Skoda R 2 (Romanian Skoda LT vz.35) tank, differences between variants

Romanian R-2 tank on the Eastern Front in the summer of 1941:


Source: Internet auction

At the end of 1936 Romanian ordered 126 R-2 (S-II-a) tanks. In August 1938 the prototype S-II-a R was ready.
The Romanian military insisted on a quick delivery of the first 15 tanks because they were planned for driving instruction. These first 15 tanks (numbers Sr.1 – Sr.15) were identical with the Czech LTvz and were delivered to Romania in summer 1937. In July 1938 these tanks were sent back to Skoda for reconstruction.
The most important differences between the R-2 and the Czech LTvz. 35 tanks was the rear of the turret consisting of two riveted armor plates in contrast to the turret rear of the LTvz. 35 which consisted of a single continuous plate. Another difference was the rear hull that consisted in one single straight plate. The licence plate lamp was mounted above not on de left side of the plate as for the LTvz.
All serial tanks R-2 (from Sr. 1 to Sr. 126) were delivered from July 12, 1938 to February 1939.
The prototype of the R-2 model stayed at Skoda and was redesigned several times. Finally it was reequipped with Skoda A 7 gun and presented as a modernized version to the Romanian specialists, to encourage them to start the licence production. But the Romanians were not interested.

Any modification to the engine of the original Skoda LT vz. 35 ?

Yes there were modifications this is a traduced fragment from the article from Modelism No. 10 (1/1986) that I attached and it’s only in Romanian.

“To be able to use the 60 octane petrol, used by the Romanian army, the compression was lowered from 6 to 5.75. The loss of 20hp from this modification was compensated by the redesigning the cam shaft witch gave the engine its original power. The cooling system was improved, crank shaft and the oil cooling system were modiefied the last was done by coupling two original systems, these modifications helped to reduce the engine temperature with 20 degrees C. Also the admission diagram and the timing gear were improved.”

PS I hope I didn’t make too many mistakes in the translation there were many technical terms.





This post has been edited by mihnea on October 27, 2005 05:36 pm

Thank you for the welcomed completions concerning the Skoda R-2 engine.

Thanks Mihnea !

Kepi and Mihnea, thanks a lot!

I think the article from “Modelism” magazine scanned and posted by Mihnea is very nice, and bibliography impressive. The article also presents an alternative version about the number of Skoda R 1 tankette ordered and delivered (76 according to the article, instead of 35 as presented on the site, in the Weapons/Armor section). I already brought that into attention in a comment to the article about Skoda R 1, posted on the site. In that comment I used as source another issue from the same “Modelism” magazine which mentioned a total number of 75 pieces delivered. I would suggest that some modifications to the original article about R 1 are needed…

A new question (also mentioned earlier in this thread by Iamandi) is related to the differences between the A 3 and A 7 cannons, used by the Skoda LT vz.35, respectively LT vz.38 tanks. Any info, details, anyone?

Finally, another problem still in discussion after my knowledge is that concerning the establishment of an assembly line for the Czech tanks in Romania. If according to Kepi it was cancelled because the lack of interest of the Romanian autorithies, according to other sources the proposition had been agreed upon in principle but was dismissed afterwards due to the technical disagreements between the Skoda representatives and the Romanian industrialists who should have produced the tank under license (Malaxa, if I remember well?). Reportedly, the Czech delegates were profoundly disappointed by the terms offered by the Romanian business representatives, the idea implied being (I guess) that the latter were rather concerned by their personal (and not necessarily honest) profit than by concluding a fair deal; not to say that Skoda businessmen had always been an example of honesty and fairness in business, unfortunately some of them proved to be very far from that…

This post has been edited by Agarici on November 01, 2005 05:52 am

from old posts

source ebay

from ebay