Hello everyone,
today, we are going to talk about one prototype, that could become an European (Czechoslovak) tier 3 premium medium tank, the ŠP-IIb prototype.
ŠP-IIb, as its name suggests, was a cooperation attempt between two major rivals of the Czechoslovak armed forces industry, Škoda and ČKD (Praga). During the thirties, both companies were unsuccessful during the “IIb” (infantry support tank) program (Praga with its P-IIb, Škoda with its Š-IIb) and as a result, both firms agreed (reluctantly) on cooperation on the next attempt to design a tank for this category. The cooperation contract was signed on 30.7.1936 and the army was not against such cooperation, so the project recieved a green light.
The initial hope of both companies was that the prototype would be ready in July 1937, but this proved to be too optimistic, as there were frequent disagreements between both companies and the specifications of the vehicle changed constantly. Originally, the army was interested in a 13 ton tank with 25mm armor all around and a 37mm gun. After the disastrous results of the Škoda Š-III and Tatra T-III designs, this was changed to 16 tons, 32mm of armor and a 47mm gun by Škoda, which however did not fit the IIb category anymore, such requirements corresponded more like to the category III (“heavy”/medium tanks).
