WW2- The Age of Tanks (Part 7)

 

The Age of Tanks

The tanks were first used by the British during the First World War(WW1). The tanks were mainly used for the purpose of crossing the battlefield under machine gun fire, to break the deadlock of trench warfare. By the end of World War 1, the French designed a tank, that would become the standard format of tanks as we know them today.

The First Modern Tank

-Renault FT-

The tank that the French designed was the Renault FT. The thing which made this tank different from others was its turret. It had a rotating gun turret mounted on top of an armored chassis, and was powered by a engine that was situated in the rear while the driver was positioned in the front of the tank. The tank's engine was able to produce around 18-35 hp(horsepower), and had a max speed of 8 km/h.

This pattern set the standard that saw tanks evolve into efficient fighting machines during the inter-war years.

-The German Panzers-

A German Panzer IV

The Germans developed a series of Panzer tank prototypes over the 1930s. They were considered to be better designed than most of the tanks of the Allies, in terms of reliability, manoeuvrability and weaponry, but it was the Blitzkrieg tactics that made them so much more effective in the fields of battle, as it enabled the Germans to avoid 1v1 tank confrontations. 

The Germans were also the first to fully equip their tanks with radio communications, which made a significant difference in the strategy. The Panzer III and the Panzer IV were the tanks used by the German army in the early years of WW2. These were relatively small tanks and were inferior to those used by the US and Russia. 

Thus in the later years of war, the Germans introduced a new medium tank in the form of the Panther, and a new heavy tank in the form of Tiger. The Panther was very effective as it offered great mobility and good firepower. It was set as the benchmark for all post-war tanks.

A German Panther

Tiger-1 tank 

-The Russian Tanks-

 A Russian KV-1

The Russians prompted the Germans to improve their tanks, because they had this tank called the T-34, which was far more superior than the panzers in the eastern front. 

It was fast, reliable, mobile and packed a very good firepower. The T-34-76 model 1943 had a 76.2mm f-34 tank gun on it, whereas the later models i.e. the T-34-85 which were built extensively in 1944 had a much bigger and powerful 85mm ZIS-S-53 tank gun which was capable of easily knocking out a Panzer IV.

Russian T-34-76 (1943)

Russian T-34-85 (1944)

-British tanks-

Britain had various Cruisers and Infantry tanks. They also had the American made Sherman tanks. Sherman tanks were very cheap to mass produce, which the Americans did best. Thus there were plenty available even though they lacked in firepower and quality. Two or Three Sherman would always win against a Panzer, even though inferior in design. In the end this was a critical factor against the Germans, as they lacked the resources to manufacture enough of their tanks, partly because their quality standards were too high.

An American made M4 Sherman

British Cruiser tank Mk V or A13 Mk III Covenanter
 

-Japanese tanks-

The Japanese had well designed tanks too, but they were not used due to geography. In-fact the Japanese kept most of their tanks in reserve, in case they had to defend their homeland, so they were never used.

The Chi models of tanks were the most advanced of the Japanese designs.

Japanese manufactured Type-4 Chi-To 

Type-3 Chi-Nu medium tank

Thank you for reading this article. Stay tuned for more war-related blogs. Subscribe to stay updated for the new posts. Make sure to read the previous parts of this series. Stay indoors and stay safe.

PEACE