The Landsverk L-60 was a Swedish tank developed in 1934. It was developed by

AB Landsverk Landsverk (AB Landsverk) was a Swedish heavy industry company, manufacturing military equipment such as tanks, tank destroyers, SPAAGs, armored cars, tracked and wheeled off-road vehicles among others and civilian equipment such as railroad cars ...

as a

light tank A light tank is a tank variant initially designed for rapid movements in and out of combat, to outmaneuver heavier tanks. It is smaller in size with thinner armor and a less powerful main gun, tailored for better tactical mobility and ease of ...

which included several advanced design features such as

torsion bar A torsion bar suspension, also known as a torsion spring suspension, is any vehicle suspension that uses a torsion bar as its main weight-bearing spring. One end of a long metal bar is attached firmly to the vehicle chassis; the opposite end termi ...

suspension, periscopes rather than view slits and all-welded construction. The L-60 was progressively improved with several turrets, engines and guns offered by Landsverk. The L-60 entered the international market in 1935 and was eventually adopted by the Swedish army in 4 main variants: Stridsvagn m/38, Stridsvagn m/39, Stridsvagn m/40L and Stridsvagn m/40K.

Variants

* L-60 - First variant produced and delivered to: ** - 2 ordered in 1935 * L-60 Ö (for Österreich "Austria") - Variant for the

Austrian Army The Austrian Armed Forces (german: Bundesheer, lit=Federal Army) are the combined military forces of the Republic of Austria. The military consists of 22,050 active-duty personnel and 125,600 reservists. The military budget is 0.74% of nati ...

and delivered to: ** - 1 prototype ordered in 1936. Similar to the regular L-60 with a 20 mm madsen in the turret but with a raised

idler-wheel {{refimprove, date=June 2015 An idler-wheel is a wheel which serves only to transmit rotation from one shaft to another, in applications where it is undesirable to connect them directly. For example, connecting a motor to the platter of a phono ...

. Not accepted for service. ** - L-60 Ö repurposed and delivered to Hungary together with a Landsverk L-62. The idler-wheel was modified back to the state of a regular L-60. Led to Hungary purchasing a license to produce the L-60. The Hungarian variant was named

Toldi Toldi may refer to: *Toldi (tank), Hungarian light tank *Toldi trilogy, epic poem trilogy written by the Hungarian poet János Arany *Miklós Toldi Miklós Toldi (c. 1320 – November 22, 1390) was a Hungarian nobleman from Bihar County of th ...

. *

: Variant for the

Hungarian Army The Hungarian Ground Forces ( hu, Magyar Szárazföldi Haderő) is the land branch of the Hungarian Defence Forces, and is responsible for ground activities and troops including artillery, tanks, APCs, IFVs and ground support. Hungary's ground ...

. **k.hk. A20 (Toldi I) - 80 made. Armed with 20 mm

Solothurn S-18/100 The Solothurn S-18/100 20 mm anti-tank cannon was a German and Swiss anti-tank rifle used during the Second World War. It had a semi-automatic action in a bullpup configuration. As a result of its large, powerful ammunition, the gun had a tr ...

, a semi-automatic

anti-tank rifle An anti-tank rifle is an anti-materiel rifle designed to penetrate the armor of armored fighting vehicles, most commonly tanks, armored personnel carriers, and infantry fighting vehicles. The term is usually used for weapons that can be carri ...

. **k.hk. B20 (Toldi II) - 110 made. Had a 20 mm semi-automatic anti-tank rifle. **k.hk. B40 (Toldi IIa) - 80 Toldi II rearmed with 40 mm 37/42M guns. **k.hk. C40 (Toldi III) - 12 made. Improved Toldi IIa. *L-60 S: Variant for the

Swedish Army The Swedish Army ( sv, svenska armén) is the land force of the Swedish Armed Forces. History Svea Life Guards dates back to the year 1521, when the men of Dalarna chose 16 young able men as body guards for the insurgent nobleman Gustav Vas ...

. **L-60 S/I (''Strv m/38'') - 15 ordered in 1937 and delivered in 1939. Armed with a 37 mm m/38 Bofors gun. **L-60 S/II (''Strv m/39'') - 20 ordered in 1939 and delivered in 1940. Armed with a 37 mm m/38 Bofors gun. **L-60 S/III (''Strv m/40L'') - 100 ordered in 1940 and delivered in 1941. Armed with a 37 mm m/38 Bofors gun. **L-60 S/IV - Not a direct variant of the L-60. It went under the name Landsverk Terro and was a smaller Landsverk Lago. **L-60 S/V (''Strv m/40K'') - 80 ordered in 1942 and delivered in 1944 by ''Karlstads Mekaniska Verkstad'' (Karlstad Mechanical Engineering), a subcontractor that assembled the tanks. Armed with a 37 mm m/38 Bofors gun, armour up to 50 mm.

