[2] Although the vehicle had originally been designed as a stopgap while larger, more advanced tanks were developed, it nonetheless went on to play an important role in the early years of World War II, during the Polish and French campaigns.

[3] It was used both in North Africa against the Western Allies and on the Eastern Front against the Soviet Union.

[8] The final design was based on the Panzer I, but larger, and with a turret mounting a 20 mm autocannon anti-tank gun and leaf spring suspension[6] Production began in 1935, but it took another eighteen months for the first combat-ready tank to be delivered.

[6] The Panzer II was designed before the experience of the Spanish Civil War of 1936–39 showed that protection against armour-piercing shells was required for tanks to survive on a modern battlefield.

Prior to that, armour was designed to stop machine gun fire and high-explosive shell fragments.

[9] This amount of armour could be penetrated by towed anti-tank weapons, such as the Soviet 45mm, the British 2-pounder and the French canon de 47.

[6] The 2 cm autocannon proved to be ineffective against many Allied tanks even at the start of the war, and experiments were conducted with a view to replacing it with a 37 mm cannon, but nothing came of this.

All production versions of the Panzer II were fitted with a 140 PS (138 HP), gasoline-fuelled six-cylinder Maybach HL62 TRM engine and ZF transmissions.

a was the first version of the Panzer II to be built (albeit in limited numbers), and was subdivided into three sub-variants.

a/1 was initially built with a cast idler wheel with rubber tire, but this was replaced after ten production examples with a welded part.

b was the second limited production series embodying further developments, primarily a heavy reworking of suspension components resulting in a wider track and a longer hull.

c, A, B, and C tanks were built from March 1937 through April 1940 by Alkett, FAMO, Daimler-Benz, Henschel, MAN, MIAG, and Wegmann.

C model, with a new hull and superstructure design and the use of a Maybach HL62TRM engine driving a seven-gear transmission (plus reverse).

[17] From March 1941 to July 1942, 509 were built; this was the final major tank version of the Panzer II series.

E tank versions, the Flamm (often wrongly referred to as "Flamingo"[18][failed verification]) used a new turret mounting a single MG34 machine gun, and two remotely controlled flamethrowers mounted in small turrets at each front corner of the vehicle.

[20] Total weight was 12 tonnes and dimensions were increased to a length of 4.9 m and width of 2.4 m although it was a bit shorter at 1.85 m tall.

One hundred and fifty-one Panzerkampfwagen II (F) (Flamm) vehicles were built from April 1940 through March 1942.

[20] It is unknown when exactly the Flammpanzer II got the name „Flamingo“, however it most likely originated some time after world war 2 and was never officially used for the vehicle.

L was the only Panzer II design with the Schachtellaufwerk overlapping/interleaved road wheels and "slack track" configuration to enter series production, with 100 being built from September 1943 to January 1944 in addition to the conversion of the four Ausf.

[23] A new, longer chassis incorporating an extra road wheel was designed and built, named the Fahrgestell Panzerkampfwagen II.

[23] An open-topped 15 mm thick armored superstructure sufficient against small arms and shrapnel was provided around the gun.

[24] The hull and suspension was unmodified from the earlier models, but the superstructure was built up to provide a large, open-topped fighting compartment with a Soviet 76.2 mm antitank gun, which, while not turreted, did have significant traverse.

Speeds of up to 6 mph in dead calm were claimed, as was the ability to cope with conditions up to sea state 4.

However, with cancellation of Operation Sealion, the plan to invade England, the tanks were used in the conventional manner by the regiment on the Eastern Front.

[6] This was used as the basis for the redesign of the Panzer II into a reconnaissance tank with high speed and good off-road performance.

G, with armor for the sides and rear increased to 20 mm and a new four speed transmission (plus reverse) similar to that of the PzKpfw 38(t) nA.

[30] 22 were produced by MAN between April and December 1942, and seven were issued to the 12th Panzer Division on the Eastern Front.

G.[33] Two examples were produced which had similar weight to the tank version, and both were put in front-line service, but production was not undertaken as priority was given to heavier armed models.

II J, it was redesigned after the Panzer V Panther, most noticeably with the introduction of fully sloped frontal armour.

[34] Was rejected after developers realized that Panzer IVs and Vs could do similar work without the need for a new vehicle.