The Panzer 38(t) was a conventional pre-World War
II tank design, with riveted armor and rear engine.
The riveted armor was not
sloped, and varied in thickness from 10 mm to 25 mm in most versions. Later models
(Ausf E on) increased this to 50 mm.
The two man turret was centrally located,
and housed the tank's main armament, a 37 mm Skoda A7 gun with 90 rounds stored
on board. It was equipped with a 7.92 mm machine gun to the right of the main
ordnance. Interestingly, the turret machinegun was in a separate ball mount rather
than a coaxial mount. This meant the machinegun needed to be trained on targets
independently, rather than being aimed with the main gun. The driver was in the
front left of the hull, with the bow machinegunner seated to the right, manning
a 7.92 mm machine gun. As with many 1930s tanks, the bow gunner was also the radio
operator. A total of 2,550 rounds were carried for the bow and coaxial machine
guns.
The engine was mounted in the rear of the hull and drove the tank
through a transmission with five forward gears and one reverse gear. It drove
a forward drive sprocket, with the track running under four rubber tire road wheels
and back over a rear idler and two track return rollers. The wheels were mounted
on a leaf-spring double-bogie mounted on two axles. Despite the large wheel size,
the tank did not use a Christie suspension.
