MOC: TSI Leichtpanzer I mod.37 (LP-I/37)

[Ezechielle]

In 1936, while the ČDK (Českomoravská Kolben-Daněk) multiplies contracts around the world, Klaus Briknau, director of the TSI (Troppau Stahl Industrie, based in Opava – Troppau in German), decides to start producing military equipment. Hiring former ČDK engineers who have worked on the TNH and the AH-IV tanks ordered by Iran, the TSI start developing its very first tank, seizing the opportunity of a call for bids from the Kingdom of Iraq wanting to expand its armored fleet. Three prototypes designated PPA ( Panzer Prototyp A) are completed in October 1936 and after two mounth of trials in Czechoslovakia in presence of Iraqi officials, the tank is approved to be in service in the Iraqi army and a contract is signed for more than 200 units. Production starts in March 1937 and at the annexation of the Sudetenland by Nazi Germany 28 units are assembled. The symathy of the Third Reich for Iraq allows the delivery of 20 units but with the outbreak of Word War Two and the increasing needs of the German army, the 8 remaining units are blocked in Troppau. Considered inappropriate by German High Command, the LP-I/37 of which 8 more units are produced in the year 1939, are kept in reserve and ultimatly are given to the Slovakian Republic who will use them during the Russian campain between 1941 and 1943. In Iraq, the tanks will be deployed during the anglo-iraqi war of 1941.

The LP-1/37 at the factory in Troppau :

The tank fully assembled :

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