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ZiS-3 Trials
"To the Chair of the Committee of Defense, comrade I.V. StalinAccording to your instructions, proving grounds trials of the 76 mm ZiS-3 divisional gun designed by factory #92 were performed at the GAU...
View ArticleBanner of Victory
"To the Military Council of the 3rd Shock ArmyBy my personal orders, the Red Banner that was raised over the Reichstag on April 30th, 1945 by the 150th Rifle Division has been removed. Instead, I...
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Medium Tank T1E1: Britain's Heir
The American tank building school began with building tanks based on foreign designs. For example, the first real success of American builders was based on the Renault FT. The reworked version of the...
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Cheating at Statistics 15: Machinations at Mius
Long time readers of my "Cheating at Statistics" series have no doubt noticed a certain trend with the kill claims of SS units: they are as humble as they are specific. Page after page tells you great...
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Cheating at Statistics 16: Back in the MiusSR
I explored the overclaim of German tank forces at the Mius Front previously, but Nipe's book is a gift that keeps on giving. For instance, the depiction he gets from German sources of the attack on...
View ArticleAirborne Tank
"To the Chief of the Red Army Air Force Airborne Troops, Guards Lieutenant-General ZatevakhinJanuary 9th, 1945RE: your letter sent on December 15th, 1944, with a plan for an experimental tank for...
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General Chirmen
Translation is not an easy field, and knowing a language is not enough if you are not also knowledgeable in the field. Otherwise, you get gems like this:"It is necessary to know the characteristics of...
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T-55: The Third World's Main Argument
UralVagonZavod: a change in generationsThe T-54, a logical improvement on the T-44, was designed at factory #183 in Nizhniy Tagil (the future UralVagonZavod), and was the main tank of the first...
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Swamp Tracks
Aside from endless fascines, Soviet tank designers tried more conventional ways to improve the ground pressure of their tanks.Photo #1: T-26 additional track (from the top).Photo #2: T-26 additional...
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Experimental Tracks
German Ostketten and Winterketten tracks are well known among armour enthusiasts. Even the Americans had duckbill tracks to decrease ground pressure of their armour. Here is a less conventional Soviet...
View Article45 mm AT Gun Modernizations
"Summary for Colonel-General of Artillery comrade Voronovregarding systems: M-42, 104-K, and M-6A. M-42This modernization consists of increasing the muzzle velocity by lengthening the barrel and...
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Maus Intel
"CONCERNING: German tank Pz.Kpfw "MOUSE"The search by Team Number 7 for the "MOUSE" at Böblingen (Germany) was fruitless, however interrogating Karl FROHLICH, Director at the Böblingen complex has...
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Strv m/38 and m/39: Quality at a Premium
The Swedish military waited for a long time to get respectable results out of their tank industry. Sweden began working on its own tank in the late 1920s, but it took almost 10 years to see...
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Vickers E: Bestselling Export
The late 1920s were a dark time for British tank building in general and the Vickers company in particular. Sir George Thomas Beckham, the company's chief designer, died on May 9th, 1928. Order for new...
View ArticleArmoured Train Instructions
"Armoured train actionThe following was observed during action with armoured trains on the front or during combat against partisans:Due to picking apart armoured train units into pieces (armoured gun...
View ArticleBargaining
"RE: contract for an electric mine clearing tankAttachment to letter #6213Notes from the Kirov factory regarding the electric mine clearing tank:The estimated cost of completing the project is...
View ArticleUnacceptable Losses
"High Command of Land ForcesChief of StaffChief Inspector of the Tank Forces#2861/43, secretGeneral Staff, December 7th, 1943The loss of armoured vehicles this year reached exceptionally enormous...
View ArticleSecond Freshness
"From: "Special Supply Orders"170th Infantry Division, #49 issued on August 3rd, 1943Feeding prisoners of warThere is reason to highlight Special Supply Order #26 section III. According to this...
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Christie M1931
On November 19th, 1928, an unusual vehicle came out of Fort Meade in Maryland. It looked more like a race car than what it really was: a tank. The turret was absent, replaced with a Browning M1919A2 on...
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Type 95 Ha-Go: Manchurian Prisoner
The fighting in July-August of 1939 near the Khalkin-Gol river was the Red Army's first real large engagement of the 1930s. The battle at Lake Hasan in 1938 was also fierce, but it was not comparable...
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