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The Allies using light and medium tanks in big groups against the Germans powerful tanks was the main thing that helped them win World War Two. During World War Two there were many different types of tanks. They were put into categories depending on weight and armament. There were four main categories of tanks: heavy tanks, medium tanks, light tanks, and turret less tanks. Light tanks were armed only with machine guns. Medium tanks carried heavier weapons and were bigger than light tanks. Heavy tanks carried even bigger guns than medium tanks, had heavy armor, and were slow. Turret less tanks were used for infantry support and were used only by the Germans, the U.S. and Britain didn’t create any. Tanks were originally made to support the infantry but as everyone started to use them it soon became obvious that tanks were needed to fight other tanks. All tanks tended to be used for the same purposes. This made designers think of tanks made to hunt down other tanks. These tanks were called tank destroyers. In the end of World War Two, tanks were one of the most crucial deciding factors in the outcome of World War Two. American Factories supplied more than 88, 000 tanks in World War Two. This also affected the war’s outcome. All tanks were a mixture of three things – protection, firepower, and mobility (armor, guns, and speed). How these three things were balanced was the biggest problem for designers. The American designers created their tanks by putting mobility first, firepower second, and protection third. This led to American tanks being very maneuverable and mechanically reliable, but there was hardly enough gun power and usually not enough protection. The Soviet designers put firepower first, and made protection and mobility equal in second. Their tanks always had good guns, enough protection, and they were fast, but they were not as reliable as the designers wanted. The British designers put protection first, mobility second, and firepower third. This led to some failures. By putting firepower last the guns on the British tanks weren’t powerful enough to harm German tanks. The Germans had the most powerful tank force out of all the countries fighting in World War Two. Their tank force was composed in 1939 and had 3,195 vehicles in all. During World War Two the Germans used the Blitzkrieg or lightning strategy, which was very effective. They also put all their tanks into panzer divisions. These panzer divisions were a big success during the first two years of the war. Other countries came up with formations similar to the panzer divisions. This led to a drastic increase in tank production for the Germans. Starting in 1942 they rearmed all of their tanks. They made them bigger, heavier, have more armor, and they added bigger guns. The main tanks that they upgraded were the Pz. IV and the Tiger Tank. They also introduced the Panther medium tank around this time. The Panther medium tank had a 75 mm gun, its muzzle velocity (or how fast it shot shells out of it’s barrel) was 3,070 feet per second, and it weighed 43 tons. Page 2 Benji Guilford The Tiger Tank was upgraded many times during the war. The final version of this tank was called the Tiger 2 or better known as the King Tiger. Adolf Hitler wanted hid designers to create a heavy tank to help support his Panzer divisions. He told his designers that the tank must have more armor than other tanks, a max speed of 25 miles per hour, and it must have an 88 mm gun. This tank took his designers two years to develop and was one of the Germens most used tanks. This tank was the King Tiger. The King Tiger was used a lot because it could take out almost any tank it fought. And, its combination of thick armor and 88 mm gun made it almost impossible for the Allie tanks to kill it. The King Tiger’s 88 mm gun was originally an anti-aircraft gun, but it was modified to fit the tank. The gun also shot armor-piercing shells that could penetrate six-inch armor at distances as far as 1.24 miles. This made The King Tiger very deadly and very accurate. The inside of the tank wasn’t as cramped and crowded as some of the smaller tanks but it still did not have lots of free space. The King Tiger stored 64 rounds of 88 mm shells inside of the tank. Some of them were stored in armored bins in the sides and some of them were stored in the turret. The King Tiger was driven by one driver that usually did not have very much training. The driver used adjustable controls that could be raised when the hatch was opened. When the hatch was closed during battle the drivers looked through an armored Para scope to see where to go. The King Tiger had 9 pairs of overlapping wheels that were inside 32 inch wide steel tracks. This allowed the tank to travel over lots of different ground conditions. The only thing that was wrong with the King Tiger was that it was hard to maintain in battle because it needed frequent mechanical attention. And, since the drivers were usually inexperienced, it was even harder to maintain. Another type of tank that the