News for all things related to Tanks and Armored Fighting Vehicles
Here is a video from World of Tanks North American on the history of Swedish tanks.
Video Description (from youtube):
Swedish tanks were built with Scandinavian precision. They were expensive, high-quality, and produced in limited quantities. It may seem strange that a country that never fought in the 20th century managed to create their own tank building legacy. That is why we’re shining a spotlight on the story of how the most famous Swedish vehicles, from Landsverk to Strv 103, were created.
Today’s POTD comes from Defense Blog and shows a model of an IFV with is supposedly under development in Ukraine. Click here to view the Defense Blog article.
Telegraph Reporters has posted a story about a rather unusual ring on display at the Tank Museum in Bovington England. This ring is on display as part of a collection of items related to the 100th anniversary of the first tanks in 1916. The ring belonged to Lieutenant Sir Basil Henriques and the glass shard mounted on it came from the periscope of the Mark I tank that he crewed. Artillery fire damaged the periscope, sending the shards into his face. Medics removed the shards and he kept one, having it mounted on the ring which became a gift to his bride, Rose. Years later his widow donated the ring to the Tank Museum.
The article quotes Museum director David Willey, who states:
“Our tanks are always going to have a presence and draw but objects like this ring help tell the personal stories of the men and their experiences.
“For us now it seems amazing that after a day of such terror, confusion and loss Henriques was able to think of his new wife and make a present to her out of something that had nearly blinded him.
“This is one of our smallest objects on display but certainly one of the most moving and is proving to be one of the most popular.”
WCPO Cincinnati has posted an article and some vintage video clips pertaining to the rather unusual story of New Richmond Ohio resident John Coyne. A self-described “Freedom Fighter for Individual Liberty”, Coyne is a polarizing figure in his community with a long record of conflicts with local law enforcement, ranging from the relatively minor offences of violating zoning ordinances and driving a tank on public roads to the much more serious charge of man-slaughter. Most of Coyne’s disputes with neighbors and law enforcement stemmed from his property which was a junk and salvage yard.
According to Coyne, in 1965 he was arrested for possession of a machine gun. In response to this charge, he decided to up the ante and purchase a Sherman tank, which he kept on his property. The local judge told Coyle that the tank was junk and violated local ordnances. Coyne went to jail for nearly six months until the judge finally accepted his argument that the tank was a historic vehicle and not “junk.” Coyne gained local notoriety for his rather outspoken criticisms of local authorities, including writing messages on his Sherman tank and his WWII era half track denouncing them as “the Southwestern Ohio Gestapo.”
At this point in Coyne’s story, he could be viewed as an eccentric “local character” who was interested in preserving historic military vehicles. However, in 1981 his story takes a much darker turn when he was arrested for shooting three youth that were looting from his junkyard, killing one and injuring the other two. Oddly enough, he was acquitted of killing the one teen, but found guilty of two counts of felonious assault on the two teens he wounded. He spent 17 years in prison, including extra time for a failed escape attempt. During the time, his former wife had his belonging auctioned off to recover 75,000 dollars he owed her as part of their settlement. The Sherman tank sold for $23,000 to a business man named R.J. Corman. After being freed, Coyne went back to his old ways, purchasing a British Scorpion light tank which he still drives around in defiance of local law authorities.
Click here to read a 1976 newspaper editorial about Coyne’s battle with local authorities over his Sherman tank display.
“Blues Brothers” Sherman Tank
Below are four youtube clips of vintage local news stories of John Coyne as well as a more recent video news piece from 2014. In the video is footage of his Sherman tank and some of his other vehicles. One of the videos notes that Coyne’s Sherman tank appeared in the film “The Blues Brothers.” As far as we can tell, this is probably not correct. An article from the Evansville Courier & Press states that the tank that appears in the movie belonged to Judge Jim Osborne of Vincennes, Ind. However, the article also notes that Osborne said there were several Sherman tanks on set, and that “One guy brought his tank from Ohio and another guy hauled his from Missouri. The deal was that they could paint our tanks however they wanted for the movie, but after shooting was over they had to put them back like they were.” The “guy from Ohio” could very well have been John Coyne. Based on the news video clips, Coyne’s Sherman had an obviously fake looking gun barrel while the Sherman tank in the Blues Brothers film appears to have an original gun barrel. Also, Coyne’s Sherman has the early style narrow gun mantlet, the Blues Brothers tank has the later wider style mantlet. If anyone has more information about the current location of Coyne’s Sherman tank, we would much appreciate it.
