Posted on March 03 2010 at 10:50 PM
An early Centurion Mark 2 Battle Tank, armed with the
17-pounder gun and loaded with Australian troops, crosses the
Imjin River during the Korean War
On 14 November 1950 the British Army's 8th King's Royal Irish Hussars, equipped with three squadrons of Centurion Mk 3 tanks landed in Pusan. Operating in sub-zero temperatures, the 8th Hussars learnt the rigours of winter warfare: their tanks had to be parked on straw to prevent the steel tracks from freezing to the ground, and engines had to be started every half hour, with each gear being engaged in turn, to prevent them from being frozen into place. During the Battle of the Imjin River Centurions won lasting fame when their tanks covered the withdrawal of the 29th Brigade, with the loss of five tanks. Centurions were also involved in the second Battle of the Hook where they played a significant role in repelling Chinese attacks. In a tribute to the 8th Hussars, General John O'Daniel, commanding the US 1st Corps, stated: "...In their Centurions, the 8th Hussars have evolved a new type of tank warfare. They taught us that anywhere a tank can go is tank country: even the tops of mountains."
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The first six Centurion tanks (designated Centurion I) were rushed to Europe in May 1945 for testing in combat with the 22nd Armoured Brigade, but they did not arrive by the end of the war. Its uparmored version, designated the Centurion II, was the production model.
The Centurion II remained the principal British MBT during the first decades of the Cold War. It went through 13 basic models, with a number of variants. The Centurion Mark VII had a battle weight of more than 114,000 pounds and a crew of four. It had a 650-hp engine producing a speed of 21 mph or more and mounted a 105mm main gun and two machine guns. It had maximum 152mm armor protection.
Of 4,423 Centurions built until production ended in 1962, 2,500 were exported. The Centurion saw widespread combat service during the Cold War in Korea, the Middle East, southern Africa, Pakistan, and Vietnam. It remained in British service until 1969. The Centurion Royal Engineer Armored Vehicle (known by the acronym “AVRE”) continued in service thereafter. The British Army utilized it in Northern Ireland to clear roadblocks, in the Falklands War as an armored recovery vehicle, and in the 1991 Gulf War. It mounted a 165mm (6.5-inch) demolition gun.
Production
dates: 1945–1962
Number
produced: 4,423
Manufacturer:
AEC, Leyland Motors, Royal
Ordnance Factory Leeds, Vickers, Royal Ordnance Factory
Woolwich
Crew:
4 (commander, driver,
gunner, loader)
Armament:
Mk I: 1 x 17-pounder
(76.2mm) OQF main gun; 1 x 20mm Polsten cannon in turret front;
Mk II (1945) substituted 1 x 7.92mm Besa machine gun in turret
front; Mk III (1948) substituted a 20-pounder (84mm) gun for the
17-pounder main gun; Mark IV (never approved for service) was to
mount a 95mm gun for close support; Marks V–XIII had a 105mm
main gun.
Weight:
107,520 lbs. (Mk II);
114,211 lbs. (Mk VII)
Length:
25’2”
Width:
11’
Height:
9’8”
Armor:
maximum 152mm (Mk II);
minimum 17mm
Ammunition storage and
type: 70 x
17-pounder or 64 x 105mm and 4,250 x 7.62mm (in Mk
VII)
Power plant:
Rolls-Royce Meteor V-12
650-hp gasoline engine
Maximum
speed: 21.4
mph
Range:
60 miles
Fording
depth: 4’9”
Vertical
obstacle: 3’
Trench
crossing: 11’
Special characteristics
(pos/neg): armored side skirts and Horstmann
suspension; partly cast turret and sloping glacis plate; first
British tank with stabilizer for main gun; all-welded
construction
Special
models: Centurion Armoured Fighting Vehicle
Royal Engineers (AVRE), based on the Mk V, remained in service.
