You have to admit... That thing is so cute!

Wow. this is the tank Roman Orlik took out 13 German tanks with. I wish i could have seen that.

W odpowiednich rękach ten czołg rozwalał też PzKpfw 3 i 4 B (Roman Edmund Orlik takich cudów dokonywał). Do tego jego zaletą było to, że był bardzo malutki i szybki. Weź sobie traf coś takiego :P

Neat! And surprisingly nimble!

Even so, check this out. Roman Edmund Orlik, a Polish Army sergeant, was a tank ace who knocked out 13 German tanks with his light TKS tankette in September 1939.

1. Orlik's TKS was armed with 20mm autocannon. At the time it was more than necessary. The pilot part i will mercifully skip. 2. 7TP was based on Vickser E, but had different engine, transmission, gun and armor. It's armor was too thin, yes. 37mm gun was fine at the time (same caliber as in PzIII up to 1940). 9TP prototype had armor up to 40mm, but your ancestors decided to visit Poland too early ;) 37km/h was also fast enough, tanks of that era had to be static to fire accurately anyway.

@ichmalealsobinich 37mm was an effective AT gun up to KV-1 era. Mentioning family based on 8.8 Flak - they were able to knock out any tank at the distance up to 4,5 km (confirmed at the eastern front) even at the very end of WW2 (one M26 pershing was knocked out by PzJ Hornisse with PaK 43/1 L/71). So mentioning it durng the discussion about pre WW2 era tank is hard to explain. Any tank designed before 1939 could be penetrated by 37mm and up AT gun (maybe except the Char B1 at front).

Losses (repairable / destroyed completely): Poland - ca. 400 / 350 (tanks, tankettes, arm. cars etc. together) + 10 arm. trains Germany - ca. 430 / 240 tanks Soviet Union ca. 430 / 40 - most of "repairable" tanks were damaged due to poor condition of equipment, outside of combat. So, even countng only Poland vs. Germany, I could say that it was almost "one for one", and, since statistically: a Polish tank usually ment a poorly armed tankette... yes, I think they did their job. ;-)

Well, it's quite hard to provide any statistics, since there were, as I mentioned - twenty TKS equipped with 20mm autocannon could fight against an armored vehicle. But let's try: The gun's penetration capacity against: steel armor - 25mm from 300 meters, carbonated steel armor - 20mm from 100 meters German tanks in 1939 (max armor - front plate) PzKpfw I - 10mm, PzKpfw II - 15mm, PzKpfw III - 15- 30mm (depending on version), PzKpfw IV - max 30mm. I don't have the data reg. Soviet tanks (...)

@ichmalealsobinich The basic Polish tank was 7TP. It was the world's first tank powered by a diesel engine. It was much better than the PzKpfw I-III and almost equal (by armor and armament) to PzKpfw IV. The thing is there were too few of them, about 100 were built (vs 800-1000 PzKpfw II only). France had numerous and much better tanks than the 3rd Reich at the time and they were crused like an empty can. Blitzkrieg was a key which opened every door in 1939.

Probably alot since this rare model was built using original salvaged parts.

- that's how many we had in 1939 - hell, even if they were all rearmed with 20mm MG, with enough fuel, ammo, etc - that was a dead end, not a branch to develop. The real armored forces of Poland were still on the stage of prototypes or blueprints... Only 7TP made it to production, but there were ca. 100 of them ready in '39. Sorry for being so elaborate, but historical "curiosities" and "what-if" stuff are my hobbies :-)

I enjoy your video keep up the good work.

With all due respect, Bob Semple Tank lifted morale and it's all we could expect from it, RIP. ;-) The starting point for both vehicles is similar - "it's getting hot, we have no panzer, practically no heavy industry, gotta improvise". The results, however, were quite different. IMO, TKS rearmed with 20mm MG would have no problems with taking out a platoon of Bob Semple Tanks. I mean: the difference is, that Polish TKS were fully operational and quite effective against Nazi forces (...)

