1936, however, the only tanks in series production in Germany were the Mark I and Mark II light tanks, both of which were armed only with machine guns. For the offensive purposes that Beck had in mind they were clearly inadequate. The hard core of Germany’s armoured fighting force, as envisioned in 1936, was to consist of 1,812 medium tanks–Mark III and Mark IV models. These, however, were still in development in 1936 and were not expected to enter production until 1938.
