>Note that Miho's is not decorated like the one above; it's painted a
>simple flat grey, with no markings beyond a few esoteric parts numbers
>and mandatory safety warnings (such as that the exhaust system is hot
>and you shouldn't touch it).

Also: Kaname's summary is slightly incorrect in one respect. The Luchs was not strictly the only Panzer II variant fitted with overlapping road wheels (Schachtellaufwerk). The Panzer II Ausf. J, a heavily armored variant conceived as an infantry support tank (and so not needing to be able to go much faster than a man could run), was also so equipped.

However, where the Luchs saw only brief series production before being canceled, the PzII J never entered full-blown production. Only about 20 of them were made, of which a mere handful are known to have seen actual service on the Eastern Front. By the time it was thought of, the infantry tank was pretty much a dead letter as a military concept. There was some thought of using them as recon tanks (the job for which the Luchs was subsequently devised), but they were far too slow for that task.

(I've seen some sources claim that this happened the other way around—that the J was originally devised in the recon tank role and then repurposed for infantry support because it was so slow—but I'm not sure I believe that. The Germans did, or at least thought about doing, some daft things with their armored vehicle designs during the war—I mean, look at the Flak Bus—but I have a hard time envisioning even them thinking, "Yes, surely what the Panzer II needs to make it an effective reconnaissance platform is armor similar to that found on Soviet heavy tanks and a top speed of 19 miles per hour." And not only because everything I just said is in English.)

Coda: The PzII J has since enjoyed a sort of second life as a very rare and quite notorious Tier III premium tank in World of Tanks, where its absurdly heavy armor makes it almost indestructible by any tank at its level, incuding itself, since it has a very weak gun.

--G.
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