During their nearly four-year-long war on the Eastern Front in the Second World War, the Germans managed to capture a substantial number of Soviet armored vehicles. While the majority of these were beyond repair, a number of them were still operational or could be restored to working condition. These vehicles were often put into German service, either in their original form or with various modifications. By 1944, however, as the German Army began to retreat, opportunities to capture and reuse Soviet equipment became increasingly rare. The Germans simply lacked the time and resources to recover damaged vehicles and return them to service. Nevertheless, on rare occasions, they did manage to…
Joshua Allen | Published 2026-09-14 09:53 | 2 Comments
As the Second World War progressed and the need for more mobile artillery became evident—particularly following Germany’s early successes in Europe—US military planners began to focus on developing self-propelled artillery. The Ordnance Department successfully mounted the 155 mm gun on the M3 Medium Tank’s chassis, creating the M12 Gun Motor Carriage (GMC). The M12 GMC offered superior mobility and reduced setup times compared to its towed counterparts, proving invaluable in breaking through fortifications, especially the Siegfried Line. Despite its limited production, the M12 GMC played a crucial role in several key battles in Europe and earned a reputation as a formidable bunker buster. An M12 GMC…
Andrew Hills | Published 2026-09-09 08:24 | 2 Comments
Artillery is sometimes and hyperbolically referred to as the ‘god of war.’ This is simply because it brings so much firepower to the battlefield, far beyond other land systems, and can devastate targets from many kilometers away. It is certainly a truism that, as a producer of military casualties, it surpasses small arms, tanks, planes and other weapons, but as a system, artillery is inherently limited by certain factors. These tend to revolve around issues such as range, maneuverability, and rate of fire. If a means was found to take a leap in capability in artillery to go far beyond the range and firepower of existing artillery systems, then this…
Joshua Allen | Published 2026-09-07 14:09 | 6 Comments
In the wake of the disastrous Dieppe Raid in August 1942, specialized armored vehicles were developed to tackle battlefield engineering challenges that hindered that operation. In the US, this led to the Engineer Armored Vehicle (EAV), which combined demolition, obstacle clearance, and direct assault into a single armored platform. Despite extensive trials and working well overall, the EAV suffered from a combination of technical shortcomings and doctrinal uncertainty. Most individual systems proved useful and valuable, but some were hazardous and flawed in ways which endangered the crew. Ultimately, limited production was authorized, but the EAV was never fielded because the war ended before it could get on a ship. [caption…
Alex Tarasov | Published 2026-09-06 12:15 | 0 Comments
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MarkoPantelic | Published 2026-10-05 08:27 | 2 Comments
Fighting a war on several fronts and being outnumbered by the Allies, the Germans were forced to modify their armored vehicles to fulfill various tactical roles. One of the more important aspects was creating training tanks. This was often done by simply removing the turret and superstructure. In some pre-war and early Second World War photographs, at least two modified Panzer I Ausf.As can be seen fitted with mock-up turrets. While their purpose is not fully known, nor their precise design or history, or even names, there is some evidence that could lead to an educated guess that these vehicles were intended as training tanks employed by the Germans in…
Pavel Alexe | Published 2026-09-30 07:50 | 5 Comments
With the discovery of the German Jagdtiger and Maus in spring of 1945, the Soviets realised that their most advanced heavy tank in development, the Object 257 (first iteration of the IS-7), was no longer going to cut it in terms of firepower and protection. Thus, requirements were arranged for a new heavy tank. In July 1945, Experimental Plant No.100 at ChKZ began work on several designs. While they had the same hull and turret, they had different engines and transmissions. These were indexed Object 258, 259, 260, and 261, keeping the umbrella name IS-7. Each model came in two variants, depending on the gun used, with a caliber of…
Darren Hazes | Published 2026-09-28 08:08 | 3 Comments
As Brazil entered the 1980s, the country was gradually phasing out its large fleet of M3 Stuarts and M4 Shermans, which was to be completed by around 1988. The M41 Walker Bulldog, already in service since the 1960s, was to become the sole mainline tank of the Brazilian Army until its planned replacement in the 1990s. This, however, left the Brazilian Army with large numbers of Stuart hulls which would either have to be sold for scrap value or would simply be left to rot away. Considering the Brazilian Army was no stranger to modernizing the venerable old Stuarts into projects like the X1, XLP-10, and XLF-40, it seems it…
It is entirely natural that, when their homeland is under attack, people do whatever they can to help it survive and, if possible, win. During the Second World War, the Soviet military received hundreds, perhaps thousands, of letters from civilians and ordinary soldiers, as well as from engineers, proposing ‘revolutionary’ armored vehicles that would ‘guarantee victory’ for the USSR. These projects were usually no more than rough sketches with brief accompanying notes, and none advanced to the production stage. One of the most intriguing late‑war proposals of this kind was the so‑called ‘Invincible Tank’, devised in 1943 by the Ukrainian-origin artist Ivan Skitsyuk. Drawings of the Skitsyuk’s…
Experiences from the Polish-Soviet War (1919-1921) demonstrated the crucial importance of communication between individual army units. Communication and its jamming played a key role during the Battle of Warsaw in August 1920, where, thanks to the cooperation of Polish cryptographers and signalmen, communication between Bolshevik armies was successfully jammed. Based on these experiences, Polish Army decision-makers purchased six Renault TSF radio tanks in 1924. This fact did not escape the Italians during their work on an armored car for the Polish cavalry, who proposed their own design, the Stazione Radiotelegrafica su Autoblinda Ansaldo Tipo Polonia (Mobile Radiotelegraph Station on an Ansaldo Polonia Armored Car Chassis). Side…
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The United Kingdom and France started development of tanks in order to break through enemy lines. However, many pioneers had envisioned the use of armored vehicles in the decades prior to the Great War. Soon after its introduction, the tank quickly became a killing machine integrated into combined arms operations.
The Interwar period saw the tank go on a worldwide tour, from Bolivia to China, every corner of the globe and all seven continents felt the tread of heavy armor. Even so, many were unconvinced by this new weapon of war. World War Two would change these perceptions, and see tanks used in unprecedented numbers across all theaters of war.
In a period dominated by nuclear weapons, two opposing superpowers led to the splitting of the world into East and West. Although the USA and USSR never fought each other directly, almost all proxy wars of the period saw extensive usage of their tanks.
Despite numerous prophets heralding the demise of the tank, armor is still an important part of all the world’s militaries. The modern battlefield shows no signs of this changing soon, with the development of tanks continuing to adapt to it.
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