A small fleet with a large training role
Sweden’s Strv m/21 fleet developed from German LK II material acquired after the First World War. Accounts record ten sets of components purchased in 1921 and assembled in Sweden in 1922. The resulting vehicles gave the army a practical basis for crew training, maintenance, exercises and experiments with armored warfare. Their importance lay in training and development rather than combat service. Sources
The original tanks and the later Strv m/21-29 modernization remain distinguishable. The latter involved conversions within the existing fleet, not the arrival of five additional newly manufactured tanks. The account also distinguishes this group from the Renault FT called Putte, acquired separately. Describing the m/21 as the beginning of a substantial Swedish tank fleet does not make it the first individual tank ever obtained by Sweden. Sources
Acquisition, assembly and the problem of attribution
The acquisition took place within the restrictions and unsettled commercial conditions that followed Germany’s defeat. Accounts describe components entering Sweden under civilian descriptions and a program of domestic assembly rather than the simple delivery of ten ready-to-use tanks. It follows an account in the Swedish armor-history material that identifies the seller Uge and a German foreman named Steger. 4
That account allocates the first assembly to the Stockholm ordnance establishment and the remaining nine to the naval shipyard. These are source-specific industrial attributions and need their archival basis retained. They cannot be replaced by a generalized statement that a later Swedish tank manufacturer built the entire original fleet, or by an unsupported claim that a famous German designer personally supervised the work in Sweden. 4
Assembly did not end the engineering process. Parts, manufacturing condition and installation problems required attention before the tanks could form a dependable training resource. Published accounts describe local work as a material part of the story: Sweden was learning how to assemble, operate and sustain a new category of equipment, not simply applying an established armored-force system to a purchase. 4
The original technical arrangement
The original configuration used a front-mounted petrol engine, a central driving position and a rear fighting arrangement with a rotating machine-gun turret. Published accounts describe a Benz 1910-type engine of about 55 hp, a weight of approximately 9.7 tonnes and dimensions around 5.70 metres long, 2.05 metres wide and 2.52 metres high. 4
Armor is given as approximately 4–14 mm, and the listed maximum road speed is around 16 km/h. Range is not securely established. A range taken from a German LK II account cannot automatically be assigned to the Swedish fleet: fuel arrangements, vehicle state and the conditions behind the original figure may differ. The cited accounts do not firmly establish ammunition quantities. 4
Crew descriptions vary with arrangement and role. Published accounts give an early two-to-four-person range and a practical four-person operating account rather than claiming the difference is already reconciled. Its armament treatment names 6.5 mm machine guns of the m/14 or m/14-29 family. The date of re-equipment matters; a later designation cannot be projected backward across every photograph from the original service period. 4
The retained mechanical diagram and museum interior can help explain the layout, but neither automatically documents every 1922 fitting. A diagram from a manual needs its issue and configuration identified; a preserved interior may contain alterations or restored elements. Such evidence complements rather than replaces configuration-specific technical sources. 4
Individual trials and the m/21-29 conversions
The fleet served as a platform for experiments. Accounts associate tank No. 5 with a 1923 trial of a 37 mm Puteaux gun connected to the separately acquired FT. That episode belongs under a dated trial configuration, not as the normal armament of all ten Strv m/21s. Radio experiments in 1924–1925 are similarly associated with particular vehicles, including Nos. 6 and 10; the visible aerial arrangements do not establish fleet-wide equipment. Sources
The later modernization involved five vehicles, identified in the cited sources as Nos. 2, 3, 4, 5 and 7. Scania-Vabis 1554 engines of approximately 85 hp replaced the original powerplants, with other changes producing the m/21-29 configuration. The source allocates work between NOHAB and Landsverk and gives the converted tank a higher listed road speed, around 18 km/h. Each allocation and completion date remains a record to check rather than a reason to create a second original-production total. Sources
The m/21-29 modernization belongs to the same ten-vehicle fleet. The five converted hulls does not represent five newly built tanks. Sources
Service without a combat history
The Strv m/21’s service was one of training, exercises and development. Accounts describe crews learning to drive and maintain the vehicles, officers examining cooperation with other arms, and a small fleet whose availability depended on practical workshop support. There is no combat history to fill with generalized claims about tank performance in other countries. 4, 5
Original and modernized vehicles also had different retirement timelines. The accounts distinguish withdrawal of the unmodified tanks around 1934 from the longer use of the converted group into 1939. 4, 5
Preservation requires the same individual attention. A vehicle number, a conversion history, a move to a museum and an appearance in a dated photograph are separate claims. The surviving-object notes and disputed fate of particular examples remain subjects for follow-up. An old museum photograph does not establish current location, access or running condition. 4, 5
Photographs, drawings and family boundaries
The references contain an archival road scene, photographs of preserved Swedish tanks, an interior and a compartment/mechanical diagram. They are a useful starting set. The cited accounts do not firmly establish the archive scene’s model and date labels. Later modernized examples cannot be captioned simply as the original 1921 acquisition when the image is intended to explain an engine or other configuration-specific feature. Sources
The Axvall interior is also present in the German LK-family research. Its reuse can be helpful for comparison, but it remain explicitly Swedish and dated. It cannot prove that every German LK proposal had the same fittings. The diagram similarly deserves a description based on what it actually shows, including compartments and mechanical relationships, instead of an assumed description as an electrical schematic. Sources
Together these records support an account of adaptation and learning. The original Swedish fleet, its trials, and its later transformations linked German design ancestry with a distinct Swedish modernization history. Sources
Photographs and image credits
Background reading and references. Each photograph has its own source and credit.
Sources and further reading
Background reading and references. Each photograph has its own source and credit.
- Swedish Armour Historical Society (SPHF). Christer Baadstoe, "Purchase of LK II from Germany and manufacturing of Stridsvagn m/21 in Sweden," published 10 October 2016, updated 28 December 2017.
- Swedish Armour Historical Society (SPHF). "Stridsvagn," Swedish tank category page.
- Hans Hogman. "Swedish Tanks," Tanks of Sweden - 2, copyright date 3 August 2022.
- Tank Encyclopedia. Craig Moore, "Leichter Kampfwagen II (LKII)," 18 January 2021.
- Arsenalen. The Swedish Tank Museum, English visitor/about page.
- DigitaltMuseum / Armemuseum. DigitaltMuseum records for Stridsvagn m/1921 photographs, including "Stridsvagn m/1921 med manskap vid hus".