Armed with a 165mm (6.5-inch) demolition gun, it served in the
1991 Gulf War. Israel also uses the Centurion chassis with turret
removed as an APC, known as the Nakpadon.
Posted on March 03 2010 at 10:44 PM
Leonardo was to say, in his introductory letter to Ludovico Sforza, Duke of Milan, that, "I can make armoured cars, safe and unassailable, which will enter the serried ranks of the enemy with their artillery, and there is no company of men at arms so great that they will break it. And behind these the infantry will be able to follow quite unharmed and without any opposition."
It had radial outward facing blunderbuss guns - for attack. The top section could be separated from the other (presumably for vision).
The wheels were very thin - arguably too thin without any tracks to have been useful. Also in Leonardo’s drawings, it appears that the crank would be turning the wheels against each other - in opposition.
But despite this - he was still many years ahead of the competition. And looking at these sketches, and knowing Leonardo - there may have been more up his sleeve than we will ever know.
It was made of wood, and would have been extremely difficult to move - making it an easy target for hurled or machine launched weapons and artillery. Had it been made of metal - it would have offered better protection - but been completely impossible to move. It could be powered either through the use of horse, or by men hand cranking. The cranks were attached to trundle wheels, which then attached onto the driving wheels. It was considered that the second method of powering the vehicle was preferable as horses might be difficult to keep calm within the small confines of what would be a noisy area. Had steam engines been usable for locomotion in his time, Leonardo’s tank would have been a winner. The basic principle was at least sound.
His turtle-shaped design had a major flaw in that the front and rear wheels were geared to turn in opposite directions. Suggestions have been made that this could have been a deliberate mistake by Leonardo as he was against war and peaceable by nature.
Leonardo was certainly not the first to work on the idea of a tank; it was quite a common area of research in his day with several sail-powered tanks being designed. Still, it was to be a further four hundred years after he died before World War 1 saw tanks go into use during wartime. None of the early designs (including Leonardo's) ever reached the stage of being built.
Posted on March 02 2010 at 08:23 PM
The M48 Patton II* medium tank (also known as a main battle tank), was rushed into service as a consequence of the Korean War and of the Soviet pressures on West Berlin. The difference was that whereas the M47 was an interim tank, the M48 was a brand-new design with new hull, turret, tracks, suspension, and transmission.
Initial problems were soon solved, and the M48 went through many modifications to become a highly effective fighting vehicle and one of the most important post–World War II tanks. Although it saw considerable service during the Vietnam War with both the U.S. Army and Marines beginning in 1965, this was rarely against communist armor. Fighting in the Middle East with the Israeli Army, however, the M48 achieved an enviable record against its Soviet counterparts.
Compared to the M47, the M48 had a more rounded cast turret and a wider, lower cast hull. It weighed approximately 114,000 pounds, had a 750-hp engine, and was capable of 30 mph. Design work began at the end of 1950 and the first prototype appeared for testing in December 1951. The tank entered service in July 1952.
The M48 was the first U.S. medium tank to do away with the hull-mounted machine gun. This change dispensed with the assistant driver/machine-gunner and reduced the crew size to four. The M48 was easily identified by a large infrared/white light, a 1 million candlepower searchlight for effective night operation, usually mounted atop the mantlet. The first variants of the M48 had the 90mm (3.54-inch) gun; the M48A5 version mounted the British designed 105mm (4.1-inch) gun and substituted a diesel engine (also in the M48A3) for the earlier gasoline variants. It was thus virtually the follow-on M60 tank.
The M60 was essentially a refinement of the M48 begun in the late 1950s; later a number of M48s were rebuilt as M48A5s, essentially M60s, making the two tanks virtually indistinguishable.
Many other nations received the M48, including West Germany, Greece, Iran, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Pakistan, China, South Korea, South Vietnam, Spain, Thailand, Tunisia, and Turkey. The Israelis repeatedly modified and upgraded their M48s. During the 1982 Israeli invasion of Lebanon some Israeli M48s were the first tanks fitted with ERA. Many M48s remain in service, including more than 2,000 M48s with the Turkish Army (where it is designated the M45A5T1).
