thedrifter
02-08-09, 07:43 AM
Tanks Alot!
(The history of the armored tank- Part One)
A tank is a tracked, armoured fighting vehicle designed for front-line combat which combines operational mobility and tactical offensive and defensive capabilities. Firepower is normally provided by a large-calibre main gun in a rotating turret and secondary machine guns, while heavy armour and all-terrain mobility provide protection for the tank and its crew, allowing it to perform all primary tasks of the armoured troops on the battlefield.
Tanks were first manufactured during World War I in an effort to break the bloody deadlock of trench warfare. Originally made in the english city of Lincoln, their name was originally a shortened version of their code name ‘Water Carrier Mesopotamia’. The shortened name was fashioned by the staff of Ruston’s where they were first made. The British Army was the first to field a vehicle that combined three key characteristics: mobility over barbed wire and rough terrain, armour to withstand small arms fire and shrapnel, and the firepower required to suppress or destroy machine gun nests and pillboxes. Despite some success and a significant psychological effect on the German infantry, "the tank in 1918 was not a war-winning weapon."
Interwar developments culminated in the blitzkrieg employed by the German Wehrmacht during World War II and the contribution of the panzers to this doctrine. Hard lessons learned by the Allies during World War II cemented the reputation of the tank, appropriately employed in combined arms forces, as "indispensable to success in both tactical and strategic terms." Today, tanks seldom operate alone, being organised into armoured units and operating in combined-arms formations. Despite their apparent invulnerability, without support, tanks are vulnerable to anti-tank artillery, helicopters and aircraft, enemy tanks, anti-tank and improvised mines, and (at close range or in urban environments) infantry.
Due to its formidable capabilities and versatility the battle tank is generally considered a key component of modern armies, but recent thinking has challenged the need for such powerful and expensive weaponry in a period characterised by unconventional and asymmetric warfare. Ongoing research and development attempts to equip the tank to meet the challenges of the 21st century.
Apart from Leonardo da Vinci’s drawing of a round, tank like armoured wagon, the first description of a tank-like vehicle and its usefulness in trench warfare is found in an H.G. Wells short story, "The Land Ironclads", in the Strand Magazine, December 1903. Some eight years later, in 1911, the first two practical tank designs were developed independently by Austrian engineering officer Günther Burstyn and Australian civil engineer Lancelot de Mole.
Burstyn designed his tank with a sprung suspension and armed with a single gun located in a revolving turret - a design quite similar to modern tanks - but he was unable to design a track that could carry the weight of the vehicle and propel it at reasonable speed. He submitted his idea of a "land torpedo boat" to the Military Technical Committee in Vienna but the idea was rejected as lacking sufficient merit; he did, however manage to patent his invention (Zl. 252 815 DRP).
Around the same time de Mole designed “a tracked armoured vehicle” and sent his sketches to the British War Office. His idea was rejected, but after the Great War the British royal commission awarded de Mole £965 for expenses, and in 1920 he was appointed C.B.E.
Landship development, originally conducted by the British Navy under the auspices of the Landships Committee was sponsored by the First Lord of the Admiralty, Winston Churchill and proceeded through a number of prototypes, importantly among them the Little Willie, designed by William Ashbee Tritton and Walter Gordon Wilson as the first-ever completed tracked tank prototype vehicle, culminating in the Mark I tank prototype, named Mother.
The “tank” moniker was the consequence of a security strategy during development. Staff was told that the devices were to be water carriers for use in the Middle East. The workers gave the machine the logical nickname "tank" and the name stuck. The first tank to engage in battle was designated D1, a British Mark I, during the Battle of Flers-Courcellette on 15 September 1916.
In contrast to World War II, Germany fielded very few tanks during World War I, with only 15 of the A7V type being produced in Germany during the war. The first tank versus tank action took place on 24 April 1918 at Villers-Bretonneux, France, when three British Mark IVs met one German A7V.
Mechanical problems, poor mobility and piecemeal tactical deployment limited the military significance of the tank in World War I and the tank did not fulfil its promise of rendering trench warfare obsolete. Nonetheless, it was clear to military thinkers on both sides that tanks would play a significant role in future conflicts.
http://images26.fotki.com/v960/photos/2/251696/5586350/littlewillie-vi.jpg
http://images46.fotki.com/v1441/photos/2/251696/5586350/LtMarkVIAARR-vi.jpg
http://images44.fotki.com/v1406/photos/2/251696/5586350/a7v_05-vi.jpg
Ellie
(The history of the armored tank- Part One)
A tank is a tracked, armoured fighting vehicle designed for front-line combat which combines operational mobility and tactical offensive and defensive capabilities. Firepower is normally provided by a large-calibre main gun in a rotating turret and secondary machine guns, while heavy armour and all-terrain mobility provide protection for the tank and its crew, allowing it to perform all primary tasks of the armoured troops on the battlefield.
