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Heavy Tank from Pennsylvania
The American army had the largest fleet of heavy tanks in the world at the start of the 1930s. Unfortunately, these were obsolete Mark VIII tanks, also known as "Liberty". They were built to British...
View ArticlePzIII Battle Damage
"SECRETAppendix "A" to AFV Technical Report No.11Â Dated December '42The following abbreviations have been used in the section dealing with Pz.Kw.III:sa: Spaced armourdfp: Driver's front plateman:...
View ArticleT-60's Future
"Minutes of a technical meeting discussing factory #37's proposal to equip the T-60 tank with a new turret with a 45 mm tank gun and thicker front armourPresent: regimental commissar comrade Vorovbyev,...
View ArticlePzIV Ausf. H Intel
"Report on new types of tanks and SPGs according to reports by prisoners of war and armoured staff reports as of July 20th [1943]...The suspension, engine, and transmission of the modernized T-4 tank...
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Kalashnikov Acceptance
"Order of the Red Banner Scientific Research Small Arms and Mortar Proving Grounds of the Main Artillery Directorate of the Armed Forces (NIPSMVO GAU VS)January 15th, 1948Shurovo, Moscow oblastReport...
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The Winding Road to Nowhere
The French were the first to master the production of SPGs. These vehicles missed WWI by only a few months. Enthusiasm for SPGs died down after the war ended, and France only returned to this topic in...
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Peak vs Mean
Previously, I discussed in detail what Soviet rate of fire tests actually measured. Long story short, the difference between the peak rate of fire (loading from the ready racks) and the average rate of...
View ArticleFar East Conversions
"To the Chief of the Tank Directorate of the GBTU, Major-General of the Tank Engineering Service, comrade AfoninRE: your letter #822338 written on May 23rd, 1944I report that:As of June 1st, 1944, the...
View ArticleClear the Air
"January 27th, 1941Order of the People's Commissar of Medium Machinebuilding and People's Commissar of Heavy Machinebuilding#63s/43sMoscowStationary trials performed at factory #75 of air filters for...
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Composite Hull
"[cut off] September 1942To GABTU BTU, Engineer-Colonel comrade AlymovTo the head of the 3rd Directorate of the NKTP, A.A. HabahklashevRE: manufacturing item #70-145304-A2 from two partsDue to a lack...
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The First Coming of the IS-2
The 122 mm U-11 gun designed in the fall-winter of 1941 was rather controversial. Its designers succeeded in their task of installing a gun with the ballistics of the M-30 in a minimally altered KV-1...
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T-70B: A Light Modernization of a Light Tank
GKO decree #1394 "On production of T-70 tanks at the Molotov Gorkiy Automotive Factory" was signed on March 6th, 1942. Work on improvement of the T-60's armament resulted in a completely new tank that...
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Tiger Air Filters
"F.V.D.D. Cover Sheet to Test Bay Report No.4248Performance Tests on Two-Stage Air Cleaner - German Tank Pz.Kw.6 (Tiger)Origin:The performance of a two-stage air cleaner removed from a captured German...
View ArticleManufacturing Difficulty
"Completion of quota at factory #200 in August of 1944In August of 1944, the factory was instructed to produce:IS-2 hulls: 200IS-2 turrets: 200As of September 1st, the factory delivered and QA...
View ArticleMinesweeper
"May 27th, 1944To the Chief of the GBTU Tank Directorate, Major-General of the Tank Engineering Service, comrade AfoninReport on the issue of firing from the T-34-85M tank equipped with a PT-3 mine...
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HOA Nightmare
"HQ of the 12th Guards Order of the Red Banner Shepetov Tank BrigadeNovember 12th, 1945Certificate Issued to mechanic-driver Guards Starshina Nikolai Fedorovich Agapov, to certify that he purchased...
View ArticlePodcast
Last year Tank Archives broke into a new medium, coming out in print. This year I've made another leap, this time into audio, taking part in Military History Visualized's podcast on kill claims vs...
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SU-152: From Assault Gun to Tank Destroyer
Work on Soviet SPGs assigned at the plenum of the Artillery Committee held on April 14-15th reached their logical conclusion by the end of 1942. The light SPG concept turned into the SU-12, designed by...
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Where Infantry Can't Pass
History enthusiasts are familiar with Winterketten and Ostketten track links for PzIII and PzIV tanks. The use of these track links was a necessary measure to increase mobility in the snow and on wet,...
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Visibility
Here's a rather interesting analysis of the Tiger's commander's cupola by British tankers. It's no secret that the British weren't huge fans of German observation devices, but here is a pretty thorough...
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