The Infantry Fighting vehicle, which is effectively an armoured personnel carrier with a turret, was a concept pioneered by the West German Marder and Soviet BMP-1. The Bradley, however is fitted with a much larger turret and as a consequence only has room for six infantry passengers, compared with eight in the BMP-1 and ten in the Marder.
Of course the Bradley appeared a good fifteen years after those earlier types and as a consequence is much more sophisticated. It mounts a 25mm Bushmaster cannon in the turret alongside a co-axial machine-gun with a launcher for a pair of TOW anti-tank missiles on the side. The M2 also features weapon ports that the infantry passengers can use to fire from inside although these are absent from its companion, the M3 Cavalry Fighting Vehicle.
In its latest, uparmoured form the Bradley is a vast improvement on the original model although this, working in conjunction with M1 Abrams Main Battle Tanks saw a lot of action in the 1991 Gulf War along with its predecessor, the legendary M113 armoured personnel carrier. Bradley is powered by a 600hp Cummins diesel and requires a crew of three; driver, gunner and commander, in addition to the six soldiers who mounted and dismount through a hinged ramp at the back.

Although the Sherman tank dominated in most Allied armies until the end of the Second World War it was clear by 1944 that it was outclassed by some of the heavier German tanks. Work on an improved model began in December 1943 but it was February 1945 before some untried production models arrived in North West Europe for evaluation in action.
The Pershing was a very different tank from the Sherman. It was bigger of course but with much thicker frontal armour and a more powerful 90mm gun. More fundamental was the adoption of torsion bar suspension and a rear mounted transmission system and final drive. This set the pattern for American medium tank development for the next fifty years.
Those sample Pershings served with elements of 3rd (US) Armored Division during the final advance into Germany. They had some spectacular successes and only one dramatic failure, caused by the detonation of ammunition stowed in the turret. M26 also fought in the Korean War alongside an upgraded version, the M46 Patton, with a more powerful engine and more sophisticated transmission.
Some Pershings were exported, notably to France, Belgium and Italy, but they were soon eclipsed by the much more effective M47.

The Centurion is, arguably, one of the most successful British tanks of all time. Designed during the Second World War it embodied most of the lessons learned during that conflict but was built to face a new and potentially more dangerous threat in the tense days of the Cold War. It was, in its day, a considerable export success and it also proved to be eminently adaptable.
Centurion featured the best of wartime design, with the Rolls-Royce Meteor engine and Merritt-Brown transmission, an improved form of suspension and, in the case of the Mark III a new and highly effective gun. On the other hand it dispensed with such frills as air assisted controls - there is a distinct knack to driving it well - and any sophisticated sighting system, at least in these early versions. Gunners were trained to a high level of skill on what were very simple range-finding techniques.
Centurions first saw action during the Korean War although at one stage they all had to be withdrawn from the country to avoid the risk of falling into Chinese hands. Since then it has served many armies, fought in many wars and been improved, almost out of recognition. It was always perfectly at home in arctic climates, on desert sands or in the humid jungles of south east Asia.

The success of Soviet tanks during the Second World War was due, in particular, to two important factors. In the first place they were tough and simple to operate but, more important still, were produced in vast numbers. This policy was maintained in the post war years although the actual design of the tanks changed dramatically.
Thus the T-54, which first appeared in 1947, featured torsion bar in place of the earlier Christie suspension, a low flat hull only sloped at the front and a low profile, dome shaped turret which, nevertheless, carried an effective 100mm gun. Certainly it was crude, uncomfortable and cramped but it was simple to operate and available in such large numbers that it was exported all around the world. Not just to those countries within the immediate Soviet sphere but also to many regarded in those days as Third World.
Western experts often disparage these early Russian designs, pointing to such limitations as poor ammunition stowage and the physical effort required to operate them, but quantity offsets the former complaint and crews who have not known anything better soon adapt. If further evidence is required one only need say that these tanks, often dramatically improved, can still be found in service in many parts of the world.

Overshadowed by the heavier German tanks of the late war period earlier models, such as the Panzer III, the true workhorses of the Panzertruppen, tend to be sidelined, and yet they have a lot to tell us about German tank development in general.
The Panzer III, for example, first appeared in 1937, making it a contemporary of the early British cruiser tanks. The difference is that the German tanks proved capable of improvement, both in terms of firepower and protection, to an extent that was simply not possible with their British counterparts. By the time the ausfuhrung G came off the production line in April 1941 the design had not only stabilised into a recognisable form, it was capable of carrying increased armour and of being produced in relatively large numbers; at least 600 in the case of this version. It was also in line to be upgunned.
Early examples, which served in France in the summer of 1940, were armed with a 3.7cm gun although experience there, and earlier in Poland, had indicated that a more powerful weapon would be required. Thus from July 1941 a 5cm gun was fitted and in this form the tank saw combat in North Africa and on the Eastern Front. Subsequently many of the earlier tanks were rebuilt to accept the more powerful gun and a surprising number were still in service in 1944.

