Romanian Tanks

Which was the most succesfull Romanian built tank? I want to find out what tank was the most succesfull the T-38, the Tactam-R2 or the Maresal tank. :smg:

The T-38 (Skoda LT VZ 38 or Pz(t)-38 ) wasn't built in Romania. In fact no tank was built in Romania during the war, only SPGs.

None of the self-propelled gun developed by Romania distinguished, except the prototypes of Maresal.

The logical conclusion would be Maresal.

QUOTE

None of the self-propelled gun developed by Romania distinguished, except the prototypes of Maresal. The logical conclusion would be Maresal.

Were any of those prototypes used in combat? Or their performances are pure theoretical? And what happened to them? Why no Maresal survived until today (in a museum...)?

http://www.worldwar2.ro/arme/?category=arm...=11&language=en

How reliable were the Romanina tanks? Could they macht the reds tanks?

In the first part of the war (1941-1942), no. The situation was somewhat better after the German deliveries of Panzerkapmfwagen III and IV and Sturmgeschutz III.

So the Romanian tanks were obsolete in that period?

Yes.

In 1941-1942, the tanks of Romanian Army were Skoda R-1, Skoda R-2 and Renault R-35. All were light tanks, with inferior firepower and performance.

Well, that is debatable for 1941. The tanks the 1st Armored Division faced in the 1941 campaign were on par with the R-2s and IIRC lacked proper radio equipment (which put them in disadvatage).

It is true that Romanian troops faced mostly light tanks during the 1941 campaign, and I don't know whether the Romanian tanks ever engaged Soviet armor during this period, but generally speaking in 1941 the Red Army had a broad range of AFVs, medium and heavy tanks including. Even the most common Soviet light tanks (T-26 and BT) had better gun (45 mm vs 37 mm of R-2) and could have radio equipment. You can check the Russian Battlefield website for more information on Soviet tanks.

The R-3 tank design would have been armed with 47mm Gun and 30mm armor, would have been an effective tank at the start of the war, had Germany not denied Romania licence rights. The Panzer-IVH/T4 would have been an effective tank Romanian Built-tank, if Romania had been given Licence production, the Romanian Army would used the Pz-IVH/T-4 to great effect against Soviet Tanks in 43 & 44.

Thank you

This post has been edited by Stephen on November 02, 2004 07:58 am

R3? Stephen, please give some details.

Iama

Romanian industry was not capable to support the production of anything such complex as the Panzer IV. There were never discussions to build Panzer IV in Romania. There were only discussions with the French side prior the war, to make a porduction line for the French R-35 IIRC, but the project was abandoned.

Stephen, what do you mean by R-3 ?

if i remember right was some discution with Czechoslovakia for building in license Lt-35. Maybe, for this propossed license buildings (french or czech) was alocated the indicative "R3" ?

Iama