* The M46 medium, known both as the Pershing and unofficially as the Patton. The M47, was officially designated the Patton.
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Both sides also employed tanks during the long Vietnam War that followed. Initially the ARVN forces used the M24 Chaffee light tank and M113 APCs. The U.S. military believed initially that Vietnam was not an appropriate environment for armor, but ultimately it deployed some 600 tanks in that theater. Although some lighter tanks, such as the M551 Sheridan and M50A1 Ontos, proved ill-suited for the local combat environment, the perception was eventually dispelled by the M48A3 Patton. Employed in search-and-destroy missions, the Patton came to be known for its jungle-busting ability in clearing paths through dense vegetation. Its 90mm main gun proved an effective bunker-buster, and its tracks and great weight could survive mines and could grind down Vietcong bunkers. The dozer variant of this tank commonly had claymore mines directly attached to its working blade for added firepower. Tanks helped protect convoys and secure LOCs, were a powerful asset in the defense of bases, and served as a rapid-reaction force. In a counterinsurgency support role, they helped clear out communist strong points, patrol secure areas, and engaged in sweeps and ambushes.
Tanks were prime targets for communist forces, who attacked them indirectly with mines or directly with RPGs, Sagger antitank missiles, satchel charges, or mines. The latter were the principal cause of U.S. armor losses in Vietnam. Whereas crews of the heavy M48 had a good chance of surviving a mine detonation, crews of lighter vehicles did not.
In the guerrilla warfare environment that marked so much of the Vietnam War, attacks on tanks with RPGs, such as the Soviet RPG2 (Vietnamese B40) and RPG7V (Vietnamese B41), were common, especially when tanks were in static positions. M48 crews sandbagged their tank turrets for crew protection. When armor was used on the defensive, night laagers (defensive perimeters) would be set up with fighting positions between each vehicle. Concertina wire and claymore mines supported the defensive perimeters, and listening posts were set up. Harassment and interdiction artillery missions were employed to keep communist forces off balance and away from the laagers. The tankers learned that they could protect against RPGs by putting cyclone fencing around their positions.
Beginning in 1972 the Americans also had to contend with the Sagger (9M14M Malyukta) antitank guided missile. The tankers attempted to counter this threat by firing at the gray plume of smoke at the launch site in hopes of causing the gunner, who controlled the flight of the wire-guided missile with a joystick, to flinch and miss the target. Crews of tanks under way might also maneuver their vehicles sharply in hopes of disrupting the missile’s flight path or attempt to confuse its control system by the use of flares. Suicide bombers with satchel charges or antitank grenades might be countered by throwing an explosive charge out of the tank or by using a tactic known as “back-scratching,” whereby one tank fired small caliber weapons at a buttoned-up friendly tank under attack.
Production
dates: July
1952–1959
Number
produced: 11,703
Manufacturer:
Alco
Products, Chrysler Corporation, Ford Motor Company, Fisher Body
Division of General Motors
Variants:
M48: 90mm
gun, commander’s .50-caliber machine gun. M48A1: mild steel
hull and turret, commander’s gun mounted within the
cupola
M48A2:
incorporated fuel-injection engine, larger fuel tanks, and
modified suspension
M48A3:
rebuilt previous models with diesel engine
M48A4:
fitted with M60 turret and Shillelagh gun/missile
system
M48A5:
more than 2,000 earlier M48s were rebuilt and fitted with the M68
105mm main gun developed from the British L7A1, also diesel
engine
Crew:
4
(commander, driver, gunner, loader)
Armament:
1 x 90mm
main gun (1 x 105mm gun on M48A5); 3 x 7.62mm (.30-caliber)
machine guns (commander at cupola, loader, coaxial); 2 x 6 smoke
grenade dischargers
Weight:
103,969
lbs.