The use of massive castings to form the hulls and turrets of heavy tanks was well developed in the United States after the Second World War. It afforded tremendous structural integrity, albeit at a cost in terms of weight. Those tanks with the designation M48A3 were not newly built but reworked from the second production model, the M48A1. The conversion involved fitting the Continental AVDS diesel engine and an improved fire control system.
One distinctive feature that has not always proved popular is the large, enclosed commander’s cupola, complete with machine-gun, which looks like a small turret superimposed upon the main one. It adds substantially to the height of the tank, giving it a very prominent silhouette.
The M48A3 saw action with the United States Army and Marine Corps during the Vietnam War and in other conflicts in various parts of the world. It also formed the mainstay of many other armies, notably the West German, for many years.

If anyone, looking at the Italian Ariete main battle tank should detect some resemblance to the German Leopard this should not be surprising. OTO Melara of La Spezia, the overall contractor for the Ariete formerly supervised construction of an Italian version of the Leopard 1A2 which entered service with the Italian Army in 1974. That said, the Ariete is an entirely original Italian design worked out by OTO Melara in conjunction with Iveco – production tanks being delivered between 1995 and 2002.

The Ariete is powered by an Iveco V12 turbocharged diesel rated at 1,300 hp, driving through an automatic transmission, with a neutral turn facility. It has a reported top cruising speed of 65 km/h. Like most modern tanks Ariete employs torsion bar suspension and, like Leopard, has seven twin road wheels on each side. Details of armour thickness are not available but it is known that advanced armour covers the frontal areas and a programme to improve protection further is under development.

The Italians have developed their own 120mm smooth-bore gun for the Ariete, designed to accept the same ammunition as the Leopard 2 and M1A2 Abrams. The tank has a crew of four, the driver being located on the right side of the hull, as in Leopard, with the commander, gunner and loader in the turret. Ariete is said to weigh 54 tonnes but this will undoubtedly increase in the future.

Chieftain occupies an interesting position in the history of the tank. In a sense it was the first Main Battle Tank, but also one of the last to feature conventional armour designed to resist kinetic energy projectiles. When it first entered service, in 1966, Chieftain was regarded as a Top Secret weapon although some of its more novel features were widely advertised. The reclining driver’s seat, for example, which was supposed to reduce the overall height; the multi-fuel engine, narrow gun mounting at the front of the turret and the use of self-consuming bagged charges instead of brass shell cases.

If Chieftain had one overriding asset it was the 120mm L11A5 rifled gun which was both accurate and devastating. Against that however was poor reliability in both the engine and transmission. These flaws were gradually sorted out but by then a cloud was hanging over the tank and even when the much improved Mark 5 appeared in 1971 it was a difficult tank to sell on the export market.

The Chieftain Mark 5 had a more powerful engine and vastly better sights incorporating a laser rangefinder along with many other improvements. But for all that it never fired a shot in anger in British Army service.

The Panther is invariably described as the German answer to the Soviet T-34 which, up to a point it was. However this was not just a matter of adopting sloped armour, that had been employed on tanks and armoured cars, as well as warships, for many years. The key feature of Panther was the balance inherent in its design which gave it a better power to weight ratio and lower ground pressure than the Tiger for example.

The Ausfuhrung A was the second version of the tank and it started to appear in the summer of 1943, by which time most of the faults, endemic in any new design, had been ironed out. Its long 75mm gun was outstanding and its performance excellent although there were reservations about its armour, particularly at the sides and of course the rear. Even so in every respect but one it was vastly superior to the rough and ready T-34/76, but that one was crucial – numbers; and in the end numbers count.

Even if every Panther ever built was sent to the Eastern Front they would have been outnumbered by about ten to one by T-34s alone. But Panthers fought on at least two other fronts and the Russians were building bigger and better tanks towards the end of the war so the odds were always heavily against them. The lesson seems to be that where two armies are equally resolute it is quantity rather than quality that wins in the end.

It is virtually impossible to summarise the T-34 story, there are so many variants, so many battles and so many nations involved. Instead perhaps a brief piece about the tank’s gifted designer Mikhail Koshkin and his amazing self-sacrifice is justified. Like all Soviet sagas the evolution of the T-34 is a long and complicated tale, a mixture of politics, human nature and brilliance.

Koshkin promoted his new design in the teeth of considerable opposition but finally gained the support of Stalin who authorised work to begin at the tank factory Zavod 183, also known as the Kharkov Locomotive Works. As a result two prototype T-34 tanks were completed early in 1940. Clearly Koshkin felt that he had so much invested in the design and needed to justify Stalin’s support so he agreed to travel in one of the tanks on a test run from Kharkov to Moscow in March 1940.

It is about 1,000 kilometres from Kharkov to Moscow and the weather conditions were atrocious but the journey was completed in ten days and on arrival both tanks were driven to the Kremlin where Stalin and other senior Soviet officials could inspect them. But the journey cost Koshkin his life. He contracted pneumonia and died on 26 September 1940, aged 42. He was posthumously awarded the Order of the Red Star and USSR State Prize in 1942.

