Tanks

The first ideas of tanks came from farming vehicles that could drive through tough terrain easily by using caterpillar tracks. Soldiers in WW1 on the Western Front would charge out of the trenches, tens of thousands would be killed just to gain a few hundred yards, this type of warfare could be described as suicide. Other countries had armored vehicles that could cross ‘normal terrain’, but they could not cope with trenches. By 1915, agreement was made what the weapon should be. In the development of Little Willie, the first successful tank prototype in history, Big Willie also known as The British Mark Tanks were produced. They were introduced in 1916, but they were slow and not all that efficient. The crew inside would pass out within an hour of being inside the tank, this called for a new design.

The Beginning

Rodolphe Ernst-Metzmaier designed the Renault FT, encouraged by the car designer Louis Renault. The Renault FT or FT-17 had a fully rotational turret mounted on the top of the hull, it had an engine at the back and driver at the front. This tank is far better than other tanks from the period which are no more than armoured boxes. The French tank corps leader, General Jean-Baptiste Eugène Estienne supported light tanks. So it was put into mass production. 3,694 were constructed by French factories with 3,177 going to the French Army, 514 to the US Army, and 3 to the Italians. This tank first entered combat on May 31, 1918, at Foret de Retz, aiding the 10th Army in slowing the German drive on Paris. This tank was a huge success, used in WW1. This tank had variants made from Italy, U.S.A., China, Japan, Russia, Germany and more countries. This tank was used by France in beginning of WW2, but used as a training vehicle by The U.K. and U.S.A. From there on it was an arms race from all countries.

Revolution

Many tanks were produced from countries around the World in WW2. In WW2,Russia and U.S.A. mass produced Tanks, Russia with 106,000 and America with 102,000. One of Russia's tanks produced in WW2, The T-34, was still in service in at least 27 countries in 1996. Britain produced a massive amount for their size, nearing 50,000. Germany produced slightly more than Britain, but Germany had mainly less reliable but more powerful tanks, which broke down often but could easily take out allied tanks. With different types of tanks such as Lights which are faster, but with low powered guns and little armor, Medium Tanks with have medium speed, armor and guns, Heavy Tanks with thick armor and powerful guns, but low speed and Tank Destroyers with a mix of speed, armor but powerful guns. Most Tank Destroyers do not have turrets, to mount large guns which are more powerful to take out tanks and to have thicker frontal armor, unlike other tanks which mainly take out enemy infantry.

Arms Race

The Landkreuzer P. 1500 Monster was a Super Heavy tank/artillery design, to extreme proportions. It was supposed to be used as a weapon to destroy the main forts at the French Magiot Line. But it was too late and was never built. So the Schwerer Gustav was, a super artillery design, was used a few times against the Soviet Union in Russia, it was so big it had to be transported by railroad, and could be dismantled. The barrel length on the gun was 32.5 metres long. Its ammunition could be fired 42km and it weighed 4.8 tonnes. Its High Explosive rounds could create a crater 9.1 m wide and 9.1 m deep. It took 250 crew to assemble the gun in 54 hours, 2,500 to lay track and dig embankments. It had two Flak battalions to protect the gun from air attack. In all two were built and they weighed 1,350 tonnes, and its gun was 800mm wide. They were destroyed in 1945 to prevent Soviet Capture. These were not really tanks, but large artillery guns, the Landkreuzer P. 1000 Ratte was the largest tank ever designed, and was never built.

The Largest

NZ and Australia had really never produced any tanks. In 1937 it was decided a tank should be built, so it was. The Bob Semple tank, named after Robert Bob Semple, a NZ Public Works Minister. The tractor tank could have “tank” structure bolted on in a few hours. Designed and built without formal plans or blueprints, it had many design flaws and practical difficulties, and was never put into mass production or used in combat. Despite this, it has become something of an icon of the New Zealand 'do it yourself' mentality. Its purpose was to be used in case of a Japanese invasion. The tank was 25.4 tonnes and the gun was inaccurate, it was slow at 24km/h and had to stop for gear changes unless it was going down hill. The idea was discarded after the tanks were despised by the public. In the end, due to their impracticality, the tanks were rejected for use by the NZ Army, dismantled, and restored to their previous state as tractors. This was one of only two tanks produced by NZ, and the other was the Schofield tank, also a sort of failure. NZ used tank from the U.S.A. during WWII.

New Zealand

You may think that today tanks would not be around and have no use due to new weaponry. But tanks are still produced and are in service in places like Iraq and Syria. Tanks from WW1 and WW2 still survive in museums, even the very first tank ,Little Willie. Even a model was made of Leonardo Di Vinci’s design.

Today

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Tank Quiz

Tank Quiz

Athletes

Cars that could drive on roads Farming vehicles that could cross tough terrain

Soldiers in the war

Where did the first idea of a Tank come from?

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Little Willie

Big WillieFat Willie

Slow Willie

What was the first successful Tank prototype called?

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U.S.A.

ChinaEngland

Germany

Which country produced the first successful Tank?

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Bob Semple

Adolf HitlerLouis Renault

Winston Churchill

Who built/designed the Renault FT?

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Dump Truck

Failure TankBob Semple Tank

Tractor Tank

What was New Zealand’s Tank called?

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IS

KV-2T-34

T-150

What was Russia's most famous tank during WW2?

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Tank Quiz

800km

800m 800mm

800cm

How wide was the Schwerer Gustav’s gun

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Tank Quiz

To make the handling better

Because they look better To drive faster

To mount more powerful guns and to have thicker frontal amour

Why don’t most tank destroyers have turrets?

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