Tanks Encyclopedia

The need for a heavily armed tank was highlighted for the British Army in 1945, when the Soviet Army unveiled its newly developed heavy tank – the IS-3 – at the Berlin Victory Parade. The Armies of Britain, France, and the USA realized they had nothing to counter this new threat. Great Britain would develop the FV214 Conqueror to counter the IS-3.

Decades later, the popular online game World of Tanks (WoT) was preparing a new British tank line. Due to poor research or possibly completely intentionally, the top of the tree appeared as the Heavy Gun Tank FV215b, a fictional marriage of a FV215 chassis with the FV214 turret and gun with a fictional engine. Fortunately, Wargaming has withdrawn this fake vehicle, although they replaced it with an equally questionable one.

Article: https://tanks-encyclopedia.com/coldwa...

If you liked this video, please consider donating on Patreon or Paypal!

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/tankartfund

Paypal: https://www.paypal.me/tankartfund

Our website: http://www.tanks-encyclopedia.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tanksencyclo...

Email: [email protected]

An article by Mark Nash

Video mounted by Jim Zawacki

Audio edited by Kraiger

Voicing by Stan Lucian

The Decision of the British War Office to choose the Cruiser and Infantry Tank dichotomy as the guiding principle in their tank development in the mid-1930’s would have no small impact on the way in which the British Army fought the Second World War. The first tangible example of this change in course was the A9 Cruiser Mark I, an unreliable and haphazard vehicle which to a degree characterizes the scramble to adapt which the British Army undertook in the early stages of the War. The A9 Cruiser would influence British Tank design across the whole period, and despite its very appearance looking reminiscent of a prototype, which really it should have been, it made its way to the battlefield nonetheless.

Article: https://tanks-encyclopedia.com/ww2/gb...

If you liked this video, please consider donating on Patreon or Paypal!

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/tankartfund

Paypal: https://www.paypal.me/tankartfund

Our website: http://www.tanks-encyclopedia.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tanksencyclo...

Email: [email protected]

An article by Will Hardwick

Video mounted by Big Turn: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6Dt...

Audio edited by Kraiger

Voicing by Stan Lucian

The Tiger tank is undoubtedly one of the most famous tank to have ever existed, with dozens of books on the topic covering development, production, and combat. Yet, despite the fame and a lot of hyperbole related to the combat performance in particular, there is still plenty of misinformation about the tank and its variants, one of which is the existence of a ‘Bergetiger’ or Recovery Tiger variant.

In early summer 1944, a peculiar Tiger tank was captured by the Allied forces in Italy. Missing its main armament and sporting a winch and crane on top of the turret. A British intelligence summary did a short analysis of the vehicle, speculating it may have been some kind of ARV, an assumption which was taken as fact by many persons since.

Article: https://tanks-encyclopedia.com/

If you liked this video, please consider donating on Patreon or Paypal! Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/tankartfund

Paypal: https://www.paypal.me/tankartfund

Our website: http://www.tanks-encyclopedia.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tanksencyclo...

Email: [email protected]

An article by Andrew Hills

Video mounted by Alexe 'Carpaticus' Pavel

Audio edited by Kraiger

Voicing by Stan Lucian

The Centauro II MGS 120/105 is a wheeled tank destroyer built by the Consortium IVECO OTO-Melara (CIO). It will be delivered to the Italian Army, or Esercito Italiano (EI), with the name “B2 Centauro”. It is the evolution of the B1 Centauro, which was the first purposely built tank hunter 8×8 armored car in the world, armed with a 105 mm NATO ammunition-compliant cannon.

Article: https://tanks-encyclopedia.com/b2-cen...

If you liked this video, please consider donating on Patreon or Paypal! Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/tankartfund Paypal: https://www.paypal.me/tankartfund

Our website: http://www.tanks-encyclopedia.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tanksencyclo...

Email: [email protected]

An article by Arturo Gusti

Video mounted by Louis Mendoza

Audio edited by Gabethetanker

Voicing by Stan Lucian

Even before the Second World War, the famous German tank commander Heinz Guderian had predicted the need for highly mobile self-propelled anti-tank vehicles, later known as Panzerjäger or Jagdpanzer (tank destroyer or hunter). However, in the early years of the war, beside the 4.7 cm PaK (t) (Sfl) auf Pz.Kpfw. I ohne turm, which was in essence just a 4.7 cm PaK (t) gun mounted on a modified Panzer I Ausf.B tank hull, the Germans did little to develop such vehicles. During the invasion of the Soviet Union, the Wehrmacht encountered the T-34 and KV series tanks, which they had trouble dealing with effectively. Fortunately for the Germans, they also managed to capture large numbers of the 7.62 cm field gun (M1936) which had good anti-tank firepower. This gun was immediately put to use by the German ground forces, but mobility was an issue, so an idea appeared to install this gun on the Panzer II tank chassis in order to increase its mobility. The new vehicle belonged to a series of vehicles generally known today as the ‘Marder’ (Marten).

Article: https://tanks-encyclopedia.com/ww2/na...

If you liked this video, please consider donating on Patreon or Paypal!

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/tankartfund

Paypal: https://www.paypal.me/tankartfund

Our website: http://www.tanks-encyclopedia.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tanksencyclo...

Email: [email protected]

An article by Marko Pantelic

Video mounted by Jim Zawacki

Audio edited by Kraiger

Voicing by Nathaniel McDonald

After designing and building the prototypes of the Tanque Argentino Mediano (TAM) for Argentina, Thyssen-Henschel decided to improve the vehicle with more modern equipment, while maintaining almost the same exterior appearance. The resulting vehicle, the TH-301, was intended for the export market, though it was unable to attract any foreign interest.

