Was Czechoslovakia a prized possession for Hitler when he took the entire country's armament..?

Question

of tanks, planes, ammunitions etc?

Answer 1

Hitler’s seizure of Czechoslovakia brought him HUGE prizes: -

• His “1st Stage” seizure of the Sudetenland removed any possibility that the rump of Czechoslovakia could successfully defend itself against renewed German aggression.
• His “2nd Stage” annexation of the remaining Czech lands (March 1939) added much-needed $$$ to Germany’s financial reserves.
• Modern arms and equipment seized from the disbanded Czech armed forces were used to equip and expand the Wehrmacht.
• The Czech armaments industry thereafter continued to produce weapons and equipment for the Wehrmacht and Luftwaffe.
• Other central European countries were bribed to cooperate more closely with Germany by being invited to help themselves to slices of former Czechoslovakian territory; and by being given Czech military equipment (particularly aircraft) that the Germans did not want to keep for their own use.

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You asked particularly about tanks, planes, etc. so I will focus the rest of this answer on what Hitler gained from Czechoslovakia in those respects.

TANKS:

The Czech army operated two modern tank types that were seized and used by the Wehrmacht following the annexation of the country. These were: -

[a] The LT-35 (or LT vz. 35) light tank, re-designated as the Panzerkampfwagen 35(t) (Pz.Kpfw. 35(t)) and commonly referred to as the Panzer 35(t). This tank was superior in all respects to the German Panzer I model; indeed, it was in many ways better than the German Panzer II. The Germans seized 219 Panzer 35(t) from the Czechs. The German 6th Panzer Division was completely equipped with the 35(t), using them (at first under its old unit designation as “Cavalry 1st Leichte Division”) in Poland, France and Russia. By late 1941, the 35(t) had shown itself to be outmoded and unreliable under operating conditions in Russia. But by then it had served Germany well. Even afterwards, German satellites such as Romania, Slovakia and Bulgaria continued to use the 35(t).

[b] The LT-38 (or LT vz. 38) was a light/medium tank, re-designated as the Panzer 38(t) by the Wehrmacht. This tank was much superior in all respects to the Panzer II, and made a huge contribution to equipping Germany’s Panzer Divisions until the Panzer III was produced in large numbers. It was such a good tank that the Germans continued it in production in its Czech factories, basically without modification, well into 1942: about 1,400 were produced in total. Even after the 38(t) had become obsolete – it could not handle a Russian T-34 – its chassis and mechanicals continued in production as the basis for German tank destroyers: the highly successful Jagdpanzer 38 “Hetzer” (almost 2,600 produced) and the “Marder”.

AIRCRAFT:

Czech factories produced entire aircraft and had equipped its air force with two models, the B-534 and the S-328 (almost 1,000 combat aircraft in total). All of these became German prizes. But they were both biplanes, and outmoded by the monoplanes equipping the Luftwaffe. So Hitler gave most of them to his central European satellites.
However, Czech factories were able to produce high quality aircraft parts and engines (for example the Tatra and Walter plants). These assets were therefore added to the manufacturing base for the Luftwaffe.

SMALL ARMS:

Czechoslovakia produced excellent small arms (rifles, pistols and MGs) at the Brno and Povaska Bystrica factories; when the Germans took over, these plants were producing 1,200 finished weapons per day. Naturally, the Germans kept the factories working at maximum output, making (amongst other weapons) MG34 and MG42 for the Wehrmacht.

Answer 2

Well the modern Czech Republic is historically part of Germany. For a variety of reasons it's Slavic today, but Prague was a central German city for a thousand years, and Hitler's goal was to unite all the Germanic nations (Germany, Austria, what's today Czech, Netherlands, and France) into the old German Empire of the medieval period. He then extended this goal to control Europe.

Answer 3

Of course it was- it was his way throughout the rest of Europe. This was also the time he broke the peace treaty with Neville Chamberlain...this was enough evidence that Hitler wasn't going to stop anytime soon.

Answer 4

Yes it made a big difference to his war effort

Answer 5

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