As someone has already pointed out the design of the M1 Abrams and its successors represents a dramatic change from earlier American tank designs such as the M48 and M60 for example. Not that the Americans have ever been afraid of innovative designs, you only have to think of the MBT-70.

The M1 design goes back to the early seventies and involved the use of British style Chobham armour and a Textron Lycoming gas turbine engine. M1 and M1A1 tanks took part in the First Gulf War, Operation Desert Storm. By 1988 protection had been improved by the use of depleted uranium, encased in steel and sealed within the tank. Depleted uranium is a very dense material, more normally associated with armour piercing ammunition. It is also extremely heavy so it is surprising to discover that it only adds about 2 tonnes to the overall weight of the tank. Even so its extra weight is reflected in the fact that HA stands for Heavy Armor.

M1 series tanks are in service with the United States Army, the Unites States Marine Corps and the Royal Australian Armoured Corps. Egypt also purchased the M1A1 and now produces its own version.

Not a tank but a self-propelled gun and in this case specifically a tank destroyer. The designers took advantage of the Panther’s sloping hull and by extending it upwards created a distinctive and effective shape. Already more than adequately armoured, at least at the front, the angled plate improved the effective protection dramatically. And then there was the gun, a version of the long 88mm similar to that of the even bigger King Tiger.

A turretless self-propelled gun has a number of advantages over a tank; it is easier to produce and can mount a larger gun than its turreted equivalent because it is not constrained by the size of a turret or turret ring. On the other hand it is not so easy to fight as a conventional tank because it is often necessary to swing the entire vehicle to engage a new enemy.

Impressive as it is the Jagdpanther’s influence on tank warfare was minimal. Fewer than 400 were built and they tended to suffer from mechanical problems. The conventional Panther was already nose heavy due to the weight of its frontal armour and this was exacerbated on the self-propelled version by the location of the gun. In addition constantly swinging the vehicle to engage enemy tanks placed a tremendous strain on the transmission and failures became endemic.

The Sherman must be one of the best known tanks of all time. It was built in huge numbers, saw service all around the world and over a long period. Even so it is difficult to describe a typical Sherman, there were so many variations and, inevitably, it was modified and improved. The example we are looking at is a 1944 model which embraces all the main wartime improvements.

Starting at ground level we have a new suspension system, designed to provide greater strength without increasing height. Then we have an entirely new hull shape which not only simplified production but provided increased protection while on top there is an enlarged turret and a long-barrelled 76mm gun. This last was something of a compromise, nothing like as effective as it promised to be but adequate, when improved ammunition became available. Inside the new hull and turret were roomier and improved ammunition stowage made it a lot safer. What had not changed were the reliable Ford V8 engine and the simple but tough transmission.

The M4A3 was built by the Ford Motor Company and, latterly at least, was the type most commonly used by the United States Army. It is said that, to begin with, American tankers were reluctant to exchange their old 75mm gun Shermans for the improved model but all this changed once they encountered some of the heavier German tanks. The Sherman may not have been a match for the Panther on a one to one basis but in the long run the odds were never as even as that and the American tank overmatched its German rival by sheer weight of numbers.

If you cannot afford to build lots of tanks then the best alternative is to build a few good ones – mind you they will be expensive. In 1987 Challenger 1 was quoted as costing two million pounds per unit, and the British Army required 243 of them.
Yet Challenger was not originally intended for the British Army; it had been designed for the Imperial Iranian Army but the deal fell through when the Shah was deposed. Where firepower, protection and mobility count Challenger 1 is a good combination; it has the 120mm L11 rifled gun with laser sight and rangefinder, the revolutionary Chobham armour and a 1200 bhp V12 Condor diesel engine.
Challenger 1 served with British armoured regiments in the 1991 Gulf War and subsequently in the former Yugoslavia. It has now been replaced in British service by the much improved Challenger 2. The original Challengers having been transferred to Jordan.

Pz Kpfw VI Ausf E Tiger I

No tank will ever attain the mythical status of the World War II German Tiger – 57 tons of menace protected by 100mm (4 inches) of armour, armed with that potent eighty-eight millimetre gun it remains an impressive representative of the Nazi war machine.

And yet, like most German tanks its design was the result of competitive developments by Henschel and Porsche, subject to independent confirmation. Not the whim of an unbalanced megalomaniac.

Tiger tanks first appeared on the battlefield in August 1942 and they were still striking fear into the hearts of Allied tankers when the war against Germany ended in May 1945. Yet in all of that time only 1,354 of these tanks were built and they were spread thin. Tigers saw action in Tunisia, in Sicily, Italy, north west Europe and of course the Russian front. Obviously many Allied tankers who reported encounters with Tigers suffered from over-active imagination.

The Tiger was by no means as ponderous or cumbersome as it is portrayed although it was not as reliable as its crews might have liked. On the other hand it could out-gun almost any other tank it came up against and remains the epitome of the indestructible Panzer.