Tanks Origin
In ww1 1915, The Great War was still going on as it had for 1 year on the western front, trench war. The soldiers were thrown to their deaths trying to capture the enemies trenchline and to gain an advantage, but neither the Germans or the French-British forces succeded doing this. In 1915, Major Ernest Swinton initiated the building of the first tank ever used in battle; the D1, a british Mark 1 tank. They never told the workers that the were going to build a tank, because they might have been spies for the germans that would give their Countrymen the ideas for the tank.
Usage in WW1
The first time the Mark 1 D1 british tank was deployed was at the battle of the Somme 1916 near Delvile woods, it was heading for the enemey trenches but it got knocked out by friendly fire, artillery barrage. Later on the Mark 1 D1 was the decisive material that was needed to win the war according to the british.
(A Mark 1 D1 British Tank advancing with infantry
during WW1)
Usage in WW2
It’s 1st september 1939. The german army invades Poland using blitzkrieg attacks (mechanized infantry and armored support) and quickly overruns the polish defense lines with their Panzer I, II and III tanks. This is the first time in history these kind of tactics were used, and they were used well. Later on in the war the germans used the same overrun tactics using mechanized infantry. Other countries got defeated by the germans when they used this tactics, including France, Norway and Belgium.
( Panzer I operating in a training field )
Later tank usage in WW2:
In 1941, the Germans invaded the Soviet Union using blitzkrieg attacks and mechanized infantry again, but the “motherland” was a too big munch to eat for the germans. The enornmous offense was halted in winter 1941 and a front line was drawn through Finnland and down to the black sea. This frontline existed untill 1944 when the Russians counter attacked.
In 1942, the Germans sent 300.000 soldiers to north africa in the under General Erwin Rommel ( later fieldmarchall ) to help the italians with the british. Rommel used a lot of Panzer III and Panzer IV to his disposal since they were very mobile in the desert.
In 1943 the heavy tank Tiger 1 was first introduced in Leningrad, in Tunisia 1943, the Germans also had a couple of Tiger’s from the fatherland, but not many. In 1944 the first Panther tank was used on the eastern front, It was the first medium tank ever used.
When the Western allies 1944 invaded the german occupied France, they introduced the Sherman tank for the first time, along with the Pershan tank, which was in the same class as the German Panther. Unlike the Germans, that build tanks with improved firepower, mobility armor. The Americans mass produced theirs and produced about 50.000 Sherman tanks in the 3 years they participated in the last great war.
On the next page you can see a table over the Light tanks, medium tanks and heavy tanks the each nationalies used in the end of WW2.
Nazi Germany Soviet Union Western Allies
Panzer III
Manufacture: Daimler-benz
Top speed: 35 km/h
Caliber: 7.5 cm main gun
Armor: 70 mm
Weight: 22 tonnes
T-38
Manufacture: Buoyancy
Top speed: 40 km
Caliber: 20 mm main gun
Armor: 3mm-9mm
Weight: 3.3 tonnes
Note: Ambhipous
MkIII,Valentine
Manufacture: Vicker-Armtrong
Top speed: 24 km/h
Caliber: 7.5 cm main gun
Armor: 8-65 mm
Weight: 16-17 tonnes
Panzer Panther
Manufacture: Rheinmetall
Top speed: 55 km/h
Caliber: High velocity 7.5 main gun
Armor: 120 mm
Weight: 44.8 tonnes
T-34-85
Manufacture:KhPZ
Top speed: 55 km/h
Caliber: 7.62 mm tank gun
Armor: 70 mm
Weight: 30.9 tonnes
Sherman/med
Manufacture: US army ordnance deparment
Top speed: 38.5 km/h
Caliber: 7.5 cm M3 gun
Armor: 50 mm
Weight: 28 tonnes
Tiger Tank
Manufacture: Henschel
Top speed: 38 km/h
Caliber: 8.8 cm main gun
Armor: 100 mm
Weight: 57 tonnes
KV-1
Manufacture: Kliment Voroshilov
Top speed: 35 km/h
Caliber: 7.62 cm high velocity main gun
Armor: 90 mm
Weight: 45 tonnes
Centurion
Manufacture: Royal ordinance
Top speed: 34 km/h
Caliber: 10.5 cm L7 gun
Armor: 152 mm
Weight: 52 tonnes
The Korean War
The Korean war lasted from 25th june 1950 to July 27th 1953. The tanks most used by the Allied forces was the Centurion, since it proved very reliable after the WW2.
The Soviet forces also devoloped a version of the Centurion. The war started with a massive offensive by the Allies, they got almost whole north korea, but the chinese forces came to the north koreans help and drove the Allies back to far in south korea. After that the Allies counter attacked the north korean and chinese forces back to where the war started, the border lines.
Without the Centurion tank the Allies would never been manage to do this counter attack, with it’s mobility and heavy armor and long range it could drive about 450 KM without having to resupply ( if it not ran out of ammo ) so it proved very efficient in Korea.
The Vietnam War
In the vietnam war tank usage was proven inferior because of the very big and tight cities and the big jungle forests. But the americans insisted to use light tanks, especially the M-56 Scorpion, which had a 90 mm gun and was made of aluminium and was made to be transported by helicopters and planes. The north vietnamese forces used the T-54, which was a great succes when used in Hanoi and Quang mei.
(T-55) (M-56 Scorpion light tank)
Post Great wars
Later on after the great wars was ended, countries still produced and devoloped new kind of tanks. 1980, the americans deployed the greatest tank ever built. The M1 Abrams battle tank. It was used in the Kuwait war and in the Iraq war and is still being used. It has a 120 mm caliber main gun., weighs 63 tonnes and has the top speed of 72 km/h.
The russians now use the T-90 main battle tank, and has a 125 mm caliber main gun and the armor is classed as secret, unknown to the world except the Russian army.
( M1 Abrams battle tank ) ( Indian T-90 Battle tank )
Sources:
• Wikipedia
• Own knowledge
• Family
( German tank driving into Paris 1940 )
Table of contents
Tanks Origin 1
Usage in WW1 1
Usage in WW2 1
Later tank usage in WW2: 2
The Korean War 4
The Vietnam War 4
Post Great wars 5
Sources: 5 |
peer agreement (net): +1
