All Articles Tagged 'tank' (34)

Long time no see, comrades! So,brace yourselves for a fresh portion of morbid projects of soviet citizens! 

And the first one is... 

Middle East Republican Mortar Automobile Armoured Corps

Autumn, 1941

This project came from Leningrad, and there are two pecularities: first, the concept was to assemble a highly mobile unit armed with self-propelled mortar on ZiS-101 chassis:…

Sorry for the delay, I was rather busy this week. Let's begin. 

Hellbus 

November 1942

"High-speed battlewagon Fighting Vehicle was designed by military engineer 3rd rank from Tambov. Essentially, it was a hover battle troop carrier, 14,5 tons, 6850 hp engine and maximum speed of...350 km/h!

Here's the drawing:…

Here we go again, comrades. I must apologize for the delay in the publishing of this part, and possible publishing of unprepared article.

So, Without unnecessary warm-up, I present you one of the most brutal projects I've ever seen. Space Orkz from WH40k would love one...

"The Un-tracked Tank"

August 4th, 1941

The authors came to a conclusion, that tracks were the most vulnerable part of the tanks, so they proposed a trackless…

This is a another in my series of Tank portraits.



PzKpfw NbFz V and VI’s designs were very similar to the British Vickers "Independent" tank, Soviet T-35, French Char-2C and proved to be too complex to produce. Only two prototypes were built by Rheinmetall in 1934. In Spring of 1939, Krupp’s PzKpfw NbFz VI…

First part of our journey through extreme armoured warmachines projects by soviet citizens was a success, as I see it, so we continue our path through the marvels gathered by Yuri Pasholok in the depths of Defence Ministry Central Archives.

Brutal Zorbing

November 27th,1942 

This one rolled-in from the Kanash town. The basic ideas are:

A big sphere made of thick armour, with a…

Foreword

I begin a series of articles on the projects, that were proposed by people throughout Soviet Union during the Great Patriotic War as their efforts to maximize the power of Red Army in order to defeat Nazi invaders. Most of these are stored in the Russian Ministry of Defence Central Archives, so my creativity will be limited by authentic information. Many thanks and credits go to Yuri Pasholok,…

The Matilda Hedgehog is a rather interesting development of the A12 Matilda 2 infantry tank.  Having been retired from service after the Allied victory in North Africa a number of these indomitable old machines ended up shipped to Australia, mostly they were the close support versions with 3 inch tank howitzers and they gave dependable service against the…

Flamethrowers are gruesome, horrific weapons. All weapons can be deadly, but rare is the infernal device that achieves horror by its appearance on the battlefield. One such flamethrower was the Lanciafiamme modello 35, the Italian fire weapon of World War II.

Every nation of the Second World War fielded…

Breaching charges are increasingly used by military forces on battlefields around the world. A series of pre-shaped explosives, arranged in a way to blow a hole through or completely demolish a wall or vertical obstruction, breaching charges once exclusive to special operations forces are employed by infantry and…

The Lebedenko Netopyr (Нетопырь, bat) Tzar Tank (1915)

Throughout the history of armor one lesson was learned early on: it is easier to hold the line than to attack. A defensive position always has an advantage over an offensive one. An attacking side needs protection. There were armored vehicles invented for that purpose, but they were useless on bad roads…

As Germany collapsed upon itself in the closing months of World War II, Allied units raced forward, each nation jockeying the first to cross the Rhine. To do this with rapidity, it sometimes meant that forces were ahead of their support, both logistically and martially. Bad weather grounding close air…

Possibly the most successful British tank of World War I, the Whippet was responsible for more German casualties than any other British tank of the war.

Its big brothers, Mark I-VI tanks, are far more famous - and deadly slow. Of course, they were initially thought of as weapons of breakthrough only, but some experts started talking about using tanks for exploitation as well, working together with the cavalry*. This, however, required a faster tank. The result was…

When someone tells that there was no successful French tank, especially in WWI - don't you believe him!

The Renault FT or Automitrailleuse à chenilles Renault FT modèle 1917, inexactly known as the FT-17 or FT17, was a French light tank; it is among the most revolutionary and influential tank designs in history. The FT was the first operational tank with an armament in a fully rotating turret, and its configuration with the turret on top, engine in…

The history of superheavy tanks begins almost with the history of tanks itself. As early as 1916 William Tritton, one of the minds behind the famous British Mark I tank, thought of a fairly radical tank design which was to be impervious to artillery fire.

The result of this plan was the so called Flying Elephant. It is unlikely this tank ever made it to a working prototype, very few documents remain today. In any case, it would have been impractical for use on the Western Front…

The second French WWI tank - no better than the first and even worse.

Originally the tank produced by Saint Chamond was meant to be identical to the Schneider CA. Early 1916, the proposed definitive prototype of this latter tank was prepared in an army workshop. The type used tracks from the American-made Holt caterpillar tractors that were already employed in France for…

Today, anti-material rifles run the gamut from .338 Lapua up to 20mm shoulder fired weapons. Whether they are bolt action or semi-automatic, man portable weapons that take out soft skinned vehicles, equipment and personnel are being produced in every major arms manufacturing nation.

But…

The first tank built in France wasn't an instant success. In fact, it wasn't a success at all.

Schneider & Co. was a large arms manufacturer in France. Having been given the order to develop heavy artillery tractors, in January 1915 the company sent out its chief designer, Eugène Brillié, to investigate tracked tractors from the American Holt Company, at that time participating in a test programme in England. On his return Brillié, who had earlier been involved in…

A re-visiting of an older piece I did.



Inspired by a Spanish Civil War poster, and the industrial beauty of Soviet Tank Design, a stylized T-35 is the theme of this poster!



The Tank is roomier sir!

 …

The A7V was a tank introduced by Germany in 1918, near the end of World War I. One hundred vehicles were ordered during the spring of 1918, but only 21 were delivered.

It was nicknamed "The Moving Fortress" by the British because of the shape of the hull. They saw action from March to October of that year, and were the only tanks produced by Germany in World War I to see operational use.

Following the appearance of the first British tanks on the…