 History, datas and pictures of British, US, Russian and French tanks of WW2.
Most of this tanks are used or will be used with the computer wargame WW2 Total.
The British and French tanks were are
among some of the least
successful of the WW2
period. Some of them (such as
the British Valentine, Matilda and
Churchill) were eventually turned
into good fighting machines, but -
working in a rush and without a
proper development base from
which to work up their designs -
many British tank designers
produced tanks that were no
match for their counterparts in
the German Panzer units. The reasons
for this are described herein,
but it is not all a sorry tale: despite
their drawbacks, these tanks (both
Infantry and Cruiser types) were
at times all there was to hand and
with them their crews and commanders
learned the important
lessons that were to produce the
eventual Allied victory.
The tale of the Cruiser tanks
produced by Great Britain
has by now been often told but it
still bears re-examination, showing
as it does, how a doctrine accepted
without proper investigation
can affect the course of battles,
even well past the point when the
doctrine has been found wanting.
British and Allied tank crews had
to drive their charges into battle
knowing that their main guns
were too weak, their armoured
protection too thin and their
mechanical reliability all too suspect
at a critical moment. But they
went into battle all the same and
often managed to defeat a betterarmed
and prepared enemy.
The Russian and US tanks
include some of the best
known examples which saw
action in WW2. These included the Sherman,
the T-34, the Lee and the Grant,
but also are some
slightly lesser known names.
Few outside Russia can be familiar with the
little T-70 light tank, but in its day
it was numerically an important
part of the Red Army tank fleet,
along with the almost equally
unknown T-26.
The numbers and fame of the
T-34 and the various Shermans
have tended to obliterate the fact
that between 1939 and 1945
there were many types of tank
lurching around the battlefields.
Despite the need for strict
standardization to boost mass
production totals, no combatant
was able to say at any time that
only one specific tank type would
be produced. Constant supply and
demand fluctuations prevented
any such thing, although at one
point the Soviets got very close to
it with the T-34. Also, tanks were
generally retained in service for
as long as possible, sometimes
until they had been outdated or
rendered obsolete by events.
Thus the M3 series of American
light tanks continued to see
action right through the war, long
after there was no longer a place
on the battlefield for their original
services.
But if any of the tanks could
be said to have overshadowed
their fellows they were without
doubt the Sherman and the T-34.
Together these two examples
made major contributions to the
final Allied victory over Germany,
and so ensured that their names
were recorded in history. Both
tanks had their faults. The T-34
was cramped inside and manufactured
to a standard that was
almost crude. The Sherman was
high, lacked armour protection
and was almost constantly undergunned.
However, both types
possessed the key attributes of
mobility and availability, and in
war these advantages can go far
towards tipping the balance of
fortune towards one side or
another. By 1944 both the T-34
and the Sherman were instrumental
in forcing the German army
back towards the borders of its
homeland, and for that alone they
will always be remembered.
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