For those with an interest in historic anti-tank weapons, we strongly recommend this video by C&Rsenal on the German T-Gewehr anti-tank rifle. C&Rsenal hosts Othias and Mae do a very good job of explaining the history of this rather unique and unusual rifle and also provide a live fire demonstration. We generally try to keep a pretty neutral tone in our posts here at Tank and AFV News, but we have to admit to being big fans of C&Rsenal. We don’t typically have reason to link to their videos since small arms are not our subject matter, so we were rather pleased to see them cover something related to tanks in the form of the T-Gewehr. If you like this video, please check out their other videos on WW1 small arms at their website.
Photo of the Day: Bat Tank
We found this fun picture over at Tank-Net.com. It seem’s the Batman craze of the 1960’s made it all the way over to tankers in Vietnam.
Video: DefExpo 2016
Here are a few videos from the recent DefExpo in India featuring combat vehicles including Arjun Mk I, Arjun Mk II, Kestrel 8×8 armoured vehicle and Tata Motors MPV.
For further details about the vehicles featured in the video, check out this article.
Tank Talk: Tiger and King Tiger
Here are a couple new episodes of “Tank Talk” featuring Len Dyer of the National Armor and Cavalry Restoration Center.
Photo(s) of the Day: Sentinel Tank
Since the Australian Sentinel tank has been in the news quite a bit lately, we put together this small gallery of public domain photos from the Australian War Memorial website.
T-90 vs TOW missile
The Washington Post has picked up the story of a Russian built T-90 tank in Syria being attacked with a US built TOW missile. Video of this incident first appeared in late February and made the rounds in various news outlets and websites. The original video cuts off shortly after the missile appears to strike the tank, leaving it unclear as to how much damage was inflicted by the attack. The Washington Post article shows a photo of the T-90 tank taken from the website “War Is Boring” which shows that the T-90 survived the attack largely intact, with the damage being limited to, ironically, the Shtora counter-measure system. The Shtora system is intended to electronically disrupt missiles such as the TOW, although in this particular instance the system was either not turned on or not working. The ineffectiveness of the TOW missile in this particular instance is being attributed to the Kontakt-5 reactive armor which protects the T-90. The article notes that the TOW missile used in this attack was likely the older TOW 2A model, which flies directly at it’s target. The newer TOW 2B flies above the target and detonates its warhead downward into the generally more vulnerable top armor of its target.
Australian War Memorial Videos
Here are some tank related videos from the Australian War Memorial Youtube channel.
Film Collection Online: Tracks on Sprockets
Anatomy of the Mark IV
British Mark IV Tank in action – F03728 (silent)
Film Collection Online: DPR Highlights – Australian Army
Mephisto – rarest tank in the world
Inside the Chieftain’s Hatch: AC 1 Sentinel
Nicholas “The Chieftain” Moran has posted a new video examining the Australian AC1 Sentinel tank.
Over at the Chieftain’s Hatch section of the WoT forum, member “Bonesaw” has posted links to a couple documents concerning the Sentinel that readers may find of interest.
Australian Cruiser tank mark -1 instruction book (Provisional)
Photo of the day: Mark I tank at Hatfield Park
Today’s POTD ties in with the previous post about the 100th anniversary of the first tank trials at Hatfield Park in 1916. This photo comes from the book “Eye Witness” by Ernest Dunlop Swinton. We found the image at this website. For those interested in checking out “Eye Witness” by Swinton, the book is available for viewing online at the Hathi Trust Digital Library site.
Exhibition at Hatfield House commemorating 100 years since first tank trials
The BBC is running a story about a historic exhibition at the Hatfield House in Hertfordshire UK. In early 1916 a Mark I tank was trialled at the grounds of the Hatfield House in front of military personnel, politicians and King George V. These trials are considered the first tank trails in the UK. At the end of WWI, the 4th Marquess, owner of Hatfield House, was presented with a Mark I tank used in the trials. In 1969 the tank was given to the Tank Museum in Bovington. To mark the 100th anniversary of the first tank trials at Hatfield, a replica Mark IV tank owned by Mac and William McCullagh has been loaned the Hatfield estate where it will be on display. The exhibition at Hatfield House will run to 30 September 2016. The replica Mark IV is named “Edwin B14” after a relative of the owners who died at the Battle of Messine Ride in June 1917. In 2014 this replica tank was placed on top of the Vanguard Holdings Ltd building in Greenford to mark the 100 anniversary of the start of WWI.
For more information on the Mark I tank at Bovington, click here.