The Last Soviet Heavyweight
The last fighting machine named after Stalin would be the last Soviet heavy tank. It appeared at a time when the trend of constant increase in the weight of tanks came to a stop. Without the ability to...
View ArticleWorld of Tanks History Section: Wolf's Lair Under Tank Tracks
The last 70 kilometers before Berlin were one of the most dangerous regions for tanks in the Great Patriotic War. From Seelow Heights to the capital of Germany, Soviet tanks had to tear their way...
View ArticleCounter-tactics
"To the HQ Chief of the 37th Army, Colonel BlazheyDuring recent offensive action, our units encounter groups of tanks and SPGs (2-5) in the depth of enemy defenses. These groups, without closing their...
View ArticleFirst Panzerschreck
"Ofenrohr: new AT weapon of the German ArmyFrom the interrogation of a prisoner from the 58th Infantry DivisionThe Ofenrohr is a rocket propelled AT mine, very similar to the Panzerfaust. It consists...
View ArticleAnti-Tiger Gunner
"Award OrderName: Parkhomenko, Nikolai KirillovichRank: Guards Junior SergeantPosition, unit: Gun commander, 124th Guards Artillery Regiment, 52nd Guards Order of Lenin Infantry Divisionis nominated...
View ArticleMaria Oktyabrskaya
"Award OrderName: Oktyabrskaya, Maria VasilyevnaRank: Guards SergeantPosition, unit: mechanic-driver, 26th Guards Yelnensk Tank Brigade, 2nd Guards Tank Corpsis nominated for the title of Hero of the...
View ArticleOdd Hundred Out
The German E-series tanks (Entwicklung, "project") are especially renowned among German vehicle enthusiasts. The most famous of those is the heaviest of the proposals, the E-100. Alongside the Maus,...
View ArticleWorld of Tanks History Section: The Road of Life
An IV drip for a heavily wounded soldier cannot instantly heal him or protect him from bullets and shells, all it can do is keep him from dying. This is the role that the "road of life" played for...
View ArticleWorld of Tanks Armoured Fantasy: The Universal Fighting Machine
Military Engineer A.I. Pavlov never considered himself a cocky man. In his letter submitted along with his project in 1943, he wrote "Perfection of form, quality, and technical capability was never...
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Cheating at Statistics 12: Overclaim at Oboyan
In a previous article, we saw some SS Tigers make quite a kill claim."12 July 1943: Fierce Soviet tank attacks from the direction of Jamki, Prochorovka and Petrovka (on both sides of Kalinin) are...
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Artillery Effectiveness
As mentioned in this article, even the most impressive artillery barrage doesn't amount to much when you're just dumping shells in the vague direction of the enemy. Every shot must be carefully aimed,...
View ArticlePTRS vs PTRD
"Evaluation of Degryaryev and Simonov anti-tank rifles based on the reviews of privates, Sergeants, and officers of anti-tank rifle unitsSimonov's rifle starts jamming after only a small amount of...
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Red Army Exercises, 1941
CAMD RF 28-1167-367Here's an interesting little table, vehicles planned for use during Red Army exercises in 1941. The rows list the various exercises, as follows:Kiev Special Military District: June...
View ArticleSuperheavy Paper Tank Destoyers
Fantasies regarding WWII era armour in the areas of technical capabilities and application in combat, both of tanks that existed and those that never made it off paper (or were never even planned at...
View ArticleWorld of Tanks History Section: Czechoslovakian Tanks
Before WWII, Czechoslovakia was one of the leading tank building countries in the world. It lost that status in 1939 after the German occupation, but their powerful industry kept working. Here, famous...
View ArticleWorld of Tanks Armoured Fantasy: Land Cruisers
Even before they reached the battlefield, tanks were called "land ships". This metaphor turned out to be infectious, and there were many projects during WWII that were similar to ships, both in size...
View ArticlePTR vs Panther
"Award OrderName: Oboldin, Saveliy SavelyevichRank: SergeantPosition, unit: AT rifle crew commander, 2nd Battalion, 32nd Korsun, Order of the Red Banner Motorized Infantry Brigade, 18th Znamensk, Order...
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Gently Used
"Factory #75To: GABTU Chief, Lieutenant-General of the Tank Forces, comrade FedorenkoCC: Deputy People's Commissar of Medium Machinebuilding, comrade GoreglyadJune 18th, 1941In order to gather...
View ArticleGreen Elephant
This project, designed in 1942 by the Ural Heavy Machinery Factory could have been the heaviest Soviet SPG. In accordance with the saying "fight fire with fire", engineers proposed a well armed, well...
View ArticleSneaking Mission
"Award OrderName: Sadovskiy, Yuri VladimirovichRank: CaptainPosition, unit: reconnaissance officer, 530 Baranovich Order of Alexander Nevskiy Anti-Tank Artillery Regimentis nominated for the title of...
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