Today’s POTD comes from the live journal account of Russian tank researcher Yuri Pasholok. From what we can gather from the computer generated translation of his blog, vehicles are being moved to new buildings which are currently being constructed as part of Patriot Park. Visitors to Kubinka will be happy to hear that these new buildings will have both air conditioning and heat!
Tankograd Publishing has announced a couple upcoming titles that will be of interest to AFV fans. “T-34 NVA” examines the Soviet T-34 tank in East German service and is scheduled for a mid-September release. “Puma Part 1” takes a look at the new German Puma infantry fighting vehicle and is also slated for a mid-September release.
Publisher’s Description:
The first tanks of the East German armed forces in the immediate post-war era became the Soviet T 34/76 and T 34/85. These vehicles came from Red Army wartime production and were soon supplemented by post-war Polish production vehicles. During its service in the armed forces of the German Democratic Republic (DDR) the T 34/85 was modernised to German T 34/85m standards. Additionally several German-designed T 34-based armoured recovery vehicles and specialised vehicles were introduced. Alongside these served SU 85 and SU 100 self-propelled guns.
This publication comprehensively describes the various production batches of the T 34 in the DDR, the modernisation efforts, the variants and last but not least the story of the T 34-equipped units of the Kasernierte Volkspolizei (KVP) and Nationale Volksarmee (NVA) of the DDR.
Quantity Photos and Illustrations:
Illustrated with 123 black&white photographs and 15 graphics
Text – Language:
English text
Number of Pages: 64
After a long and demanding development the new Schützenpanzer Puma armoured infantry fighting vehicle was now introduced to the German Bundeswehr. During his research the author was granted hitherto unprecedented access to the development history, technology and training of the Puma. This publication shows on 128 pages in two volumes and with a total of 350 illustrations so many details of the weapon system that the reader is able to “look over the shoulder” of engineers, mechanics and crew. A worthy documentation of this latest high-tech asset to the German armed forces.
Quantity Photos and Illustrations:
Illustrated with 163 colour photographs and 3 graphics
Text – Language:
English text
Number of Pages: 64
A sad story from BBC, a Taiwanese CM-11 “Brave Tiger” tank plunged off a bridge in a training exercise killing three soldiers. The article states that an apparent mechanical failure left the driver unable to execute a turn, causing the accident. The driver was able to escape from the vehicle with light injuries. Four others were retrieved from the vehicle, of which only the tank commander was able to be revived. The article does not note why five people were inside the tank, which normally has a crew of four. The CM-11 is based on the US M48/M60 family of tanks which have a belly hatch near the drivers position. The accident happened at the Wangsha river in Pingtung county in the south of the country and the vehicle was reported to be part of the Eighth Army Command.
At the recent Tank Biathlon competition at Alabino training grounds in Russia, the Chinese team suffered a rather embarrassing equipment failure when one of their Type-96B (ZTZ-96B) tanks lost a road wheel. The failure forced the Chinese team to withdraw this particular tank and replace it with another, incurring a penalty in the competition. This was the first year that the Chinese team had brought the Type-96B to the Tank Biathlon event. In preview years they had brought the similar, but less advanced Type-96A. The older version of the tank was hampered at previous competitions by it’s 780 hp engine, the newer Type-96B has a more powerful 1200 hp engine. The Wikipedia entry for the Type-96B notes that it features “lighter, more reliable running wheels.” It’s probably fair to say that perhaps these new roadwheels are not quite as reliable as advertised?
From Jane’s IHS come this photo of a new slat armor system developed by the Russian defense industry for the BTR-80 APC. Photo source here.
Publishers Description:
The Sturmartillerie was a key part of Germany’s armoured arsenal throughout World War II. Its armoured assault guns were designed to support the artillery on the battlefield, largely using the purpose-built Sturmgeschütz infantry support gun.
This new and exhaustive study details the development and operational history of this innovative force, as well as describing how its role and the tactics it employed changed from the glory years of Blitzkrieg through to the desperate defence of the last years of the war. It also describes the technical development and evolution of the vehicles employed, and includes combat action reports and excerpts from interviews with veterans.
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