Bored soldiers race T-72 vs T-64 in Ukraine

June 4, 2015 by Leave a Comment

The Daily Mail is reporting that video footage has emerged of Russian separatist troops conducting a race between a T-72 and a captured Ukrainian T-64 Bulat MBT.  The contest, which took place over a distance of 402 metres, was filmed by drones as well as from inside the losing tank. The resulting video, complete with musical accompaniment (which we recommend muting), was placed on YouTube.  Due to the similarity in appearance between the to vehicles, it can be a bit hard to tell which is which, but the T-72 can be seen clearly outpacing the Ukrainian T-64. It eventually finished a good distance ahead, much to the delight of the Russians.  According to the Daily Mail article, both tanks emerged undamaged after the race.  One of the tank-drivers’ call name was Boroda and the other’s was Syphon.

 

Filed Under: Modern Vehicle News Tagged With: , , ,

From the Editor: Research question for Eastern Front experts

June 3, 2015 by 2 Comments

While browsing through old issues of ARMOR, we came across this letter to the editor in the Jan-Feb 1951 issue from Generalmajor H. B. Mueller-Hillebran, former Chief of Staff of Germany’s XXXVI Panzer Corps & Third Panzer Army.  His letter is in response to an article about Soviet tanks (which unfortunately is in an ARMOR issue not available for download) in which he explains German policy on using captured enemy armor.  He also makes the rather startling claim that in the Ukraine from the end of October to the middle of December, his Panzer regiment destroyed 356 Russian tanks while only losing 12 of their own vehicles (a 30 to 1 kill ratio?!)  He states that his regiment was equipped with around 100 tanks, half of which were Pz IV and half of which were Stug III.  Unfortunately he does not specify the name of his Panzer regiment and his claim of a 30 to 1 kill ratio is a bit hard to swallow.  We would be very curious to hear from anyone with access to the Soviet era archives what the Red Army records from this period show in terms of tank losses in Ukraine in late 1943.

German letter to ARMOR

Filed Under: From the Editor, Historical Vehicle News Tagged With: , ,

Christopher Foss videos from IDEF 2015

June 3, 2015 by Leave a Comment

Here are a series of videos produced by Jane’s featuring Christopher Foss describing some of the vehicles on display at last months IDEF 2015 conference in Turkey.  While we had posted the clip featuring the Altay earlier last month, we are re-posting it here so as to have them all in one place.

IDEF 2015: The final prototype of the Otokar Altay main battle tank

IDEF 2015: Tulpar Otokar armoured infantry fighting vehicle

[Read more…]

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From the Vault: Ogorkiewicz on self propelled artillery

June 3, 2015 by Leave a Comment

Today we present an article from the 1951 Nov-Dec issue of ARMOR by Richard Ogorkiewicz on developments and trends in self propelled guns.  The article notes that this is not the first article for ARMOR that Mr. Ogorkiewicz has written, although it does qualify as one of the earlier pieces in a career which stretches all the way to the current day.  While we tend to think of indirect fire weapons when self propelled guns are mentioned these days, this article includes direct fire “assault guns” as well as self propelled anti-tank guns.  These categories of vehicles have fallen out of favor in modern times, but were still considered a viable vehicle type when this article was authored in 1951.

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Book Alert: Challenger 2 vs Toyota Yaris

June 2, 2015 by Leave a Comment
*Warning, satire ahead*

Here at Tank and AFV News, we are proud to announce that we have agreed to author the next installment in the Osprey books “Duel” series.  Based on five minutes of reading google news articles years of intensive research and archive digging, this volume will examine the 2015 conflict between German teenage auto drivers and the British Army.

Publishers description:

The Battle of the German roadway of 2015 involved the first small-scale tank-against-Toyota hatchback battle in history. The clash at Augustdorf involved at least one vehicle on each side, resulting in a total victory for British tank forces.  This book examines two of the premier opposing vehicles of the conflict, the British Challenger 2 MBT and the Toyota Yaris hatchback. With a complete history of the design, development, and deployment of these vehicles, the story of these great battles is brought to life in a highly illustrated format.

Duel 108 Challenger 2 vs Toyota Yaris final

Filed Under: Book News Tagged With: ,

Tank vs Car in Augustdorf Germany

June 2, 2015 by Leave a Comment

Multiple news sources are reporting about an incident involving a German learner driver and a British Challenger tank in Augustdorf, Germany.  The 18-year-old driver made the mistake of turning into a column of British tanks that were on the move.  The British soldier at the controls of the tank behind her had no time to stop, but managed to turn so that he crushed the engine of the car.  The 18-year-old woman, who has not been named under German privacy laws, escaped unharmed.  Her Toyota hatchback did not fare so well against the 62-tonne Challenger tank, being completely flattened forward of the steering wheel.  The area where the accident took place is well known for tank convoys passing through.  British army bases at Herford and Paderborn are nearby, and it is used as a military training area by the German army and its Nato allies.

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Filed Under: Modern Vehicle News Tagged With: , ,

Book Alert: Challenger 1 Haynes Manual

June 1, 2015 by Leave a Comment

hanes manualAmazon has an October 15 release date posted for Challenger 1 Main Battle Tank 1983-2001, the latest installment in the Haynes Owner’s Workshop Manual series on tanks.  Written by Dick Taylor, this book follows the well established format of the Haynes series, which have covered a number of tanks, including the Tiger, Sherman, Churchill and WWI Mark IV tank.  Taylor is an experienced author, having written several books for the MMP “Green Series” as well as a book on the British Cruiser Comet for the Armor Photogallery Series.  It will be interesting to see how this book compares to the very good two volume set on the Challenger 1 by Rob Griffin published last year by Kagero Press.

Filed Under: Book News, New Book Alerts Tagged With: , ,

From the Vault: Be your own inspector on your M48A2 tank

June 1, 2015 by Leave a Comment

Today we present an article from issue 91 of PS Magazine 1960 series on how to inspect  a M48A2 tank.  The language of the article is particularly amusing, as the authors rather awkwardly make use of the slang of the day to proclaim “Yes-sir-ee, man, that M48A2 is real hip, the swingingest – ‘specially with that space-age fuel injection job.”  This document should give the reader a pretty good picture of the various systems of the M48A2.

Filed Under: From the Vault Tagged With: ,

National Interest article on T-14 Armata

May 30, 2015 by Leave a Comment

0_d2203_364f1442_origNational Interest.org has posted an article by Robert Farley examining the T-14 Armata and asking “should America be worried?”  Some interesting food for thought, although it seems most of the information gleaned by the article author comes from internet articles (fortunately the article contains plenty of hyperlinks.)  We invite people to read it and come to their own conclusions.

Excerpt:

How much should the United States worry about the Armata, and where should that concern lie?  The impressive nature of the tank notwithstanding, the U.S. Army and U.S. Marine Corps are unlikely to encounter it directly on the battlefield.  The bigger questions involve how the Armata might change the global market for armored vehicles, and how the tank might become part of the arsenals of Russian proxies.

Full article here.

Filed Under: Modern Vehicle News Tagged With: , ,

From the Vault: British Glossary of Tank terms

May 30, 2015 by Leave a Comment

Today we present an article from issue 18 of the wartime publication “Tactical and Technical Trends.”  This particular article is a glossary of British terms used in relation to armor.  These are all technical terms, so unfortunately this article will be of little help to those wanting to learn the slang of the average WWII British tanker.  However, it may still prove of interest to those looking for a list of basic tank related terms.

Filed Under: From the Vault, Historical Documents Tagged With: ,
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