Article: https://tanks-encyclopedia.com/coldwa...

If you liked this video, please consider donating on Patreon or Paypal! Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/tankartfund

Paypal: https://www.paypal.me/tankartfund

Our website: http://www.tanks-encyclopedia.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tanksencyclo...

Email: [email protected]

An article by Gareth Lynn Montes

Video mounted by Big Turn: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6Dt...

Audio edited by Kraiger

Voicing by Brian Gaydos

At 0400 hours on 16th December, 1944, men of the German 18th Volksgrenadier Division began to leave their positions and make their way towards the American lines. This moment marked the beginning of the famous Battle of the Bulge, Germany’s last major offensive on the Western Front in World War II. Out of this grand battle would come a too-good-to-be-true story symbolic of the stiff American resistance put up against the German offensive, that of how an M8 Greyhound armored car destroyed a Tiger I heavy tank.

Article: https://tanks-encyclopedia.com/ww2-gr...

If you liked this video, please consider donating on Patreon or Paypal! Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/tankartfund

Paypal: https://www.paypal.me/tankartfund

Our website: http://www.tanks-encyclopedia.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tanksencyclo...

Email: [email protected]

An article by Louis Mendoza

Video mounted by Louis Mendoza

Audio edited by Kraiger

Voicing by Stan Lucian

The Kingdom of Italy fought on the side of the Allied powers of France and Great Britain in World War 1. Their battlefields were mostly different to the open trench covered battlefields of northern France and Belgium, however. Any tank for Italian use would have to not only fill the need to fight in very mountainous terrain but also in colonial wars in Africa.

In a contract dated 13th October 1915 the Fiat company had already been tasked by Major General Giulio Martini with the design of a 40-tonne armored vehicle with a 65mm gun in the turret and armor superior to an armored car. The Fiat design, from the pen of Carlo Cavalli (a technical director at Fiat) and Giulio Cesare Cappa (formerly a car designer at Aquila, famous for racing cars) was finally ready in January 1917. This design under the original contract was the ‘Automobile blindata d’assalto tipo 2000' and this design from Fiat was instead to now be commonly known as the ‘Fiat 2000’.

Article: https://tanks-encyclopedia.com/ww1/it...

If you liked this video, please consider donating on Patreon or Paypal! Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/tankartfund

Paypal: https://www.paypal.me/tankartfund

Our website: http://www.tanks-encyclopedia.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tanksencyclo...

Email: [email protected]

An article by Andrew Hills

Video mounted by Kraiger

Audio edited by Kraiger

Voicing by Nathaniel McDonald

Throughout the 1950’s, US tank designers were looking at every aspect of the problems of tank technology, from armor to propulsion and armament. Whereas a lot of development had made great strides during this time in other areas, armor was still fundamentally based upon large steel castings. Various ideas though had been tried, including compositions with glass in armor cavities and even work on bar armor to defeat incoming projectiles and the increasingly common HEAT-type warheads.

By the early 1960’s though, even with a new generation of Main Battle Tanks (MBTs) at hand, the US was short of a light modern tank which was air-transportable, amphibious, well armed, and well protected. Obviously, this is a holy grail of tank design, light-enough weight to be air-transportable but with enough armor protection to be useful in direct battle rather than just scouting or skirmish roles. The tank which was to become the M551 Sheridan was in development but this was not the only possible light tank in development at the time. Another design from the Forsyth brothers was also being planned, and this vehicle was a technological step well ahead of anything the Sheridan offered. The first glimpse of this vehicle came in a competition held by the US Armor Association in 1962, with an entry deadline of August that year.

Article: https://tanks-encyclopedia.com/coldwa...

If you liked this video, please consider donating on Patreon or Paypal! Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/tankartfund

Paypal: https://www.paypal.me/tankartfund

Our website: http://www.tanks-encyclopedia.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tanksencyclo...

Email: [email protected]

An article by Andrew Hills

Video mounted by Alexe 'Carpaticus' Pavel

Audio edited by Kraiger

Voicing by Stan Lucian

The respective officials knew that they had nothing in their arsenal capable of potentially combatting the IS-3 that was now in service with an increasingly aggressive USSR. In response, the militaries of these countries began to develop heavy tanks that - they hoped - would be able to combat the IS-3. The United States would develop the M103 heavy tank, while the French experimented with the AMX-50. Britain went in a different doctrinal direction and created a ‘Heavy Gun Tank’. This was a uniquely British designation that was not governed by weight, but the size of the gun. This vehicle was based on the experimental FV200 ‘Universal Tank’ chassis and given the official and somewhat long-winded title of ‘Tank, Heavy No. 1, 120 mm Gun, FV214’. This vehicle would be better known as the ‘Conqueror’.

What followed was the FV215. With its monstrous, 183 mm gun, this vehicle has become something of a legend among enthusiasts of a particular age, largely due to a popular video game. Unfortunately, this has meant a number of falsehoods have been spread about the vehicle. This article will highlight the truth behind this uniquely British vehicle.

Article: https://tanks-encyclopedia.com/cold-w...

If you liked this video, please consider donating on Patreon or Paypal! Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/tankartfund

Paypal: https://www.paypal.me/tankartfund

Our website: http://www.tanks-encyclopedia.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tanksencyclo...

Email: [email protected]

An article by Mark Nash

Video mounted by Jim Zawacki

Audio edited by Kraiger

Voicing by Brian Gaydos