Little Gun that Led the Blitzkrieg: The Rise of the German 3.7cm Anti-Tank Gun

Long overshadowed by the famous armoured vehicles of the Second World War, the Kfz. 13 and Kfz. 14 were nonetheless the machines that laid the foundations of German armoured reconnaissance. Emerging in the aftermath of the First World War - at a time when Germany was forbidden to build tanks or modern AFVs - these light scout cars became an indispensable testbed for new tactics, new technologies, and a new generation of soldiers. Though lightly armed, thinly armoured, and limited off-road, the Bathtubs, as they were nicknamed, played a crucial role in rebuilding German mobile warfare from the ground up. They allowed reconnaissance units to train under realistic conditions, helped shape early mechanised doctrine, and gave German industry invaluable practical experience in designing future armoured fighting vehicles. By 1939 the Kfz. 13/14 were obsolete, yet their influence could be felt at every level of the rapidly expanding Wehrmacht. The crews who trained in them would later spearhead the lightning campaigns across Poland, the Low Countries, and France, applying lessons first learned behind the wheel of these modest scout cars. This book offers the first comprehensive history of the Kfz. 13/14, combining technical analysis, operational context, and rare imagery to illuminate a little-known but highly significant chapter in the evolution of German armoured warfare. AUTHOR: Jacek Zabielski is a Polish banking executive and military history researcher specialising in modern land warfare. He holds a Master's degree in International Relations from the University of Warsaw, a European Studies degree from the Central European University in Prague, an MBA from National-Louis University, and has completed postgraduate studies in Political Science and Media Policy at the University of Amsterdam. His published works include studies on German motorised troops during the Great War and German Light Divisions during the Blitzkrieg, and he has contributed to leading Polish military history magazines, writing on armoured vehicles, early mechanisation, and the armed forces of Central and Eastern Europe. 280 b/w illustrations