Length:
22’7”
(30’5” with gun forward)
Width:
11’11”
Height:
10’2”
Posted on February 18 2010 at 02:13 AM
T-34-85 equipped with stand-off screens to protect thinner side
and top armour from the HEAT warheads of Panzerfausts during
street fighting. These particular shields were constructed from
5–8 mm (0.2–0.3 in) steel wire. Berlin, May 1945.
In the Berlin operation, Soviet units did devise simple mesh
screens which could be welded to the tank's exterior to detonate
the Panzerfaust warheads prematurely (so-called bedstead armor,
but most were fabricated from screening and angle irons, not
actual bedsteads).
Posted on January 31 2010 at 11:32 PM
This vehicle was the largest AFV of American design in WWII. It
was almost 15’ wide, 36’ long and weighed 190,000 lb. (95
tons). Because of its huge size and weight, it was equipped
with 4 sets of tracks, two on each side of 19-1/2” width
each. This most unusual arrangement was needed to lower the
ground pressure to 11.7 lbs./sq.in. Each track assembly was
made up of two complete horizontal volute suspension systems
(HVSS). In order to reduce width and weight, the outermost
tracks could be removed when the tank was being transported. To
assist in this Herculean task, the tank carried two
hydraulically assisted winches mounted at the rear of the tank.
Each track assembly weighed almost 25 tons, and two could be
linked together side by side to form a unit which could be
towed behind a prime mover or the tank itself! It took a crew
almost 3hrs. to make this change. The running gear included a
total of 64 20-1/2” wheels with rubber backed steel tracks
19-1/2” wide and rear drive with support rollers and front
idler.
Posted on January 30 2010 at 07:23 AM
(Above) Tiger 131 is examined by troops hours after it was captured in Tunisia in 1943
The Tank Museum in Dorset has launched a £40,000 public appeal to keep a gun-toting 57-ton German tank which was considered one of the most formidable armoured vehicles in World War Two on the road.
The notorious Tiger Tank, 131, was captured by Allied troops in an explosive battle in Tunisia in 1943, having been struck by a six-pound shot after knocking out two British Churchill tanks.
Produced in 1942 to meet the German Wehrmacht's vision of a panzer towering enough to provide a psychological edge over Allied crews, the Tiger was one of only 1,354 units made, seeing action in Russia, Tunisia, Sicily and North-West Europe.
A photo of a tank parading around a stadium
The Tiger pulls the Crowds at Tankfest 2009
It boasted a lethal 88mm gun of deadly accuracy and sheet armour thick enough to deflect most Allied anti-tank weaponry at anything less than the closest range, but was hampered by its vast weight and girth during campaigns in bad conditions.
The engine had "a nasty habit of catching fire", according to its technical description, and the gearbox was liable to failure when subjected to stress.
The Museum's Tiger represented a major trophy for Western forces, who gained vital intelligence from inspecting the abandoned vehicle. King George VI and Winston Churchill both visited the tank in Tunis, and it was displayed on Horse Guards Parade in November 1944 before heading to its current Bovington home in a "somewhat sorry state".
via Tank Museum in £40,000 public appeal to save WWII Tiger Tank | Culture24.
Posted on January 14 2010 at 07:18 AM
Principal elements (1944) SS-Panzergrenadier Regiment 5 Thule; SS-Panzergrenadier Regiment 6 Theodor Eicke; 55-Panzer Regiment 3; SS-Panzerjager Abteilung 3; Sturmgeschutz Abteilung 3; SS-Panzer Artillerie Regiment 3; 5S-Flak Abteilung 3; SS-Panzer Aufkärüngs Abteilung 3; SS-Panzer Pionier Bataillon 3. The unit SS-Heimwehr Danzig was also incorporated into the Totetkopf Division at the start of the war.
