Stridsvagn m/42 (Strv m/42)

History

The pinnacle of Swedish tank work before and during WWII was the Stridsvagn Strv m/42 introduced in 1943. The Swedish tank industry was initially supported by the Germans before the war, so their designs were widely imitated, such as the famous Panzer I and Panzer II light tank models. The Swedish line started with the Strv m/31 in 1932, and this initiative followed with the improved L-60 in 1934, aimed at making Sweden itself a tank maker.

Further pre-war improvements followed with the arrival of the Strv m/38 in 1938, which led to further improvements to the wartime Strv m/39 that appeared in 1940. This then gave rise to the Strv m/40 in 1941, which proved to be the first mass-produced Swedish Army tank.

Like all other Swedish tanks before it, the Strv m/42 was built by AB Landsverk, with 282 completed from April 1943 to January 1945.

The final wartime evolution of the series came from the Strv m/42, which proved to be a major rewrite of an earlier product. The car is largely based on the previous m/40 model, but has a more modern appearance with an elongated hull flanked by a new, redesigned low-profile turret and six-wheel landing gear. The drive sprocket is at the front, the chain idler is at the rear, and a third chain idler is introduced. The crew was increased from three to four to better handle the workload, and the combat weight reached 25 tons - by comparison, the early m/40 was a 10-ton puppy.

The dimensions of the new tank include a barrel that is 16 feet long, 7.3 feet wide and 5.2 feet high.

An important and quite important feature of the m/42 was the installation of a 75mm m/41 L/34 main gun. Early forms all used the venerable 37mm Bofors as their primary weapon, although World War II tank battles soon exposed the limitations of this caliber due to the increasing armor thickness seen in late German and Soviet tanks. The move to 75mm proved wise and prudent in the war between the Soviet Union's eventual assembly of 122mm and the Germans' 88mm.

Anti-infantry defense was provided by 4 Ksp m/39 machine guns - two coaxial with the main gun, another in the bow and the last mounted on the rear turret fairing to protect the tank's vulnerable rear.

The first form was deployed under the designation m/42TM and contained a twin-engine Scania-Vabis 603/1 325 hp arrangement and an electromagnetic transmission system. Production spanned from 1943 to 1944, numbered 100. The m/42TH follows, also with twin-engine machinery, but with a hydraulic drivetrain.

The first car appeared in 1944 and there were 125 of them. From 1944 to 1945, the m/42EH model was equipped with a single 380 hp Volvo A8B engine and hydraulic transmission. The total number of units produced with Volvo engines was 57. In 1948, the m/42TV brand was established, bringing the design back to a twin-engine layout in favor of the hydraulic drivetrain.

All forms use torsion bar suspension and have road speeds of up to 26 mph.

The Strv m/42 forms the basis for the upcoming Strv 74 (MBT) main battle tank, the vanguard of Sweden's Cold War armour. These served from 1958 to 1984 and saw 225 people in the field. The ikv 73 Infantry Support Vehicle (ISV) was built from the existing m/42EH hull, with a total of 56 vehicles.

Specification

Basic

Roles

Dimensions

Performance

Performance

for everyone else in our database)

Armor

Not available.

Changes