Tanks were first manufactured during World War I in an effort to break the bloody deadlock of trench warfare. Originally made in the english city of Lincoln, their name was originally a shortened version of their code name ‘Water Carrier Mesopotamia’. The shortened name was fashioned by the staff of Ruston’s where they were first made. The British Army was the first to field a vehicle that combined three key characteristics: mobility over barbed wire and rough terrain, armour to withstand small arms fire and shrapnel, and the firepower required to suppress or destroy machine gun nests and pillboxes. Despite some success and a significant psychological effect on the German infantry, "the tank in 1918 was not a war-winning weapon."
Interwar developments culminated in the blitzkrieg employed by the German Wehrmacht during World War II and the contribution of the panzers to this doctrine. Hard lessons learned by the Allies during World War II cemented the reputation of the tank, appropriately employed in combined arms forces, as "indispensable to success in both tactical and strategic terms." Today, tanks seldom operate alone, being organised into armoured units and operating in combined-arms formations. Despite their apparent invulnerability, without support, tanks are vulnerable to anti-tank artillery, helicopters and aircraft, enemy tanks, anti-tank and improvised mines, and (at close range or in urban environments) infantry.
Due to its formidable capabilities and versatility the battle tank is generally considered a key component of modern armies, but recent thinking has challenged the need for such powerful and expensive weaponry in a period characterised by unconventional and asymmetric warfare. Ongoing research and development attempts to equip the tank to meet the challenges of the 21st century.
Apart from Leonardo da Vinci’s drawing of a round, tank like armoured wagon, the first description of a tank-like vehicle and its usefulness in trench warfare is found in an H.G. Wells short story, "The Land Ironclads", in the Strand Magazine, December 1903. Some eight years later, in 1911, the first two practical tank designs were developed independently by Austrian engineering officer Günther Burstyn and Australian civil engineer Lancelot de Mole.
Burstyn designed his tank with a sprung suspension and armed with a single gun located in a revolving turret - a design quite similar to modern tanks - but he was unable to design a track that could carry the weight of the vehicle and propel it at reasonable speed. He submitted his idea of a "land torpedo boat" to the Military Technical Committee in Vienna but the idea was rejected as lacking sufficient merit; he did, however manage to patent his invention (Zl. 252 815 DRP).
Around the same time de Mole designed “a tracked armoured vehicle” and sent his sketches to the British War Office. His idea was rejected, but after the Great War the British royal commission awarded de Mole £965 for expenses, and in 1920 he was appointed C.B.E.
Landship development, originally conducted by the British Navy under the auspices of the Landships Committee was sponsored by the First Lord of the Admiralty, Winston Churchill and proceeded through a number of prototypes, importantly among them the Little Willie, designed by William Ashbee Tritton and Walter Gordon Wilson as the first-ever completed tracked tank prototype vehicle, culminating in the Mark I tank prototype, named Mother.
The “tank” moniker was the consequence of a security strategy during development. Staff was told that the devices were to be water carriers for use in the Middle East. The workers gave the machine the logical nickname "tank" and the name stuck. The first tank to engage in battle was designated D1, a British Mark I, during the Battle of Flers-Courcellette on 15 September 1916.
In contrast to World War II, Germany fielded very few tanks during World War I, with only 15 of the A7V type being produced in Germany during the war. The first tank versus tank action took place on 24 April 1918 at Villers-Bretonneux, France, when three British Mark IVs met one German A7V.
Mechanical problems, poor mobility and piecemeal tactical deployment limited the military significance of the tank in World War I and the tank did not fulfil its promise of rendering trench warfare obsolete. Nonetheless, it was clear to military thinkers on both sides that tanks would play a significant role in future conflicts.
http://images26.fotki.com/v960/photos/2/251696/5586350/littlewillie-vi.jpg
http://images46.fotki.com/v1441/photos/2/251696/5586350/LtMarkVIAARR-vi.jpg
http://images44.fotki.com/v1406/photos/2/251696/5586350/a7v_05-vi.jpg
Ellie