Kursk, July 1943
Of the three SS divisions in the battle of Kursk, Totenkopf was
the furthest behind in the transition process to a panzer
division.
Totenkopf 3rd SS Panzer Regiment: This regiment
still had both of its battalions, plus the heavy tank company.
Each battalion had three companies of four platoons each. The
regiment had about 28 Pz IVF/2, 54 Pz IIIJ, and 7 command tanks
operational in its two battalions at the time of the battle.
The regiment’s 9th Company (Tiger) had ten
operational Tiger tanks at the beginning of the battle.
However, by the time of the attack on Hill 226.2 in the
afternoon, there were only four operational Tigers left, the
rest having suffered mechanical breakdowns during the course of
the day. By the end of the day these four Tigers were knocked
out leaving the company with no operational tanks.
Totenkopf Theodor Eicke SS Panzer Grenadier Regiment: The
3rd Battalion was a motorcycle battalion. It was
originally a separate battalion within the division but in the
spring of 1943 was absorbed in to the Theodor Eicke Regiment.
The unit was scheduled to be converted to an armored infantry
battalion in the autumn of 1943, so it was decided that
retaining its motorcycles would be more cost effective than
reequipping it with trucks for the short term before
conversion.
Totenkopf SS Artillery Regiment: The artillery regiment had four battalions. The 2nd and 3rd Battalions were the standard 105mm howitzer battalions with two batteries each. The 4th Battalion was a mixed battalion with two batteries of 150mm howitzers and one battery of 105mm guns. As in Das Reich, Totenkopf used six gun batteries. The 1st Battalion was the self-propelled battalion with two 150mm batteries and one 105mm battery. Like in Das Reich, Totenkopf used hand-me-down experimental self-propelled artillery pieces mounted on captured French tank chassis.
Posted on January 13 2010 at 04:26 AM
In 1944 the Soviets began a redesign of the T-34. Designated the T-44, it appeared in prototype form that summer. A somewhat more streamlined T-34, with a larger turret and thicker turret and hull armor, it also had a torsion-bar suspension system in place of the Christie system on the T-34. The T-44 weighed some 76,100 pounds.
Powered by a 512-hp engine, the T-44 was the first tank to mount its engine transversely. Crewed by only four men (instead of five as in the T-34), it dispensed with the hull gunner and utilized that space for additional ammunition storage. Initially the T-44 mounted the 85mm gun of the T-34, but later this was replaced with a 100mm gun. The T-44 also had two 7.62mm machine guns.
The T-44 entered limited production in 1945, and a few saw service against the Germans at the end of the war. Although it was perhaps the most sophisticated tank design of the war, the T-44 proved to be mechanically unreliable. The transmission, proved troublesome in the initial production batches. An improved version, the T-44M was introduced on the assembly lines after the war, which corrected these defects and introduced other improvements such as a new, wider track which offered better flotation in soft soil and snow. As with the British Centurion, the T- 44 marked the end of the distinction between heavy and medium tanks and the beginning of the all-purpose main battle tank (MBT). This highly influential design was the basis for the postwar Soviet T- 54, T-55, and T-62 tanks.
The T-44 was issued to three tank brigades mustered on September 15, 1944 for training purposes, but these formations (6th Guards, 33rd Guards, and 63rd Guards Tank Brigades) were re-equipped with T-34-85 tanks prior to entering the Battle of Berlin and Prague Offensive. The T-44A was not used operationally during WWII in Europe for several reasons, including the fact that the Red Army was not ready to accept a new tank because of lack of sufficient spares and technical specialists who could repair and maintain the new tank as well as the fact that many of the tank crews would have to be retrained on it. However, three tanks were sent to the 100th Special Tank Company which tested them on the Eastern Front. Many T-44As were sent immediately after they were produced to the Far East regions of the Soviet Union. The first tanks arrived there before the end of the war and were used operationally during last three days of fighting. They continued to arrive after the war and eventually around 600 T-44As were stationed there.
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