Marder I on Tracteur Blinde 37L chassis

The Marder I was a German World War II tank destroyer, armed with a 75 mm anti tank gun. It was built on the base of the Tracteur Blinde 37L (Lorraine), a French artillery mover/armoured personell carrier of which the Germans had acquired several hundred after the Fall of France in 1940.

History

Even in the early stages of Operation Barbarossa, the Wehrmacht already felt the need for a more mobile and more powerful anti-tank solution than the existing towed anti-tank guns or tank destroyers like the Panzerjäger I. This need became urgent in late 1941, with the appearance of the new Soviet tanks like the T-34 and Kliment Voroshilov.

As an interim solution, it was decided to use both obsolete tanks like the Panzer II and captured vehicles like the Lorraine as the base for makeshift tank destroyers. The result was the Marder series, which were armed with either the 75 mm PaK 40 anti-tank guns or the Russian 76.2mm F-22 Model 1936 divisional field gun, of which large numbers had been captured.

Development

The Marder I was developed in May 1942 and carried the 75 mm PaK 40 anti-tank gun, on a Lorraine chassis. The original crew compartiment superstructure was removed and the gun placed on top of the chassis. Around this a new , open-topped compartement was built, to give the gun and crew some protection from small arms fire.

Some 170 Marder Is were built on the Lorraine chassis. Several other French tanks were also used as a conversion base for the Marder I, including the Hotchkiss H-39 and FCM36. These were only built in small numbers.

Combat history

The first Lorraine based Marder I vehicles were sent to the Eastern Front in 1942 to server in the Panzerjager (tank destroyer) units of infantry divisions. These were however quickly send back to serve in France itself, where it was easier to get spare parts for the Lorraine and other French vehicles.