The Panzer 38(t) performed well in the Polish campaign in 1939 and the Battle of France in 1940. It was better armed than the Panzer I and Panzer II tanks. It was on par with most light tank designs of the era, although it was unable to effectively engage the frontal armour of medium, heavy and infantry tank designs.
It was also used in the German invasion of the Soviet Union from 1941 onwards in German and Hungarian units, but was outclassed by Soviet tanks such as the T-34. Some ex-German units were issued to the Romanians in 1943, after the loss of many of the Romanian R-2 tanks. By then, it had become largely obsolete, though the chassis was adapted to a variety of different roles with success. Notable variations include the SdKfz 138 Marder III mobile anti-tank gun, the SdKfz 138/1 Grille mobile howitzer, Flakpanzer 38(t) and the Jagdpanzer 38(t) "Hetzer" tank destroyer. Small numbers were also used for reconnaissance, training and security duties, such as deployment on armoured trains.
The well-known German tank commander Otto Carius, who was credited with over 150 'kills' described the following action in a 38(t) in 1941:
On July 8, we got hit. I had to bail out for the first time.... It was at Ulla... Our engineers had built a pontoon bridge next to the one blown up over the Duna. It was there that we penetrated the positions along the Duna. They put us out of commission just this side of the wood line on the other side of the river. It happened like greased lightning. A hit against our tank, a metallic crack, the scream of a comrade, and that was all there was! A large piece of armor plating had been penetrated next to the radio operator's seat. No one had to tell us to get out. Not until I had run my hand across my face while crawling in the ditch next to the road did I discover that they had also got me. Our radio operator had lost his left arm. We cursed the brittle and inelastic Czech steel that gave the Russian 47mm AT gun so little trouble. The pieces of our own armor plating and assembly bolts caused considerably more damage than the shrapnel of the round itself.Above report highlights the reason why 38(t) was pulled out of front lines in favor of heavier Panzer III, IV and StuG IIIs. Panzer 38(t) continued to serve after 1941 as a reconnaissance vehicle and in anti-partisan units for some time. Several captured examples were refitted with Soviet DTM machineguns and employed by the Red Army.
Reliable running gears and chassis proved useful throughout the conflict. At the start of Operation Barbarossa, Germans found Russian T-34 tanks to be superior as German 37mm Pak36 anti-tank gun proved incapable of penetrating T-34's armor. To neutralize Russian T-34, Germans mounted captured Russian 76.2mm field gun on chassis of 38(t) as a stop-gap measure and called it "Marder III". Initial Marder III was nothing more than 38(t) with a Russian 76-mm divisional gun M1936 (F-22) in place of a turret, with breech modified to take German ammunition. Because of this arrangement, crews of initial Marder III models fought exposed on top of 38(t)'s engine deck, behind where turret used to be. Continuous effort to provide Marder III crews with more protection eventually lead to tank destroyer Hetzer which still used the same running gears on widened chassis and slightly widened track links to compensate for extra weight of the armor. After 38(t) production ceased, production switched to Marder III. Slightly more Marder III models were produced than 38(t). After Marder III production ended in 1944, Hetzer was produced from June 1944 until May 1945. Hetzer's production number of 2800 was twice that of 38(t). When Germany was being attacked from both West and East, Hetzer served German Army as one of the most common German AFVs in the last year of the war. Production of Hetzer continued for the Czechoslovak Army after the war. Switzerland purchased 158 examples. Swiss Hetzer served into the 1960s.
Removal of turrets from Panzer 38(t) tanks for conversion of the chassis to tank destroyer and other uses freed 351 turrets for use in fortifications in various locations.Almost half of these (150) were used in Southwest Europe, while 78 went to the Eastern Front, 75 to Norway, 25 in Italy, 20 in Denmark, and 9 in the Atlantic Wall. The small-bore armament and thin armor of the turrets made them insignificant as an anti-tank pillbox by the later stages of the war, but they were still useful in combating infantry attacks.
The SdKfz 140/1 Aufklärungspanzer 38(t) is a reconnaissance vehicle based on Panzer 38(t). It came about from a shortage of light reconnaissance tanks. Panzer I was outdated and the Panzer II Luchs was only just starting production. To fill this gap, Panzer 38(t) mounting smaller 20mm gun was built in small numbers. The basic construction was to remove the 38(t)'s turret, build up the hull superstructure and place an open turret from either a SdKfz 222 or SdKfz 234/1.
- Campaigns
- Invasion of Poland with the German 3rd Light Division
- Operation Weserübung (Norway) with the German 31st Army Corps
- Battle of France with the 7th Panzer, and 8th Panzer Divisions
- Operation Barbarossa with the German 6th, 7th, 8th, 12th, 19th, 20th, 22nd Panzer Divisions and Hungarian First Armored Field Division.
- Eastern Front operations with the Romanian 2nd Tank Regiment.