AB Landsverk
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Landsverk (AB Landsverk) was founded in 1872 as Firman Petterson & Ohlsen. It was a heavy industry, manufacturing railroad cars, harbour cranes and agricultural machinery, located in Landskrona, Sweden.
In late 1920 the company found itself on the verge of bankruptcy. Through a Dutch company the German Gutehoffnungshütte Aktienverein für Bergbau und Hüttenbereich Oberhausen (GHH) invested heavily and gained control of 50% of the shares.
In 1923 the company manufactured a small number of tracked agricultural tractors based on an American design. In 1925 the Germans increases their ownership to 61% and three years later the name was changed to AB Landsverk. In 1929 the German engineer Otto Merker was assigned to Landsverk to develop armoured vehicles, and a few prototypes of a German design with both wheels and tracks was manufactured in Landskrona. In 1930 the Swedish Army ordered an armoured car for trials, and a few years later three light tanks on wheels and tracks.
In 1933 Lithuania ordered six, and Holland twelve, L-180 armoured cars. In 1934 Landsverk presented the L-60, the first tank ever with torsion-bar suspension. There were some very limited export of armoured cars to other countries like Denmark and Finland, and Hungary manufactured the L-60 as Toldi. The Landsverk anti-II was an AA variant of this tank.
During WW2 Landsverk designed, and partly manufactured, most of the Swedish Army's tanks.
Right after the war, Landsverk was confiscated by the Swedish state and sold to Kockums.
