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From the Vault: British Report on Panzer II
Tanks of World War II – Episode 7: Renault R-
April 20, 2018 by tankandafvnews Leave a Comment
35 and Hotchkiss H-35
November 29, 2018 By tankandafvnews 1
We recently received images of a document by the British Department of Tank Design from early
Comment
1943 showing the results of tests they performed on a captured German Panzer II.  The goal of the
tests were to obtain information on the reliability and performance of the German tank, which was
captured in Libya.  The report notes that the tank had been put through a good bit of use before
Tanks of World War II – Episode 6: Char D1,
being captured, with the odometer showing over 7000 miles.  Despite the condition of the vehicle,
D2 and FCM 36
the report notes that “the machine behaved extremely well and little serious mechanical trouble August 31, 2018 By tankandafvnews Leave a
was experienced.”  This is an eleven page document, the individual pages can be viewed in the Comment
image gallery below.

Tanks of World War II – Episode 5: Renault FT

August 7, 2018 By tankandafvnews Leave a
Comment

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Tanks of World War II – Episode 4: Panzer II

July 11, 2018 By tankandafvnews 1 Comment

Tanks of World War II – Episode 3: 7TP

June 21, 2018 By tankandafvnews 1
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Book Review: Ostfront Panzers 2

The Tanks of World War II – Episode 14:

Filed Under: From the Vault, Modern Vehicle News Tagged With: Panzer II Panzer III

The Tanks of World War II – Episode 13:

Panzer 38 (t)
ARDEC Report on 76MM Gun M1A1 and M1A2 The Tanks of World War II – Episode 12:
March 2, 2018 by tankandafvnews Leave a Comment Panzer 35 (t)

For those looking for a detailed report on the effectiveness of US The Tanks of World War II – Episode 11:
76mm tank guns, check out this new technical report from ARDEC, Char 2C
the U.S. Army Armament Research, Development and Engineering
Center.  Released in January of 2018, this document is a 58 page
PDF and is a rather thorough examination of the topic.  Download ARCHIVES
the report here.
September 2021

Report Abstract: March 2021

February 2021
This report provides an analysis of the U.S. anti-tank technology during World War II.
January 2021
A ballistic analysis is used to corroborate the battlefield history and gain an
understanding of the physical and technological factors that spurred the development October 2019
of the M1 series 76-mm Gun and family of ammunition.
March 2019
The technical manual (TM) 9-1907 was published 23 September 1944, but it was
November 2018
missing performance data for the 76-mm hyper-velocity, armor-piercing (HVAP) shell
and any information for performance of the U.S. anti-tank capabilities against the October 2018

German Panther tank. Battle history indicates there was a technological capability gap September 2018
against upgraded Panzer armor. This report attempts to use hand calculations and
modeling and August 2018

simulation (PRODAS) to fill in the information that is missing in TM 9-1907. The July 2018
analysis offers the reader a greater engineering comprehension of the challenges faced
between June 1944 and May 1945 and the circumstances necessitating the rapid June 2018

fielding of the 76-mm HVAP shell after German capability upgrades were encountered May 2018
in the European Theater of Operations from Normandy to the Battle of the Bulge (June
to December 1944). April 2018

March 2018

Filed Under: From the Vault Tagged With: 76mm, ardec, tank gun, WWII February 2018

January 2018

From the Vault: French Super Light Tank

December 2017

November 2017
November 26, 2017 by tankandafvnews 1 Comment
October 2017
Here is a two page article from the Jan-Feb 1963 issue of ARMOR magazine that takes a look at the
French ELC light tank project.  This vehicle never entered serial production and it does not appear September 2017

that much information has been published about this odd little vehicle in English (the wikipedia August 2017
page for this vehicle references mostly foriegn language sources.)  This vehilce is roughly
comparable in time frame, role and mission to the US M56 Scorpion and M50 Ontos.  Click on the July 2017

images below to view the article page. June 2017

May 2017

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January 2017

December 2016

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Filed Under: From the Vault Tagged With: Armor magazine, ELC tank, french tank
February 2016

January 2016

From the Vault: The Rarden Cannon December 2015

September 8, 2017 by tankandafvnews 1 Comment
November 2015

Today we present an article from the Jan-Feb 1974 issue of ARMOR magazine looking at the British October 2015
Rarden cannon.  The Rarden gun was introduced in the early 1970’s and  would go on to be one of
the most important pieces of ordnance in British armored formations, being the primary September 2015

armament of the FV510 Warrior IFV, as well as reconnaissance vehicles Fox, Scimitar and Sabre. August 2015
The author of this piece, F. W. A. Hobart, is known primarily as a writer of books on small arms.
While still in service with UK forces, the Rarden is considered outdated and is slated to be replaced July 2015

by a 40mm weapon.  The article is posted below as individual images.  For those wanting to view June 2015
the Jan-Feb 1974 issue of ARMOR, click here.
May 2015

April 2015

March 2015

February 2015

January 2015

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Filed Under: From the Vault Tagged With: FV510, rarden, UK tank
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From the Vault: Tank E ectiveness: Conqueror, Conway
and Charioteer
TankNutDave.com

