News for all things related to Tanks and Armored Fighting Vehicles
For those with a half-million dollars to spare and the desire to be the envy of all their tank loving friends, there is a M4A2E8 Sherman tank for sale on Ebay right now. This vehicle is listed as “complete, running and driving.” There are no live guns on the vehicle, but the tank is described as having every accessory it was issued with as well as a stack of manuals. The vehicle is located in Texas. Below are some photos, there is a larger photo gallery at the ebay listing for the tank.
The Archive Awareness blog has recently translated and posted several articles by Russian tank researcher Yuri Pasholok. We have posted the first paragraph of each article below with a link to the full version over at Archive Awareness.
Over the years of the Great Patriotic War, over 5000 British and Canadian tanks were sent to the Soviet Union. Most of them were so called Infantry tanks, with thick armour and low speeds. Light tank shipments were limited to 20 Tetrarchs. As for Cruiser tanks, they never made it into the Red Army. Despite an initial desire to receive Cromwells, they only made it to the trial stage. Read on to discover why these tanks were rejected.
At an unusual parade in Paris on July 14th, 1951, the French military showed off all their newest vehicles that was adopted by the army or still undergoing trials. EBR armoured cars and ARL 44 tanks drove along the Champs-Élysées. The parade was concluded with the passage of two Foch tank destroyers and two AMX 50 tanks. Only a chosen few knew that these tanks will not enter mass production and that superior tanks are already on the drawing board.
The Heavy Tank M6 had the worst fate of all mass produced heavy tanks of WWII. A decent vehicle with competitive characteristics became another victim of work dragging on too long. The tank was accepted into service, but only 40 vehicles in 3 modifications were produced, and none of them saw combat. By 1943, the M6 was obsolete and its road to the front lines was closed. However, a heavily modified version of the tank was soon once again in demand, and urgently. This is the modernization covered by this article.
The Infantry Tank Mk.III, or Valentine, was the most produced British tank of WWII. However, the British themselves actively used Valentines from 1941 to the first half of 1943. The Soviet Union, who received almost half of these tanks, used them much more actively. Known as “Valentin” or MK-3/MK-III, these tanks debuted in the Battle for Moscow in the fall of 1941 and survived until the end of the war in some units. The Valentine was one of a few foreign tanks that saw a large scale conversion effort.
Over at the WoT discussion forum, someone started a thread about the Abrams TTB (tank test bed). That thread reminded us of this article from the Mar-Apr 1995 issues of ARMOR. We have posted the article below as an image gallery. For those that prefer PDF, you can download the entire issue here.
Today’s photo is of a British Carden Loyd Light Tractor. This particular example has, rather amusingly, been armed with a light machine gun. One would think that they might have at least provided the poor gunner with a gun shield of some sort…
This photo comes from Tanks and Armored Vehicles 1900-1945 by Col. Robert J. Icks, published in 1945 and reissued in 1970.
Today we present some photos of a British report titled “WO 291-1186 – Comparative performance of German anti-tank weapons in WW2.” The title is somewhat misleading as the report is primarily focused on the effectiveness of German anti-tank mines. The photos are not of the best quality but are legible. There are some very nice charts in this report showing British tank losses broken down by enemy weapon type and theater of operation as well as a breakdown of British tank personnel loses by tank type and enemy weapon. According to the summary of the report:
Tank losses due to mines (22%) were generally less than those due to anti-tank guns (30%) and tanks + SP guns (39%), nevertheless they were appreciable, amounting to between a quarter and one fifth of the total losses.
Also, the report points out that:
It is concluded that nearly 2000 enemy mines were required to cause the loss of one British tank, on the assumption that equal numbers f mines went to each mile of the German front line.
NKnews.org is reporting that North Korea recently held a tank competition event similar to the Russian Tank Biathlon. The event was attended by dictator Kim Jong Un and featured a variety of different tank types. According to Kim Min-seok, senior researcher at the Korea Defense and Security Forum, the majority of the North Korean tanks observed at the event our outdated types no match for modern South Korean armor.
“Most of the tanks seen in the pictures are outdated models,” said Kim. “The tanks in pictures are Chonma-ho Ga(Na) type, PT-72 the amphibious tank and Chonma-ho Ma type. Except for the Chonma-ho Ma type, all the rest are outdated by today’s standards.”
Nonetheless, Kim believes that the Pokpung-ho, the tank shown in the red circle of the photo is formidable adversary.
“This Pokpung-ho Tanks have gone through many phase of modifications to upgrade its defense. Such a model will be able to fight evenly against South Korea’s old tanks such as M4845, however its firepower will still not match that of South Korea’s main tanks such as the K-1 or K1a1.”
Despite the outdated tanks, the rules introduced in this first North Korean tank competition look very similar to the the Tank Biathlon, the Russian tanks competition, Kim said.
We have no idea what the story behind this weird T-55 based creation is.
Stars and Stripes has posted a page devoted to “Tanks: from Novelty to Necessity in 100 years.” The page is intended for those that are not particularly familiar with the topic so the information is pretty basic. That said, it’s a very sharp looking page with some nice photos and videos. Our favorite image in the article is this one from 1921 showing the US Tank Corps stationed at Camp Meade.
The two men circled in red are Maj. George S. Patton (left) and Capt. Dwight D. Eisenhower (right).
This photo from 1931 shows a Cunningham T1E3 light tank accompanied by the wives of US Mechanized Force officers. The image is borrowed from the book “Camp Colt to Desert Storm” which we highly recommend to anyone interested in the history of the US Armored Force (used copes go for as little as a dollar on Amazon!)
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