7TPjw[]
The 7TP (7-tonne Polish tank) was a Polish development of the British Vickers MK. E tank under license. The main new features of the 7TP were a better diesel engine, a very good 37mm gun and a bit thicker armor. Although significantly better armed than the German’s Panzer I and Panzer II the 7TP was never fielded in enough numbers to change the outcome of the war – indeed there were only ever 108 of the single turret versions in Polish service. The armament was a 37mm wz. 37 Bofors L/45 gun and a 7.92mm wz 30 TMG machine gun
7TPdw[]
Twenty-four were produced as twin turreted version. It had two 7.92mm wz 30’s and two 37 m wz. 37's.
After the fall of Poland, the German military incorporated 20 captured 7TPs into Tank Battalion 203 of the 1st Panzer Division, as the PzKpfw 731 (p) and they were to see action in both Norway and France in 1940.
Twin and single turret variants had no specific designations. In some Western pubblications they are designated with: "dw." and "jw." - they are abbreviations of Polish words: "dwuwieżowy" = twin-turreted and "jednowieżowy" = single-turreted. These abbreviations are not used in any Polish sources, The standard one was single-turret variant, and could be called just: "7TP".
7TP twin turret with 13.2 mm wz 30[]
A variant of this twin turret tank replaces one of the regular machine guns with a 13.2 mm Hotchkiss heavy machine gun that can damage armoured vehicles. The Polish army bought a small number of French hotchkiss heavy machine guns which. They tested mounting this gun in one of the turrets in the twin turret Vickers E tanks they had but were dissatisfied with the inaccuracy and low armour penetration. While no 13.2 mm machine guns were fitted to 7TP tanks in 1939 it has been said that the small section that sticks out on top of the turret was there to make room for this heavy machine gun and its 30 round magazine on top.
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