View source for Tankette

{{Short description|Small tracked armoured fighting vehicle}}
[[File:TKS P1010141 2.jpg|thumb|300px|A [[TKS|TKS tankette]] in the [[Polish Army Museum]]]]
[[File:Święto Wojska Polskiego, czołg.jpg|thumb|300px|A TKS tankette with a human for scale in a 2019 parade in Poland]]
A '''tankette''' is a [[Continuous track|tracked]] [[armoured fighting vehicle]]<ref>{{citation |url=http://www.tedescos.com/Pages/VJ/monograph2.pdf |title=The Revolution After Next <!--: Making Vertical Envelopment by Operationally Significant Mobile Protected Forces a Reality in the First Decade of the 21st Century] --> |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120213100806/http://www.tedescos.com/Pages/VJ/monograph2.pdf |archive-date=2012-02-13 |last=Tedesco |first=Vincent J. III |publisher= [[United States Army School of Advanced Military Studies|School of Advanced Military Studies]] |location= [[Fort Leavenworth]] |date=2000 |page= 15}}</ref> that resembles a small [[tank]], roughly the size of a car. It is mainly intended for light infantry support and [[reconnaissance|scouting]].<ref>{{citation |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Z23JjCBkSykC&dq=tankette&pg=PA84 |title=Iron Arm |via= Google Books |last= Sweet |first=John Joseph Timothy |publisher= [[Stackpole Books]] |date= 2007 |page=84|isbn=9780811733519 }}</ref><ref name="T27">[http://www.battlefield.ru/content/view/72/50/lang,en/ T-27 Tankette] (from the 'battlefield.ru' website, with further references cited. Accessed 2008-02-21.)</ref> Colloquially it may also simply mean a  small tank.<ref>{{citation |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=c-Xv836lmxgC&dq=tankette&pg=PA221 |title=War Slang: American Fighting Words and Phrases Since the Civil War|via=Google Books |last=Dickson |first=Paul |publisher=Brassey's |date=2004 |page= 221|isbn=9781574887105}}</ref>
 
Several countries built tankettes between the 1920s and 1940s, and some saw limited combat in the early phases of [[World War II]]. The vulnerability of their light armour, however, eventually led armies to abandon the concept with some exceptions such as the more modern German [[Wiesel AWC|Wiesel]] (Weasel) series.

==Characteristics==
Tankettes were made both in two- and three-man models. Some were so low that the occupant had to lie prone.<ref name="T27"/> Some models were not equipped with [[gun turrets|turrets]] (and together with the tracked mobility, this is often seen as defining the concept), or just a very simple turret that was traversed by hand or leg. They were significantly smaller than [[light tank]]s and did not have a [[tank gun]]; instead their main weapon tended to be one or two [[machine gun]]s or, rarely, a 20&nbsp;mm [[autocannon]] or [[grenade launcher]].

==History==
[[File:IJA TK Tankette Display at Armor School History Museum 20130302b.JPG|thumb|A [[Empire of Japan|Japanese]] [[Type 94 tankette]]]]
{{History of the tank}}
The genesis of the tankette concept was the [[armoured warfare]] of [[World War I]]. On the [[Western Front (World War I)|Western Front]] in the later stage of the war, [[Allies of World War I|Allied]] tanks could break through the enemy [[Trench warfare|trench lines]] but the [[infantry]] (needed to take and hold the ground gained) following the tanks were easily stopped or delayed by small arms fire and artillery. The breakthrough tanks were then isolated and destroyed, and reinforcements plugged the hole in the trench line. The tankette was originally conceived in the early [[interwar period]] to solve this problem.{{citation needed|date=June 2022}} The first designs were a sort of mobile, one-man [[machine gun]] nest protected against small arms fire and shell fragments. This idea was abandoned and the two man-model, mainly intended for reconnaissance, was produced instead. The moving up of infantry while protecting them was solved with the development of the [[armoured personnel carrier]] concept in the 1930s.

[[File:Carro Leggero 3 35-001.jpg|thumb|An [[Kingdom of Italy|Italian]] Carro Leggero 3/35 (L3/35) light tank]]

In 1925 [[United Kingdom|British]] tank pioneer [[Giffard Le Quesne Martel]] built a one-man tank in his garage and showed it to the [[War Office]], who agreed to production of a few (known as the [[Morris-Martel]]) for testing. The publicity caused [[Sir John Carden, 6th Baronet|John Carden]] and [[Vivian Loyd]] to produce their own. Both types were developed further, but the two-man [[Carden Loyd tankette]] was considered the classic and most successful design,<ref name="T27"/> with many other tankettes modelled after it.  While the design was influential, few Carden Loyd tankettes saw combat,{{Citation needed|date=August 2008}} other than those the Bolivian side used during the [[Tank warfare in the Chaco War|Chaco War]]. However, the design did lead to the 'Bren Gun Carrier' which in final form as the [[Universal Carrier]] had an extensive operational history in the Second World War.<ref>Fletcher & Bryan, p. 3</ref> In 1928, the [[Army Council (1904)|British Army Council]] objected to the use of the word "tankette," noting that the "mechanization of the Army" was still in its infancy.<ref>{{cite news |title=Objects to "Tankette."; British Army Council Refuses to Sanction the Word. |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1928/03/04/archives/objects-to-tankette-british-army-council-refuses-to-sanction-the.html |access-date=1 July 2022 |work=The New York Times |date=4 March 1928 |page=55}}</ref>

The [[Royal Italian Army|Italian Royal Army]] (''Regio Esercito'') equipped three armoured divisions and three "fast" (''celere'') divisions with [[L3/33]] and [[L3/35]] tankettes.  The L3s were used in large numbers during the [[Second Italo-Ethiopian War|Italian invasion of Ethiopia]], the [[Spanish Civil War]], and almost every place Italian soldiers fought during [[World War II]].  Some L3s went with the [[Italian Expeditionary Corps in Russia]] (''Corpo di Spedizione Italiano'', CSIR) as late as [[Operation Barbarossa]].