Germans used were Tank Destroyers. Tank Destroyers were first made by the Germans. Tank Destroyers were basically a tank body with a very large gun. The guns that they had were like the gun that the King Tiger had on it, they were anti-aircraft guns that had been mounted on a tank. Tank Destroyers were created to shoot strong fortifications and to easily kill other tanks. The Ferdinand was the only Tank Destroyer that the Germans kept and used. It was the most powerful Tank Destroyer during World War Two. The Ferdinand carried an 88 mm gun, it weighed 65 tons, and it had eight-inch armor. It was almost impossible to stop with any Allied gun. The Ferdinand could kill things at a very far distance; this was one of the reasons that the Allies could not stop it. The only thing bad about this tank was that the gun could only swing a little bit from left to right. Because of this enemy tanks could sneak up behind it and shoot it in the back where it had less armor. The National Defense Act of 1921 disbanded American Tank Corps and said that tanks were infantry equipment that could only be used by the infantry. In the 1930’s the Calvary needed light tanks. Because of the law they could not have and use tanks. So, to get around this they called their light tanks “combat cars.” In 1940 The US Army wanted an armored tank force also. To get around the law the US Army ordered tanks “to be set up for the purposes of service testing.” Because of this the US Army fought from 1941 to 1945 using a “test force” as their primary striking force. Page 3 Benji Guilford The American used aircraft engines in their tanks instead of regular engines because regular engines were too big and too expensive. The American’s first tank was the M2 light tank. It was produced in 1940 and had a 37 mm gun. The Americans wanted a medium tank but the M2 turret would not take a bigger gun so they came out with the M3 medium tank. The M3 had 75 mm gun that fitted straight into the hull of the tank. It was put into production on April 1, 1941. The M3 was used a lot by the British. In North Africa it was known as “General Lee.” The Americans began working on the M4 tank after the M3 cleared production. The first model was hand built in September 1941 and they were ordered for production in early 1942. The M4 was renamed to the Sherman after the famous Civil War general and was called “General Sherman” by the British. The M4 Sherman was one of the most successful tanks in the war. It was made to help the French when the Germans invaded France and they needed a tank that could match the German’s firepower. The M4 Sherman was really a medium tank with a bigger gun. There were many versions of the M4 Sherman built during the war. The U.S. Army made the M4, M4A1, M4A2, M4A3, and the M4A4. The M4A2’s were shipped to the Russians and the M4A4’s were shipped to the British. Most of them had a 75 mm gun but the British upgraded theirs to have 76 mm guns. These modified M4A4’s were called Fireflies and were better at penetrating armor. The M4 was the most common Allied tank. 49,234 were built in 11 factories. Over 17,000 were supplied to the British and over 4,000 were sent to the Russians. After the war the M4’s were bought and sold all over the world. The M4 Sherman’s armor was very thin and could not withstand many direct hits. To help this some of them had sandbags around the outside of the hull. The M4 Sherman could not take on German tanks in a one to one head on fight but they were a lot faster and could out maneuver the enemy. The M4 Sherman had an advanced hydraulic motor called a gyrostabilizer that kept the gun aimed levelly at the target while the tank was moving. But, it was hard to use and gunners often fought without turning it on. The operators of the M4 Sherman had a special radio that went around their necks and allowed them to talk to other crewmembers. In 1944 the M4 Sherman should have been replaced because it was no longer adequately armed compared to other tanks. But it was not replaced because the U.S. and the British believed that you did not need powerfully armed tanks if the M4’s worked in groups. In 1938 the U.S. Army asked for a heavy tank. In 1941 their heavy tank was finished. It was the M6 Heavy. The M6 Heavy weighed 50 tons and had three-inch armor. The weight of the tank caused problems with the brakes and the 900 horsepower engine was hard to keep cool. In the middle of 1942 the problems of the M6 Heavy were fixed and the result was the M6 tank. The M6 weighed 56 tons and had three-inch armor. The M6 was the most powerful and best-armored American tank but only 40 were ever made. The U.S. Army did not really like the M6 because two M4’s could be shipped in the place of one M6. In 1944 the U.S. Army in Europe wanted another heavy tank. So, near the end of the war the U.S. Army introduced the M26 Pershing tank. This tank was officially a medium tank but it had a 90 mm gun and had four and a half inches of armor. Page 4 Benji Guilford The M26 Pershing was like the original German Tiger tank. Without this tank, the Allies were far