Tančík vz . 33 The Tančík vz . 33 ( literal translation " Tankette model 33 " ) was a Czechoslovak - designed tankette used mainly by Slovakia during World War II . Seventy - four were built . The Germans seized forty when they occupied Bohemia - Moravia in March 1939 ; there is no record of their use . The Slovaks captured thirty at the same time when they declared independence from Czechoslovakia . In Slovak service it only saw combat during the Slovak National Uprising . Description . The " Tančík vz . 33 " was assembled from a framework of steel " angle iron " beams , to which armor plates were riveted . The driver sat on the right side using a observation port protected by of bulletproof glass and an armored shutter which had a slit . The gunner sat on the left and had a similar vision port half the size of the driver ' s . His " ZB vz . 26 " machine gun was mounted in a ball mount directly to his front . There were similar vision ports on the sides and the rear . The driver ' s machine gun was fixed and he fired it using a Bowden cable ; 2 , 600 rounds were stored for the machine guns . The front armor was thick , the sides had a thickness of , the top was thick and the bottom plates were in thickness . This was deemed enough to deflect armor - piercing bullets fired from distances greater than from the front and from the sides . Both were supposed to withstand ordinary bullets from over . The , water - cooled , , inline 4 - cylinder Praga engine sat directly in the fighting compartment . It had a top speed on the road of . One fuel tank was located to the left of the engine . The transmission had four forward gears and one reverse gear . It , the reduction , differential , driving shafts and brakes were taken from the Praga " AN " truck . The suspension was a modified version of that used in the Carden - Loyd tankette s . It consisted of two small road wheels fastened together on a frame , two frames paired and sprung by leaf springs that made a wheel carrier , one wheel carrier per side . The track was guided by wooden , metal - lined frames . It had a ground pressure of only 0 . 5 kg / cm . It could cross a ditch wide , climb an obstacle high and ford a stream deep . Development . The Czech Army bought three Carden - Loyd tankettes and a production license for them in 1930 , Českomoravská Kolben - Daněk building four copies that same year as prototypes for future orders . The Carden - Loyds were evaluated during the Fall maneuvers and revealed numerous problems : the crews had very poor vision through the narrow slits , the machine gun had a very narrow field of fire , and the crewmen had a difficult time communicating . Furthermore they were slow , underpowered and often broke down . One of the P - 1 prototypes was rebuilt to address these issues with additional vision ports in all directions , internal ammunition storage and the machine gun ' s field of fire increased to 60° . It was extensively tested during 1931 — 2 and a few other changes were made as a result . The armor was increased from and from and a fixed machine gun was added for the driver . Two of the other prototypes were rebuilt to the same standard ; all three were officially accepted by the Army on 17 October 1933 . The other prototype was eventually given to the Shah of Iran . The order for seventy was placed on 19 April 1933 , all being delivered by October 1934 . Operational history . Czechoslovakia . The 1934 Fall maneuvers validated the misgivings of many in the Army . The gunner had trouble holding his weapon at speeds over and could not lay it properly at all . The driver could not use his machine gun in addition to driving the vehicle . They had trouble negotiating the terrain and proved unsuitable for reconnaissance as the crew could only observe the road while " buttoned - up " . The lack of a radio made coordination impossible among the vehicles in a platoon or larger - sized formation . While used as a substitute for the light tanks not yet in service during 1934 — 36 the Army decided to organize them in three - vehicle platoons and assigned them to support the border areas . These platoons were heavily used suppressing the protests and violence instigated by Konrad Henlein ' s Sudeten German Party ( " Sudetendeutsche Partei " - SdP ) and the " Sudetendeutsche Freikorps " ( paramilitary groups trained in Germany by SS - instructors ) between May and October 1938 . They were also used to repel Hungarian and Polish border - crossers , sometimes up to a battalion in strength . They helped to screen the infantry when they had to evacuate southern Slovakia after the First Vienna Award on 2 November 1938 . Germany . The Germans captured forty " Tančík vz . 33 " s when they occupied Czechoslovakia , but there is no record of their use so they were presumably quickly scrapped or relegated to training duties . Slovakia . The thirty " Tančík vz . 33 " s formed one platoon in the " Armored Battalion " Martin " " formed by the Slovak Army in mid - 1939 , but they were relegated to training duties during 1940 . They saw some use by the insurgents when the Slovak National Uprising began in September 1944 , but little is known of their activities .