''Grosstraktor'' (German: "large

tractor A tractor is an engineering vehicle specifically designed to deliver a high tractive effort (or torque) at slow speeds, for the purposes of hauling a Trailer (vehicle), trailer or machinery such as that used in agriculture, mining or constructio ...

") was the codename given to six prototype

medium tank A medium tank is a classification of tanks, particularly prevalent during World War II, which represented a compromise between the mobility oriented light tanks and the armour and armament oriented heavy tanks. A medium tank's classification ...

s built (two each) by

Rheinmetall-Borsig Rheinmetall AG () is a German automotive and arms manufacturer, headquartered in Düsseldorf, Germany. The group was promoted to the DAX, Germany's leading stock market index, in March 2023. It is the largest German and fifth largest Europe ...

Krupp Friedrich Krupp AG Hoesch-Krupp (formerly Fried. Krupp AG and Friedrich Krupp GmbH), trade name, trading as Krupp, was the largest company in Europe at the beginning of the 20th century as well as Germany's premier weapons manufacturer dur ...

, and

Daimler-Benz Mercedes-Benz Group AG (formerly Daimler-Benz, DaimlerChrysler, and Daimler) is a Germany, German Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive company headquartered in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is o ...

, for the

Weimar Republic The Weimar Republic, officially known as the German Reich, was the German Reich, German state from 1918 to 1933, during which it was a constitutional republic for the first time in history; hence it is also referred to, and unofficially proclai ...

, in violation of the

Treaty of Versailles The Treaty of Versailles was a peace treaty signed on 28 June 1919. As the most important treaty of World War I, it ended the state of war between Germany and most of the Allies of World War I, Allied Powers. It was signed in the Palace ...

. Constructed in secret, they were tested by

Reichswehr ''Reichswehr'' (; ) was the official name of the German armed forces during the Weimar Republic and the first two years of Nazi Germany. After Germany was defeated in World War I, the Imperial German Army () was dissolved in order to be reshaped ...

units at the

Kama tank school The Kama tank school () was a secret training school for tank commanders operated by the German ''Reichswehr'' near Kazan, Soviet Union. It operated from 1929 to 1933. The school was established in order to allow the German military to circumvent th ...

in the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

. They were used for training and retired as monuments after the

Nazi party The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party ( or NSDAP), was a far-right politics, far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that created and supported the ideology of Nazism. Its precursor ...

came to power.Peter Chamberlin and Hillary Doyle, ''Encyclopedia of German Tanks of World War Two'', 1978, 1999, p. 147

Development history

After the first World War, Germany realized the value of tanks in warfare. In 1925, plans to design tanks for the Reichswehr were secretly initiated. The Grosstraktor was the first of the tank designs for the Reichswehr. The Grosstraktor began life when design specifications for a tank known as the "Armeewagen 20" were created in 1926. It was to be a 15 tonne tank armed with a 7.5 cm gun in a fully rotating turret and having a length of 6 meters and a width of 2.4 meters. Contracts to design and build two chassis in soft steel were given to Daimler-Benz, Krupp, and Rheinmetall in March 1927. Krupp designed a turret for their own vehicle, while Rheinmetall designed a turret for both their own and Daimler-Benz's tanks. Construction of the six Grosstraktor was started at a Rheinmetall shop in

Unterlüß Unterlüß is a village and former municipality in the district of Celle in Lower Saxony, Germany. It became part of the municipality of Südheide on 1 January 2015. It is about 30 km north-east of Celle and 25 km south-west of Uelzen. ...

in August 1928, and was completed by the end of June 1929. They were then shipped to a secret testing ground near

Kazan, Russia Kazan; , IPA: Help:IPA/Tatar, ɑzanis the largest city and capital city, capital of Tatarstan, Russia. The city lies at the confluence of the Volga and the Kazanka (river), Kazanka Rivers, covering an area of , with a population of over 1. ...

for trials, arriving in July 1929. There, Mk 6/380/160 track links replaced the originals.

References

Bibliography

External links

*http://www.achtungpanzer.com/leichte-traktor-grosstraktor-i-ii-iii-neubaufahrzeug-pzkpfw-v-vi.htm {{WWIIGermanAFVs Interwar tanks of Germany Medium tanks of Germany Trial and research tanks of Germany Multi-turreted tanks