behind the Germans and the Soviets in gun power on their tanks. The British believed that tanks were good for two things that were to support the infantry and to be a fast striking force for raids. Because of this they put their tanks in two main categories, which were Infantry tanks and Cruiser tanks. Infantry tanks had heavy armor and they were slow so that they could accompany marching tanks. Cruiser tanks were faster, had less protection, and they relied on speed to get out of trouble. The British also used lots of Vickers Medium tanks and Vickers Light tanks. The Vickers Medium tank was an attempt for a tank that could support the infantry and be fast enough to go on raids. The Vickers Light tank was designed to be a Calvary scout. It was small and very fast but it did not have a lot of armor or gun power. Near the end of the World War Two the British made a specialized category of Cruiser tanks. The Crusader and the Cromwell tanks were in this category. They were fast and had better guns than regular Cruiser tanks but neither of them was as well armored as German and Soviet tanks. The British also made a specialized category of Infantry tanks. The main tank in this category was the Churchill tank. The Churchill was originally designed to take a 40 mm gun. It was designed to take such a small gun because the British did not expect the changes that happened in tanks. It was hard to change to a bigger gun because The Churchill had such a small turret but eventually it was given a 75 mm gun. The first Churchill’s broke down a lot, but later their engines were improved. They were very slow and had a max speed of 12 and a half miles per hour. Instead of speed the engine allowed the Churchill to climb good. The Churchill was capable of climbing to where the enemy could not follow. One of the Churchill’s best features was its thick armor. The armor was six inches at its thickest part in the front of the tank. The thick armor helped protect the tank from German anti-tank guns. During the end of the war the British made a tank that was not an Infantry or a Cruiser tank, it was an all around tank. This tank was the Centurion. The Centurion combined armor, firepower, and speed. The Centurion had an 84 mm gun, lots of armor, and it was fast but it was created too late to see action in the war. The Allies, like the Germans also had a group of tank destroyers. The Americans made the M-10, which was made to be a more practical tank destroyer than most of the other ones used at the time. It had a Sherman body with an open top turret and a 90 mm gun. The turret let it be possible for all around fire so that it could not be caught from behind like the German Ferdinand. The British also made a tank destroyer called the Tortoise, It weighed 78 tons, had nine inches of armor, and a 94 mm gun but only 3 were made. In 1939 the Russians had more tanks than the rest of the world. Nobody knew that the Russians had such a large army so they were able to try out different tank designs. Because of their ability to try out different ideas, by 1939 Russian designers knew what they wanted. This was a heavy tank and a fast medium tank. The heavy tank that they came up with was the KV-1 and the fast medium tank that they came up with was the T-34. Russian tanks had air-cooled diesel engines that would not freeze up in the Russian winter. Page 5 Benji Guilford Their tanks also had sloped surfaces so that bullets were more likely to bounce off, long barreled guns which were very accurate and powerful, and the insides were simple which allowed them to be made fast and operated easily. The KV-1 weighed 46 tons, had a 76 mm gun, and it moved at 24 miles per hour. The T-34 had a 76 mm gun, weighed 26 tons, and could go 30 miles per hour. The T-34 ran on the standard diesel engine and had an electric starter motor. If the starter would not start, usually because of cold weather, then the operators could start the engine using compressed air that was stored in cylinders located at the front of the tank. The T-34 had a crew of four people. Because it only had four crewmembers, the commander and the gunner were overworked. Even though the T-34 was easy to operate, most of the T-34 crews only had three days of training before they went into battle. The Russians used the T-34 to ambush and help push back the Germans when they attacked Russia. Later models of the T-34 had the turret cast in one piece instead of several which allowed it to withstand attack better than the German tanks it fought. T-34’s were very strong and powerful, an example of this is where one T-34 left a nine-mile trail of destruction and tore through the German’s front line before it was killed at short range by a German howitzer. The guns of these tanks could kill German tanks before the Germans were close enough to use their guns. The armor was also very thick and well shaped. Only heavy guns and lots of tanks used in an ambush could stop the T-34. Russian tanks were built in factories in Leningrad, Kharkov, and Stalingrad. As the enemy advanced towards these factories they were