The Jagdpanzer 38 (t) (Sd Kfz 1382) later known as Hetzer (&8220;baiter”) was a German light tank destroyer of the Second World War based on a modified Czechoslovakian Panzer 38 (t) chassis The project was inspired by the Romanian &8220; Mare&351;al” tank destroyer The name Hetzer was at the time not commonly used for this vehicle It was the designation for a related prototype the E-10 The &352;koda factory for a very short period confused the two names in its documentation & the very first unit equipped with the vehicle thus for a few weeks applied the incorrect name until matters were cleared However there exists a memorandum from Heinz Guderian to Hitler claiming that an unofficial name Hetzer had spontaneously been coined by the troops Post-war historians basing themselves on this statement made the name popular in their works the vehicle was never named as such in official documents