The Panzers | Panzer I & II - Light Tanks (Episode 1)

A 1996 Chronos Films Technology, War Documentary narrated by Brian Matthews and Mark Healy.

This 'War Archive' programs (Complete title: The Panzers: Germany's Ultimate War Machines), brings the most comprehensive collection of the Wehrmacht's mobile fighting armor ever compiled as a definitive series. At the heart of the series is the story of the evolution of the German tank, including the Panzer and Tiger tanks in their various configurations, which swept all before them throughout Europe, Russia and Middle East during the Blitzkrieg campaigns. Their powers are amply illustrated through the lenses of the German combat cameramen who accompanied the front line action in all the theaters of war. Their abilities are assessed and judged against the capabilities of the allied armor which they were born to crush. In addition the series is complemented with in-depth coverage of the armored cars and half tracks whose main task was to range ahead of the tank battalions. It was often said that where you found these vehicles, the Panzers would not be far behind. The series deals with the evolution of each tank, many of which were judged to be the best designed tanks of the war.

Episode 1: It is one of the enduring myths of the Second World War, that the German 'Blitzkrieg' victories of the early years of the conflict were achieved by their employment of a numerically and technologically superior tank force. In reality, the defeat of Poland and France, Yugoslavia and Greece and the remarkable victories in the opening stages of the Russian campaign and in North Africa, were wrought by German tank divisions equipped, in the main, with light tanks.
The Panzer I weighed less than six tons, and was armed with two machine guns and armour barely able to withstand the impact of such weapons itself. It was with these light-weight workhorses, rather than their heavier and more glamorous stablemates, that the Blitzkrieg legend was forged.