dismantled and moved to Siberia where they were rebuilt. These factories were rebuilt and combined on a site in Siberia that became known as Tankograd. The Russians also copied British and American tanks. They copied the British Vickers Six-Ton and made the T-26. They also copied the Vickers Medium and the Vickers Independent to make the Carden-Lloyd two-man heavy tank. Their most important development was also based on the American Christie tank. This development was big wheel suspension, which allowed tanks to travel faster over rough terrain. The Russians also made a tank to oppose the German King Tiger tank. The tank they made to do this was the JS or Stalin tank. This tank was a heavy tank that was made in 1944. It weighed 46 tons and had a 122 mm gun. Both the King Tiger and the JS tanks were made to support medium tanks and were able to destroy enemy tanks at long range. During World War Two some of the biggest problems facing the different army’s landing forces were getting tanks on the beach and then getting them past ditches, walls and minefields. These problems were solved by a group of specialized group of tanks that The British called the Funnies. The funnies had many different tanks that did all sorts of thing like lay bridges, fill ditches, clear minefields, go through water, and shoot fire. The Churchill Bridge layer was used if a tank could not cross a river because it was too wide or too deep. It was a standard Churchill tank with out a turret and in its place there was a 30-foot bridge. If tanks could not cross something then it would launch the bridge forward by a powerful arm and allow the other tanks to cross their obstacle. The Duplex Drive Tank was used to get tanks ashore. It was like a swimming tank. The Duplex Drive tank was a standard Sherman tank with a 75 mm gun. It had a heavy canvas screen on the edge of the hull and stretched out vertically higher than the turret. Page 6 Benji Guilford It was buoyant and allowed the tank to float. It had a propeller at the rear end and was driven from the tank’s gearbox. The propeller pushed the tank at a speed of 4 knots. Once the tank reached the shore an explosive charge got the screen off. The Fascine tank was used to help tanks cross ditches or trenches. It carried a fascine or a large bundle or brushwood on top of its hull and would launch it into the ditch. The Crocodile tank was a flame-throwing tank. It was a Churchill tank with a 75 mm gun and a flamethrower mounted on the front of the hull. An armored trailer behind of the tank carried 400 gallons of flame liquid. The flamethrower used tanks of nitrogen to force the liquid from the gun. The Carpet tank fixed the problem that some tanks had with getting off the landing craft and getting stuck in the soft sand. To fix this the Crocodile tank would get off first and dropped its “carpet” behind it. This left a firm track that a wheeled vehicle could drive on. The Flail tank was used to destroy pressure mines hidden in the ground. The Flail tank was a Sherman tank that had a revolving drum with chains hanging off in front of it. As the drum moved the chains would thrash the ground and explode any mines in front of it. The drum was too far in front of the tank for the exploding mines to harm the tank. This left a safe path for other tanks and vehicles following it. World War two showed designers where technical advances were needed. Tanks needed efficient radio communication, more space in the turret, better stabilization of the gun, efficient moving fire, fireproof fuel and ammo storage, and the overall size of tanks needed to be smaller so that they were less easy to hit. Tanks have been upgraded and made better since World War Two. Many things have been added and changed. Designers now spend years designing tanks and spend lots off money. Some of the things that have been added and changed on the tanks we use now are that the new tanks have bigger and better guns. They use 120 mm cannons that shoot missile type bullets called “discarding sabots.” They also mount .50 caliber machine guns. The “discarding sabot” bullet that tanks now use is a special type of shell that turns into a missile. Once the shell is fired the sides (sabots) fall off and a missile shaped projectile continues that can penetrate an enemy tank when it explodes. Tanks now have computer and laser technology, much better armor, and a new sleek outline. This allows for the crews to be much more safer and comfortable. The new laser technology is used to automatically calculate the distance to the target. There are also devices to confuse enemy radar and identification beacons to prevent “friendly fire.” Tanks also now use gas turbine engines that are similar the helicopter engines. These are lighter, easier to maintain, and they have a longer life than diesel engines. Tanks have come a long way since World War Two but without them during that war it would have been a lot harder to win and the outcome might have been a lot different. Bibliography: nothing Word Count: 4301
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