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Eight Years of Tank Archives
Today, this blog turns eight years old! Over the years I've made 2345 posts which received 5,747,840 views, almost a million of which came in the last year alone. Unfortunately, changes to the Blogger...
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The USSR's Hungriest Tank
Comparative trials of four Soviet tanks were conducted in the summer and fall of 1976 according to order of the Minister of Defense of the USSR D.F. Ustinov titled "On military trials of tanks" issued...
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"USSR NKOCommander of Armoured and Mechanized Forces of the Red ARmyJuly 19th, 1944#511127Trials were held to establish the possibility of increasing the amount of ammunition carried in SPGs, which...
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 "To Commanders of Army Artillery and Commanders of Tank ArmiesUSSR NKOMain Artillery Directorate of the Red ArmyArtillery CommitteeDecember 25th, 1943#800868MoscowThe Main Artillery Directorate of the...
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Spaced Armour
I previously posted some photos from trials of the armour skirts of a captured Pz.Kpfw.III Ausf.N tank. It turned out that the skirts themselves were not very difficult to penetrate, but they...
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Extra Protection
The tendency to increase armour protection was one of the most notable features of the German tank building school. No nation in the world increased protection without a radical change to the chassis....
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 "Order to units of the Leningrad Front #032Active armySeptember 16th, 1941I assigned one tank battalion each (84th and 107th Independent Tank Battalions) to the Slutsk-Kolpino Fortified Region and the...
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Snow "Shoes"
The tank was born on the battlefields of WWI where it had to combat not only enemy fortifications, but also mud. Tanks were often lost not from enemy fire, but from being stuck on cross country...
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King Tiger Battlefield Penetration Trials
Field penetration trials weren't an unusual phenomenon during WWII. Soldiers often wanted to look with their own eyes at what their own weapons can do against the enemy, plus the sight of blowing holes...
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Warspot Article: American Generals in King George's Court
When telling the story of American tanks in British service, one usually starts with the tanks arriving in North Africa. However, any brand new tank is going to be rough around the edges. The British...
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The Allies' View of the Maus
VE Day marked not only the defeat of Germany, but the Allies' ability to get their hands on German tank developments. A hunt for trophies and even German arms designers began. Various nations ended up...
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Big Gun, Small Turret
 "The 85 mm S-53 tank gun is installed in the regular T-34 turret. The stock turret is 130-150 mm narrower than the one housing the LB-1 gun and the turret bustle is smaller, fitting just 5 rounds...
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 "November 28th, 1945To the Chief of the Main Artillery Directorate of the Red Army, comrade N.D. YakovlevPeople's Commissar of Armament comrade D.F. UstinovPeople's Commissar of Ammunition comrade...
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Colossus on Clay Feet
The peace treaty between France and Germany signed on June 22nd, 1940, meant the defeat of France in WWII. The fact that France was only able to hold on against Germany for 40 days shocked many. France...
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Warspot Article: Landships Left in Port
A number of designers and companies involved in tank development during WWI were brought back for WWII as the Special Vehicle Design Committee or "The Old Gang" (TOG). The TOG developed a very...
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Wider or Longer?
 "Based on results of artillery trials of an IS-122 SPG in the amount of 438 shots (222 supercharged) the Gorohovets ANIOP makes the following conclusions:The 122 mm IS-122 self propelled gun passed...
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On the Way to the Pershing
There is a rule in tank development, especially in wartime: immediately start designing the replacement for the tank you just built. The Americans had to follow this rule in WWII. The situation with...
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85 mm Gun Upgrade
 "In order to make loading of the S-31 tank gun in the KV-1S and IS-1 tanks comfortable, the following must be done:Increase the distance from the bore axis to the roof to 470 mm (280 mm on the IS-1)...
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Book Review: Japanese Tanks and Armoured Warfare 1932-45 A Military and...
Even as an avid military history enthusiast, I don't come across discussion of Japanese tank warfare very often. This is not very surprising: people's imagination is captured by armoured titans like...
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American Electro-tank
The use of multiple engines, suspensions, and transmissions on one type of tank was a unique feature of American tank building. The same thing happened with the prospective replacement of the Medium...
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