Stridsvagn m/42

Stridsvagn m/42 (Strv m/42) was a Swedish medium tank in service in the World War II period. Known by its manufacturer AB Landsverk as Lago II-III-IV, it fielded a 75 mm L/31 gun, the first of its size in a Swedish tank. It entered service with the Swedish Army in April 1943. Modern in design and mobile, a total of 282 were produced. As a neutral nation in World War II, Sweden did not engage in combat; thus its tanks have no battlefield record. The Strv m/42 had its origins on modifications in the Lago (the manufacturer designation) a light tank armed with a Hungarian 37M 40 mm cannon and three machine guns produced for the Hungarian Army in late 1930s by the AB Landsverk, itself a development of the Stridsvagn L-60 light tank also made by the AB Landsverk. The Swedish Army specified for a bigger and better tank than the Lago resulting in the Strv m/42 (later known as Strv m/42 TM), a tank armed with a 75mm L/31 gun, suited against armored and soft vehicles. The gearbox of the m/42 TM was not working well and these tanks were rebuilt either as m/42 TH, or they got a new mechanical gearbox and became known m/42 TV. In November 1941, 100 Strv m/42s were ordered. All the vehicles had an electromagnetic gearbox. (Strv m/42 TM, the T meaning two engines and the M meaning electromagnetic gearbox). In January 1942 another 60 Strv m/42s were ordered. This batch was built under license by Volvo, the first 55 vehicles were fitted with twin Scania-Vabis L/603 engines and the remaining five were equipped with a new engine, the Volvo A8B. All the vehicles had the first batch electromagnetic gearbox replaced by a new hydraulic gearbox, with all these modifications, the single-engine vehicles were now designated as Strv m/42 EH, (the E meaning one engine and the H meaning hydraulic gearbox), the dual-engines tanks but with the new transmission were designated as Strv m/42 TH. In June 1942 another 80 were ordered from Landsverk, they were 70 m/42 TH and 10 m/42 EH. Between April 1943 to January 1945, 282 Strv m/42s were delivered, of which 180 tanks were made at Landsverk and 102 at Volvo.