Marder I

Marder I
Marder I on display at the Musée des Blindés at Saumur.
Type	Tank destroyer
Place of origin	Nazi Germany
Service history
In service	1942 to 1944
Used by	Nazi Germany
Wars	World War II
Production history
Designed	1942
Number built	170
Specifications
Weight	8,200 kg (18,078 lbs)
Length	5.38 m (17 ft 8 in)
Width	1.88 m (6 ft 2 in)
Height	2 m (6 ft 7 in)
Crew	4 to 5
Main armament	7.5 cm PaK 40
Engine	Delahaye 103TT 70 PS (69 hp, 51.5 kW)
Operational range	135-150 km (84-93 mi) road
Speed	34-38 km/h (21-23 mph) road 15-20 km/h (9-12 mph) off-road

The Marder I "Marten" (SdKfz 135) was a German World War II tank destroyer, armed with the 75 mm anti-tank gun. Most Marder I's were built on the base of the Tracteur Blindé 37L (Lorraine), a French artillery tractor/armoured personnel carrier of which the Germans had acquired more than three hundred after the Fall of France in 1940.

History

Marder I, 1943

In the early stages of Operation Barbarossa, the Wehrmacht felt the need for a more mobile and more powerful anti-tank solution than the existing towed anti-tank guns or self-propelled tank destroyers such as 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, Germany 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 captured Soviet 76.2mm F-22 Model 1936 divisional field gun, of which large numbers had been captured.

Development

Marder I converted from Hotchkiss, 1944.

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 compartment superstructure was removed and the gun placed on top of the chassis. Around this a new, open-topped compartment was built, to give the gun and crew some protection from small arms fire.

Between July and August 1942, 170 Marder I's were built on the Lorraine chassis. Several other French and Polish tanks were also used as a conversion base for the Marder I, including the Hotchkiss H39 and FCM 36, though 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 serve in the Panzerjäger (tank destroyer) units of infantry divisions.

This is a list of Infantry Divisions operating on the Eastern Front known to have used Marder I's and the estimated time frame they were used

Division	Battalion	Time Frame
31.Inf. Div	Pz. Jg.Abt.31	Aug 42 - Dec 43
35.Inf. Div	2.Kp./Pz. Jg.Abt.35	Sep 42 - Dec 43
36.Inf. Div (mot)	4.Kp./Pz. Jg.Abt.38	Oct 42 - Jun 43
72.Inf. Div	3.Kp./Pz. Jg.Abt.72	Sep 42 - Dec 43
206th Inf. Div.	1./Pz. Jg.Schn. Abt.206	Jan 43 - Dec 43
256.Inf. Div	5./Pz. Schnelle-Abt.256	Nov 42 - Apr 44

References

• http://www.achtungpanzer.com/marder-marten-series.htm
• Pz. Jäg. Lr. S. für 7.5 cm Pak 40/1 (Sd. Kfz. 135) (U.S. Intelligence Report)