Sturmpanzerwagen Oberschlesien

The Sturmpanzerwagen Oberschlesien ("Assault armoured wagon Upper Silesia" from German: der Sturm, the storm, the assault; German: der Panzer, gepanzert the armour, armoured; German: der Wagen the vehicle, wagon) was a German tank project of the First World War. It was a radical design for a fast-moving, lightly armoured assault tank.

Sturmpanzerwagen Oberschlesien
TypeTank
Place of originGerman Empire
Specifications
Mass~19 t
Length6.7 m (22 ft)
Width2.34 m (7.7 ft)
Height2.9 m (9.5 ft)
Crew5
Armor14 mm (0.55 in)
Main
armament
1 x 57 mm (2.2 in) or 37 mm (1.5 in) cannon
Secondary
armament
2 x 8 mm MG 08 machineguns
EngineArgus As III[1]
190 hp (140 kW)
Power/weight10 hp/t (7.4 kW/t)
Operational
range
60 km (37 mi), ~100 km (62 mi) paved road[2]
Maximum speed 16 km/h (9.9 mph) on roads
9 km/h (5.6 mph) off road

The Oberschlesien included a track which was placed under the tank and only wrapped around half of it. The design sacrificed armour for the sake of speed and only required a 180 hp engine for the 19 ton body, giving it a projected ground speed of 16 km/h (9.9 mph).

The tank featured such advanced features as the main armament mounted on top of the tank in a centrally placed revolving turret, separate fighting and engine compartments, a rear-mounted engine and a low track run.

History

Towards the end of the First World War it was clear that the only operational German tank, the A7V, was too expensive to produce and had too large a crew. Therefore, it was decided that a lighter tank was required which could spearhead assaults and which could be mass-produced.

Thirteen companies bid for the contract and in the middle of 1918, construction of a design by Captain Müller was assigned to the Oberschlesien Eisenwerk of Gleiwitz, which had partially completed two prototypes by October. The project received the pseudonym Oberschlesien (Upper Silesia).

Neither the ordered test models, nor the improved "Oberschlesien II" already planned were finished before the end of the war.

gollark: No, not you.
gollark: > hoping for more people to die and greater economic damage because it would boost your political ideology
gollark: The economic damage is almost certainly better than the increased deaths/sick people which would result from doing less.
gollark: And I'd argue that not knowing exactly what it can do means you should treat it more seriously.
gollark: It's very infectious, mortality rate between, what, 0.2% and 10%, depending (probably only 10% as an upper bound with really overloaded healthcare), and not really any good treatments yet.

See also

References
  1. http://www.aviarmor.net/tww2/tanks/germany/oberschleisen.htm
  2. http://www.aviarmor.net/tww2/tanks/germany/oberschleisen.htm
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