The [[French Third Republic|French]] armoured reconnaissance type (''automitrailleuses de reconnaissance'', "machine-gun scout") of the 1930s was essentially a tankette in form, specifically intended for scouting ahead of the main force.

In 1935, the Soviets experimented with transporting [[T-27]]s by air, suspending one under the fuselage of a [[Tupolev TB-3]] heavy bomber.<ref name="T27"/>

[[File:TeKe NMM (zijaanzicht).jpg|thumb|right|A [[Empire of Japan|Japanese]] [[Type 97 Te-Ke tankette]]]]
The [[Imperial Japanese Army]] (IJA) became one of the most prolific users of tankettes, producing a number of designs for reconnaissance and infantry support in [[Second Sino-Japanese War]]<ref>{{citation |last=Zaloga |first=Steven J. |author-link = Steven J. Zaloga |date=2007 |title=Japanese Tanks 1939–45 |publisher= Osprey Publishing |series=New Vanguard |pages= 7, 8, 10, 12 |isbn=978-1-8460-3091-8}}</ref> and [[jungle warfare]]. However, by the time of the Second World War, many were already obsolete and some were proven unsuccessful in their appointed task. Many were relegated to [[artillery tractor|tractor]] duties for artillery or logistics units.<ref name="T27"/><ref>[http://www.lonesentry.com/articles/jp_tankette/index.html U.S. Forces Encounter Old Jap Tankette] (from ''Intelligence Bulletin'', September 1945, via lonesentry.com. Retrieved 2008-01-06.</ref>

Due to their limited utility and vulnerability to [[Anti-tank warfare|anti-tank weapons]] (even machine guns), the tankette concept was abandoned, and their role largely taken over by [[Armored car (military)|armoured cars]].

However, in [[Vietnam War|Vietnam]], the [[US Marines]] employed the similar, somewhat larger, [[M50 Ontos]] tank destroyer with some success.

The 1980s saw the renaissance of a similar concept in the [[West Germany|German]] [[Wiesel AWC]], introduced to provide airborne troops with armoured reconnaissance capability;<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.rheinmetall-detec.de/index.php?fid=1398&lang=3&pdb=1 |title=Wiesel 1 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927222546/http://www.rheinmetall-detec.de/index.php?fid=1398&lang=3&pdb=1 |archive-date=2007-09-27  |publisher=Rheinmetall |access-date=2008-05-29}}</ref> while these are called "armoured weapons carriers", they fit the definition of a tankette.

==Examples==
[[File:LLWaTrg Wiesel 1.JPG|thumb|A [[Wiesel AWC|Wiesel 1]] tankette.]]
*[[Czechoslovakia]]
** [[AH-IV]]
** [[Skoda MU-4]]
** [[Tančík vz. 33]]
* [[French Third Republic|France]]
** [[Renault UE Chenillette]]
** [[Renault UE Chenillette|Renault UE 57]] - a tank destroyer on UE chassis
* [[Nazi Germany]]
** [[Panzer I]] -Although classified as a light tank, most sub-variants fit the designation of a tankette
* [[West Germany]]
** [[Wiesel AWC|Wiesel 1]] and [[Wiesel AWC|Wiesel 2]]  -similar modern German armoured and tracked weapon carrier systems
* [[Kingdom of Italy|Italy]]
** [[L3/33]] 
**[[L3/35]]
* [[Empire of Japan|Japan]]
** [[Type 92 Jyu-Sokosha]]
** [[Type 94 tankette]]
**[[Type 97 Te-Ke]]
* [[Second Polish Republic|Poland]]
** [[TKS]]/TK-3
* [[Kingdom of Romania|Romania]]
** [[R-1 tank|R-1]]
* [[Soviet Union]]
** [[T-17 tank|T-17]]
** [[T-23 Tankette|T-23]]
** [[T-27]] 
** [[PPG tankette]]
** [[ASU-57]] assault gun
*[[United Kingdom]]
** [[Carden Loyd tankette|Carden Loyd]] 
**[[Morris-Martel]]
* [[United States]]
**[[Marmon-Herrington CTLS]] - not officially designated tankettes 
**[[Ford 3-Ton M1918]]

==See also==
* [[Infantry fighting vehicle]]
* [[Tank classification]]
* [[FV101 Scorpion]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{WWI tanks|style=wide}}
{{Interwar tanks|style=wide}}
{{WWII tanks|style=wide}}
{{Cold War tanks|style=wide}}
{{Post-Cold War tanks|style=wide}}

[[Category:Tankettes|*]]
[[Category:History of the tank]]
[[Category:English inventions]]