Technical Virtue
September 6, 2017 by tankandafvnews 3 Comments
The AFV Database
Fans of British early Cold War armor may find this item entertaining.  Sent to us by author and
researcher P. M. Knight (see his excellent histories of WWII British armor here), this is an archival The Blueprints.com

document from the British Army Operational Research Group.  The report is dated June of 1954. The Sherman Tank
The topic of the report is the combat effectiveness of the Conqueror, Conway and Charioteer
tanks.  As might be guessed, this report is pretty theoretical since these vehicles never saw combat. TIger I information Center

We take these sorts of reports with a grain of salt, especially when they come to the conclusion Toadman's Tank Pictures
that the Charioteer has “an effectiveness of unity against this Russian tank (the IS-3)”.
War Wheels
The report is posted below as a series of pictures.  We have also posted the images as a PDF that
wwiivehicles.com
can be downloaded here.

CONTACT INFO

tanksonthebrain@gmail.com

Filed Under: From the Vault Tagged With: Charioteer tank, conqueror tank, conway tank

From the Vault: General Patton and the Sherman gun debate

September 2, 2017 by tankandafvnews 1 Comment

One of the most enduring discussions regarding WWII armor revolves around the 75mm gun of the
M4 Sherman tank.  Was it good enough?  Should the US Army had replaced it sooner with the
76mm gun?  While browsing through some old issues of ARMOR  magazine, we found this letter to
the editor that we thought was worth sharing.  Written by Colonel George Eddy JR, son of Brigadier
General George G. Eddy, he relates how his father got into an argument with General Patton over
the 75mm gun issue.  This letter appeared in the March-April 1974 issue of ARMOR and it raises a
few questions.  First, it must be acknowledged that this is second hand information.  Obviously,
George Eddy Jr. was not a witness to this event.  As far as we know, there was not much
“discontent” with the M4 after the combat experiences in North Africa.  We would be curious to
know if there is any other record of this incident.  It’s worth pointing out that General George Eddy
should not be confused with the more well known WWII XII Corps commander General Manton S.
Eddy.

Filed Under: From the Vault Tagged With: 75mm gun, General Patton, Sherman tank, World War II

From the Vault: The Turtle Series of Armored Vehicles

July 10, 2017 by tankandafvnews Leave a Comment

From the January-February 1965 issue of ARMOR come this rather intriguing article by the late
Robert Icks concerning a proposed series of vehicles called the Turtle Series by the NDRC.  The
NDRC (National Defense Research Committee) was set up during WWII to promote and coordinate
scientific research related to defense technology.  Some of the most successful programs they
helped fund include the Manhattan Project, the DUKW, the proximity fuze and radar technology.  It
seems they also proposed a series of tank designs, none of which ever got beyond the mockup
stage.  Click on the page images below to read the full article.

Filed Under: From the Vault Tagged With: NDRC, Robert Icks, turtle tanks, WWII tanks

From the Vault: Korea’s Ridge Running Tankers

July 9, 2017 by tankandafvnews Leave a Comment

While the Sherman tank is

so closely associated with
the Second World War, it’s
sometimes overlooked that
these vehicles also served
the US Army in a very
different conflict, the
Korean War.  This article
from the May-June 1953
issue of ARMOR provides an
account by a First
Lieutenant who recounts
how Sherman tank crews in
Korea had to acclimate their
tactics and vehicles to
fighting a static war in mountainous terrain.  One thing we found rather interesting in this article
was the mention that one of the Easy Eight Sherman tanks was equipped with twin .50 cal machine
guns on the roof and one in the hull replacing the .30 cal machine gun.  A picture of the vehicle
with the twin .50 cal guns is included in the article.  If any other photographic evidence of this
particular vehicle exists, we would love to see it.

Click on the page images below to view them in full size.

Filed Under: From the Vault, Modern Vehicle News Tagged With: Korean war, Sherman tank

From the Vault: Allison Transmission Newsletters

June 19, 2017 by tankandafvnews Leave a Comment

World of Tanks forum member Volketten shared with us a link to a digital library containing old
newsletters from Allison Transmission company.  In regards to tanks and armored vehicles, Allison
is primarily known for the CD-850 series transmission found in the Patton and M60 tanks and the
X-1100 transmission of the Abrams tank.  We thought these newsletters might be of interest to
anyone that had family that worked at Allison or is curious about the history of the corporation.
View the full library here.

We have created a gallery below of the 1952 AllisoNews Special Edition focusing on military
transmissions.

Filed Under: From the Vault Tagged With: Allison, CD-500, CD-850, Transmission

From the Vault: Production video of Leopard I

June 6, 2017 by tankandafvnews Leave a Comment

Despite that fact that this video is in German, we thought the images were interesting enough even
for those that can’t understand the narration.  A 1970 video showing the production process of the
Leopard I MBT from beginning to end.

Filed Under: From the Vault Tagged With: leopard tank, tank factory