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Finland's "Elephant Gun"
Many nations searched for effective anti-tank weapons in the interbellum years. One of the most popular countermeasures was the anti-tank rifle. These rifles ranging in caliber from 7.92 to 20 mm were...
View ArticleIS-4 Acceptance
"Order of the Minister of Transport Machinebuilding of the USSR #122ssMoscowMay 4th, 1946Council of Ministers decree #961-403ss issued on April 29th, 1946, approved the proposal of the Minister of...
View ArticleMine Rollers
"Order of the People's Commissariat of Defense #489sMoscowJuly 3rd, 1942To complete the design of the mine rollers, I order that:Chief engineer of the Kirov factory comrade Makhonin and director of...
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A Questionable Finish
The American tank industry finished WW2 in a strange position. On one hand, the Americans achieved an impressive amount. Starting the war with a few hundred light tanks and a few dozen medium ones, the...
View ArticleAquino Tank Weekend 2021: Leopard Tank Battle
A highlight of every Aquino Tank Weekend is the tank duel between two Leopard tanks. The vehicles drive around the Tank Arena to get a favourable position and fire on each other with simulated...
View ArticleLend Lease Review
"April 17th, 1943English Mk.II Matilda and Mk.III Valentine tanks have been used in the Great Patriotic War as a part of:Independent tank brigades and battalions where they were used alongside...
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The Third Reich's Last Tanks
German tank building was in a difficult state towards the end of WW2. The issue wasn't just in factories damaged by bombers, loss of significant territories, and shortages of resources. The...
View ArticleVideo: How to Kill a T-34
The T-34 was famously tough to destroy in the summer of 1941, and the 88 mm Flak gun was far from the panacea that it is often presented as. The Germans developed less flashy but more reliable ways of...
View ArticleAmerican Review
"Materials from the USA War Department describing Soviet T-70, T-34, KV-1, and KV-2 tanksTo the Chief of Staff of the Armoured and Motorized Forces, Major General of the Tank Forces comrade SalminovI...
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Extra Life 2021
I'm doing Extra Life again this year! For those of you who didn't have a chance to check it out last year, I'm going to be streaming games and answering tank related questions starting at noon tomorrow...
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Mobile American Howitzer
The American army had a relatively small amount of armoured vehicles on hand at the start of WWII. Just over two years of neutrality proved enough to fully prepare for war. The American army had an...
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The Zenith of AA Machine Guns
The USSR began working on the issues of protecting armoured vehicles from air attack in the early 1930s. The first plans were to create specialized self propelled anti-aircraft guns, but work on these...
View ArticleArmoured Long Livers
"Order of the Minister of the Armed Forces to the Commander of the Armoured and Mechanized Forces, Marshal of the Armoured Forces P.S. Rybalko on using unneeded armoured vehicles and spare parts for...
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Big Self Propelled Caliber
Unlike SPGs armed with light or medium caliber guns, the British and Americans had a harder time with heavier weapons. This is strange, since SPGs were initially envisioned to mechanize heavy...
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Warspot Article: T-34 on Tour
The British received a lot from the USSR during the war, including raw materials and samples of vehicles and technology. A T-34 tank was one such sample. The tank sent in 1943 was not the latest in...
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The Last 76 mm Hole Punch
Armament and vehicles become obsolete quickly in war. This is caused by rapid development of both new types of weapons and defenses. This can be seen in the history of WW2. It's easy to see progress if...
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The Most Numerous Heavy SPG
Soviet heavy SPGs were initially designed to combat fortifications. When the war came, there turned out to be a much larger variety of targets for them. Wartime heavy SPGs were very different from what...
View ArticleKV-1S Planetary Turning Mechanism
"January 7th, 1943In October and November of 1942 factory #100 developed and built a planetary turning mechanism designed by Engineer Lieutenant-Colonel A.I. Blagonravov. The report on the trials...
View ArticleExtra Ammo
"July 29th, 1944#522883Experience in combat showed that the amount of ammunition carried in the T-34-85 (56 rounds) and IS-2 (28 rounds) is insufficient.The NIBT Proving Grounds determined that it is...
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Once More on a New Chassis
Even though American self propelled artillery lay dormant for a long time, the Americans were the first nation to enter the war with an existing SPG. This was the GMC T12, built on a halftrack chassis....
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