HEAT and Tigers
"Experience using HEAT ammunition in the 305th Howitzer Artillery Regiment in the summer of 1944The regiment only used HEAT in the summer of 1944 on August 30th near the city of Gorodisk, when engaging...
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Warspot Article: The Tank's Hidden Foe
On paper, the Panzerfaust is a terrifying weapon. It could penetrate up to 200 mm of armour, enough to knock out any Allied tank, and could be hidden in every basement, in every window, and around...
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Courtesy Visit
The USSR was always interested in tank building abroad. This is not surprising, like in any tank building nation its designers wanted to keep up with the competition. Foreign tanks often appeared in...
View ArticleVideo: BT-5 and BT-7
In this week's video I go over how the BT-5 and BT-7 designs evolved from the BT-2 and the identifying features of the last generation of fast Soviet tanks.
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Allied Tank Observation
Continued from part 1."MK-2The main observation devices of the MK-2 are observation slits and mirror periscopes.A dual observation slit and a tilting all-round reversible periscope are available in...
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Bullseye
Back when I was active in the World of Tanks community, the idea that the D-25T gun could hit the broad side of a barn seemed bizarre and impossible to many. Documents suggesting otherwise elicited...
View ArticleShopping Trip
"To the Chairman of the Revolutionary Military Council of the USSRReportIn accordance with your instructions #01924 issued on December 10th I present to you my ideas about buying tanks from abroad....
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Armour of Hitler's Satellite
In March of 1939 Slovakia was formed as a semi-independent nation. Its armed forces were formed from the shattered remains of the former Czechoslovakian army. They included an armoured force, although...
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Warspot Article: Study of the T-34-85 in the Korean War
Even though the US managed to obtain two T-34 tanks during WWII, they missed their chance to get a T-34-85. This was remedied during the Korean War. Even though the tank that was recovered was...
View ArticleChristie's Payment
"June 15th, 1930#15E/249sDirectorate of Mechanization and MotorizationRE: Christie tanksAmtorg informs us by telegraph that the Christie company reports 75% completion and thus requests a payment of...
View ArticleArmy Trials
"General Staff of the Worker and Peasant Red ArmyFebruary 17th, 1937#57198sTo:Commander of the Leningrad Military District, Army Commander 1st Class comrade ShaposhnikovChief of Ordnance and Technology...
View ArticleSurvivability
"Award OrderName: Stepanov, Konstantin IvanovichRank: Guards Junior Lieutenant Position: Tank commander, 14th Guards Independent Motorcycle Battalionis nominated for the Order of the Red Banner.Year of...
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Dead End on Wheels
The 1930s were a time of experiments in the field of armoured vehicles. Some of these experiments were successful, some not so much. Some tanks passed trials and were even accepted into service, but...
View ArticleVideo: Designing the T-34 Q&A
This is a slightly different type of video from the previous ones. Instead of focusing on just one topic for the whole duration, I answer various questions from readers of Designing the T-34. Questions...
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Warspot Article: Tiger Killers
A lot of post-war discussion of Tiger tanks revolved around how difficult they were to destroy and how thick their armour was. However, the reaction to the discovery of Tiger tanks wasn't anywhere as...
View ArticleBuying Christies
"Report on the situation with Christie tanks in the USADecember 14th, 1931I first visited Christie's workshop in early June of this year (after arriving from Detroit upon receipt of the first batch of...
View ArticleCross-Examination
The further down the chain of command you go, the harder it is to find a good representation of battlefield events from both sides. It's an absolute rarity at the tactical level, which makes this...
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Big Chungus
The final report covering the history of development at the Uralmash factory during the Great Patriotic War dwells little on their failures, but at least mentions them briefly."U-19This was an SPG...
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The Red Army's Most Numerous SPG
The SU-12 was accepted into service with the Red Army on December 2nd, 1942. It was a good design with a fatal flaw: the parallel placement of its engines. This layout was the SPG's Achilles' heel. The...
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Warspot Article: The Most American Sherman
Of the many varieties of Sherman tanks that fought in many different armies all over the world in WWII, the M4A3 was an exception. Only the US used this tank in combat, and the most anyone else could...
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