R-3 was a proposed

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Moldova to the east, and ...

tank A tank is an armoured fighting vehicle intended as a primary offensive weapon in front-line ground combat. Tank designs are a balance of heavy firepower, strong armour, and good battlefield mobility provided by tracks and a powerful engi ...

design for use in

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

. It was basically a variant of the Czechoslovak S-II-c tank prototype (known as the T-21 tank after 1939) which was going to be built in Romania because of the repeated acquisition failures. Because of political reasons and the limited industrial capacities of both Škoda Works and the Romanian industry, the design never entered production.

History

In the summer of 1940, Romania's traditional interwar arms delivery partners,

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

and

Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...

, were under German occupation. Romania's armored forces were equipped with 126 light R-2 tanks, 75

Renault R-35 The Renault R35, an abbreviation of ''Char léger Modèle 1935 R'' or R 35, was a French light infantry tank of the Second World War. Designed from 1933 onwards and produced from 1936, the type was intended as an infantry support light tank, ...

tanks (41 of which were interned Polish tanks), 35 R-1 tankettes and 75 obsolete

Renault FT The Renault FT (frequently referred to in post-World War I literature as the FT-17, FT17, or similar) was a French light tank that was among the most revolutionary and influential tank designs in history. The FT was the first production tank to ...

tanks. As the country was basically surrounded by hostile neighbours from all sides and the Renault R-35 tank deliveries were stopped, the

Romanian Army The Romanian Land Forces ( ro, Forțele Terestre Române) is the army of Romania, and the main component of the Romanian Armed Forces. In recent years, full professionalisation and a major equipment overhaul have transformed the nature of the Lan ...

sought to buy a medium tank. The chosen design was the Czechoslovak S-II-c prototype, the successor of the

LT vz. 35 The Panzerkampfwagen 35(t), commonly shortened to Panzer 35(t) or abbreviated as Pz.Kpfw. 35(t), was a Czechoslovakia, Czechoslovak-designed light tank used mainly by Nazi Germany during World War II. The letter (t) stood for ''tschechisch'' (Ge ...

light tank. The Romanian trials and field testing of the tank started in late 1939. This choice came naturally, as Romanian troops were already familiar with its predecessor. The prototype was later designated by

Škoda Works The Škoda Works ( cs, Škodovy závody, ) was one of the largest European industrial conglomerates of the 20th century, founded by Czech engineer Emil Škoda in 1859 in Plzeň, then in the Kingdom of Bohemia, Austrian Empire. It is the predece ...

as the T-21 medium tank.

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

refused to deliver tanks to Romania because the country was not yet part of the

Axis An axis (plural ''axes'') is an imaginary line around which an object rotates or is symmetrical. Axis may also refer to: Mathematics * Axis of rotation: see rotation around a fixed axis * Axis (mathematics), a designator for a Cartesian-coordinat ...

. In August 1940, the talks were resumed, as Germany sold the license of an improved variant of the T-21 tank to Hungary. The Hungarian engineers improved the two T-22 prototypes sent to them by Germany and built the tank under the 40M Turán I designation. Romania, now part of the Axis, placed an order for 216 tanks in January 1941, but Germany couldn't deliver the tanks because of the limited resources. The delivery would have disrupted the production of other tanks. In June 1941, Romania ordered 287 R-3 tanks from Skoda, but Germany only delivered 26 worn-out Panzer 35(t)s. Rebuffed repeatedly, Romania eventually offered to build the tanks locally, but the country lacked the industrial resources to produce medium tanks and the project was eventually canceled.

Later 1942 Romanian medium tank project

British historian Mark Axworthy writes how the Romanians wanted to produce a tank comparable to the

T-34 The T-34 is a Soviet medium tank introduced in 1940. When introduced its 76.2 mm (3 in) tank gun was less powerful than its contemporaries while its 60-degree sloped armour provided good protection against anti-tank weapons. The C ...

. Romanian documents give the characteristics of this tank, the proposal of which came by the end of 1942. It was to be a medium tank weighing 16-18 tonnes, reaching a maximum speed of 50 km/h. Its crew was to be of four members, its armament a main gun with a caliber of 50 mm or higher, along with one or two machine guns. The armor was to be of 40-60 mm.Armata romana si evolutia armei tancuri. Documente (1919-45)
, p. 92 According to Axworthy, the project was abandoned, being too challenging for the Romanian industry; Romania instead produced a number of

tank destroyers A tank destroyer, tank hunter, tank killer, or self-propelled anti-tank gun is a type of armoured fighting vehicle, armed with a direct fire artillery gun or missile launcher, designed specifically to engage and destroy enemy tanks, often w ...

, which proved to be more adequate for its industry, including the Mareșal,

TACAM R-2 The TACAM R-2 (''Tun Anticar pe Afet Mobil R-2'' – "Anti-tank gun on R-2 mobile gun carriage") was a Romanian tank destroyer used during World War II. It was built by removing the turret of the R-2 light tank and building a pedestal to mount ...

and

TACAM T-60 The TACAM T-60 (''Tun Anticar pe Afet Mobil T-60'' – "Anti-tank gun on T-60 mobile gun carriage") was a Romanian tank destroyer used during World War II. It was built by removing the turret of captured Soviet T-60 light tanks and building a pede ...

Notes

References

* Mark Axworthy, Cornel Scafeș, Cristian Crăciunoiu,''Third Axis. Fourth Ally. Romanian Armed Forces in the European War, 1941-1945,'' Arms and Armour, London, 1995.

External links

Picture of a S-II-c prototype

Pictures of T-22 during trials in Hungary
{{WWIIRomanianAFVs World War II armoured fighting vehicles of Romania Tanks of Romania World War II medium tanks Tanks introduced in 1938