Marder I

Marder I
Marder I on display at the Musée des Blindés at Saumur.
Type	Tank destroyer
Place of origin	Nazi Germany
Service history
In service	1942–1944
Used by	Nazi Germany
Wars	World War II
Production history
Designed	1942
No. built	170
Specifications
Weight	8,200 kg (18,078 lb)
Length	5.38 m (17 ft 8 in)
Width	1.88 m (6 ft 2 in)
Height	2 m (6 ft 7 in)
Crew	4 to 5
Armor	5–12 mm
Main armament	7.5 cm PaK 40
Engine	Delahaye 103TT 70 PS (69 hp, 51.5 kW)
Power/weight	8.4 hp (6.3 kW) / tonne
Operational range	135–150 km (84–93 mi) road
Speed	34–38 km/h (21–23 mph) road 15–20 km/h (9–12 mph) off-road

The Marder I "Marten" (Sd.Kfz. 135) was a German World War II tank destroyer, armed with the 75 mm anti-tank gun. Most Marder Is were built on the base of the Tracteur Blindé 37L (Lorraine), a French artillery tractor/armoured personnel carrier of which the Germans had acquired more than three hundred after the Fall of France in 1940.

From the early stages of Operation Barbarossa the Wehrmacht became aware that their abililty to combat some of the Soviet tanks was inadequate. The lighter tanks then in general service, such as the Panzer II and the Czech built 38(t) were under-armoured and did not mount an adequate gun to deal with the newer Soviet tanks. In addition, the standard towed anti-tank gun of the Wehrmacht, the 37 mm Pak 36, was both difficult to get into position quickly and lacked the ability to penetrate the heavy sloped armour of the new Soviet tanks. What was needed was a more powerful anti-tank gun that was mobile. The Germans possessed such a gun in the 75 mm PaK 40. They also had come into possession of a large number of captured Soviet 76 mm F-22 Model 1936 divisional field guns. The Germans had experience in taking the chassis of an undergunned tank to provide mobility to a heavier gun. The Panzerjäger I is such an example, where the turret was removed for an open conversion to allow the gunners the necessary room to operate the gun.

With the shock of having units overrun by new Soviet T-34s and KV-1s, the need for a heavier-gunned German tank became urgent. As an interim solution, it was decided to use captured French vehicles such as the Lorraine, and less effective Wehrmacht tanks such as the Panzer II and 38(t) as the basis for makeshift tank destroyers. The result was the Marder series, comprising the Marder I, Marder II, and Marder III respectively. These vehicles provided mobility to either the captured Soviet 7.62 cm Pak 36(r) gun or in later versions the German 75 mm PaK 40 anti-tank gun. Due to the weight and space constraints of the small chassis, the Marder series were not fully armored. Thin upper armor protection was provided only for the front and sides against shrapnel and small arms only. All Marder series had open tops. Some were issued with canvas covers to protect the crew from the elements. The Marder series were not a proper Panzerjäger that could exchange fire with enemy tanks.