71 x Pz Mk IIIs
20 x Pz Mk IVs
10 x PzBefWg

Nothing at all on Pz Is. It does say that the Regt/Staff has a Light Panzer Platoon, so I wonder if they had Pz Is and Nafziger declined to mention them as having Mk Is.

Regards
Yan

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Re: Pz I A or B DAK 1941

#4

Post by Alanmccoubrey » 05 May 2020, 14:07

Yan, this is what "Tank Combat in North Africa" says about them, I will list only the Panzer I.

RHQ PR5, 2 x leichte Zug, one with 5 x Pz I and one with 4 x Pz I.

I./PR5 Stabs Kp 1 x Pz I
leichte Zug 4 x Pz I

4./PR5 2 x Pz I

II./PR5
leichte Zug 7 x Pz I
8./PR 5 2 x Pz I.

Plainly I made up the 45 x Panzer I , it is only 25. :roll:
Alan

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Re: Pz I A or B DAK 1941

#5

Post by yantaylor » 05 May 2020, 20:48

Thanks Gary, 25 is quite enough.

One question on my mind is this, now the Pz I was obsolete by 1941 and Rommel only had a limited amount of fuel, so why didn’t he leave his panzer Is behind and give their fuel to the panzers which were more use to him. Lets face it, we had better armed Bren Carriers then the Panzer I. Just seems strange to waste petrol on them.

Thanks for the Info and keep safe.
Ian

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Re: Pz I A or B DAK 1941

#6

Post by Alanmccoubrey » 06 May 2020, 20:09

I don't think they were short of fuel when they first arrived but in any case most of them broke down on the march to the front.
Alan

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Re: Pz I A or B DAK 1941

#7

Post by Denniss » 06 May 2020, 20:27

Moving to desert without air filters for engines - bad idea.

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