@ichmalealsobinich in thousands? No, they were designed as one of the first models of regular army tanks (after Klein and GrossTraktor models)

That looks fun to drive.

of that time, unfortunately. The situation at Polish eastern border was quite peculiar, troops were ordered to rather avoid combat unless attacked by Soviet invaders... but that's another story. Back to the numbers: In September 1939 Poland threw at enemy all it had, which makes ca. 380 tanketes with 7,92 MG, 20 rearmed tankettes with 20mm autocannon, ca. 180 light tanks, 50 Renault FT17, some armored cars etc. Together: ca. 750 armored vehicles + 10 armored trains.

@MooseheadDrinker Roman Edmund Orlik, a Polish Army sergeant, knocked out 13 German tanks with his TKS tankette in September, 1939. Look how the Panzerwaffe or the Red Army was armed in 1939.

Germany engaged in Poland about 80% of their panzers, ca.: Pz I - 970, Pz II -1130, Pz III 85 - Pz IV 195, Pz Bef 140, Pz 35(t) 110, Pz 38(t) 55. Together it makes over 2600, counting tanks only, from crappy Pz I to badass Pz IV. Plus total air superiority. Plus the modern thinking - tanks as armored forces instead of infantry support ony. Soviets: over 4000 armored vehicles, mostly qualified as "tanks" but again I don't have the details. It was ca. 20% of their panzers. Yes, they had plenty.

Takich extrenamalnych driftów to nawet BREN carriery nie robią na youtubie. :D

ill conceived? It lacked armor, but was a small and fast moving target. In 1939 Polish Army started rearming them with 20mm MG, capable of taking out any German tank then, except possibly Panzer 4 (used in Poland in field test numbers). Unfortunately, they finished about 25 of them before September. Definitely not enough to change the course of war, but... IMHO, still not so bad for a country, which had to start everything from a scratch in 1918, after 123 years of enslavement.

That thing is hilarious

WANT it in WOT!!

kurwa! this was on the battle field vs the tiger tank???

(...) Surprisingly, one might say. Even though TKS was a recon vehicle, not a tank. Loud? Yes, but not louder than other vehicles able to move offroad. It was able to handle quite rough terrain, with decent speed, from what I read (it was quite light). I am NOT saying that it was flawless - the concept came from times of WW I, in late 30's it was already outdated, but - since there was no time and resources to build some "serious" armor, Poles had to use what they had. Yes, TKS was a "tin can".

How much??

The pzkpfw 1 did make attacks on infantry positions.

Yet I agree, in 1939 TKS were totally outdated. They seemed a good idea after 1920, as a countermeasure against overwhelming Soviet advantage in low-tech manpower, but in late 30's... I think that lack of funds was the main reason of "stickin' to what we got". Putting new guns in "roaches" was not a solution for the future, rather a desperate "we need something to stop the Huns for few days until GB & France will join and give 'em hell, as we agreed". We all know how it ended. ;-) Regards

Ponoc mialy karabin ,ktory przebijal pancerz czolgu.

(...) or, as Polish troops called it - "cockroach". Looks extremally funny from today's point of view, and even back then was not impressive at all. But this "tin can" was - as I already said - surprisingly effective for an improvised weapon. The rearmed version, in good hands - was a deadly surprise for any PzKpfw I, II, even PzKpfw 35(t) or PzKpfw III. Example - Sgt. Roman Orlik - 10 German tanks eliminated during September, including 3 confirmed PzKpfw 35(t). But 20 rearmed TKS (...)

tank hunter actually :/ and we did actually do that :P We also made open top variants armed with 37 & 47mm high velocity AT guns.

1920-1930 design of light armored vehicle. Kind of obsolete in the early 1940's.

@lukaty88 And Matilda Mk.1 on its front armour - 65mm thick.

Now where do I buy one? Hahaha

So why krauts used it in combat? :P

@ichmalealsobinich The British Matilda 1, the German PzKpfw 1 and the Italian L3/35 weren't much better than this, you know.

FYI Germany used cavalry in phase I of WWII. And first german tanks sucked so hard that when they were used in Spain Civil War, one of generals (Franco himself?) said he would pay a lot of money to any soldier for russian captured version that was used by the republic. Everything went smooth untill they wanted to make Maus, LULZ.

the worlds greatest RC toy

How　much?

Czołg lekki TKS, a nie "tankietka".