Foreign service

Hungarian service

The L-60 was licensed by the Hungarian

Weiss Company Weiss or Weiß may refer to: People * Weiss (surname), including spelling Weiß * Weiss Ferdl (1883-1949), German actor Places * Mount Weiss, Jasper National Park, Alberta, Canada * Weiss Lake, Alabama * Weiß (Sieg), a river in North Rhine-Westp ...

for the Hungarian army. With development and changes to armament and construction it first entered service in the Hungarian army as the 38M Toldi.

Irish Service

The first Irish Landsverk L-60 was delivered in 1935 and joined Ireland's only other tank a Vickers Mk. D in the 2nd Armoured Squadron. The second Landsverk L-60 arrived in 1936. The L-60s were still in use up until the late 1960s. One L-60 is preserved in running order and the other is in the National Museum of Ireland,

Collins Barracks Collins Barracks ( ga, Dún Uí Choileáin) is a former military barracks in the Arbour Hill area of Dublin, Ireland. The buildings now house the National Museum of Ireland – Decorative Arts and History. Previously housing both British Arm ...

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

Dominican service

Twenty were sold to the Dominican Republic army in 1956, having been refurbished and designated L/60L. In the

Dominican Civil War The Dominican Civil War (), also known as the April Revolution (), took place between April 24, 1965, and September 3, 1965, in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. It started when civilian and military supporters of the overthrown democraticall ...

in April 1965, these tanks saw use against invading American forces during “

Operation Power Pack The Dominican Civil War (), also known as the April Revolution (), took place between April 24, 1965, and September 3, 1965, in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. It started when civilian and military supporters of the overthrown democratica ...

”. Three of the Dominican L/60Ls were destroyed: one by a US Army

M40 recoilless rifle The M40 recoilless rifle is a portable, crew-served 105 mm recoilless rifle made in the United States. Intended primarily as an anti-tank weapon, it could also be employed in an antipersonnel role with the use of an antipersonnel-tracer fle ...

team of the

82nd Airborne Division The 82nd Airborne Division is an Airborne forces, airborne infantry division (military), division of the United States Army specializing in Paratrooper, parachute assault operations into denied areasSof, Eric"82nd Airborne Division" ''Spec Ops ...

, and the other two respectively by a

M50 Ontos Ontos, officially the Rifle, Multiple 106 mm, Self-propelled, M50, was a U.S. light armored tracked anti-tank vehicle developed in the 1950s. It mounted six 106 mm manually loaded M40 recoilless rifles as its main armament, which could ...

and a

M48 Patton The M48 Patton is an American List of main battle tanks by generation#First generation, first-generation main battle tank (MBT) introduced in February 1952, being designated as the 90mm Gun Tank: M48. It was designed as a replacement for the M2 ...

of a

US Marine Corps The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for conducting expeditionary and amphibious operations through combi ...

armor detachment of the 6th MEU. This 29 April 1965 battle was one of the very few tank-vs-tank battles to ever happen in the

Americas The Americas, which are sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North and South America. The Americas make up most of the land in Earth's Western Hemisphere and comprise the New World. Along with th ...

. After “Power Pack” ended, the United States assisted the Dominican Republic in rebuilding its army and twelve of the original twenty L/60Ls were again refurbished and restored to service. These dozen continued in frontline use until 2002. Today one is preserved in excellent, drivable condition as a historical icon by the Dominican Republic army. Strv m 40

Planned Romanian acquisition

In spring of 1936, an offer by the General Technical Inspectorate of the Romanian Army was sent to Swedish engineer Herbert Wiessner, for the purchase of Landsverk tanks. The offer was not materialized.

References

Sources

*''Tanks of the World 1915-1945'' by Peter Chamberlain and Chris Ellis 1972/2002 p 159. *

External links

Landsverk
- Site about AB Landsverk between 1850 and 1992 {{Use dmy dates, date=June 2017 World War II tanks of Sweden World War II light tanks Light tanks of Sweden Light tanks of the interwar period Military vehicles introduced in the 1930s