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Pre Ww2 Tanks


Rick

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What would the members of this Grate Site consider the pluses and minuses of tanks from the beginning of the Spanish Civil War to the beginning of WW2? From this ex-sailor's point of view the T26 seems impressive.

Thank you.

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Anything in the American Armaments Corporation catalog.

Were it they or M-H that did 2-gun tanks for a while?

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Anything in the American Armaments Corporation catalog.

Were it they or M-H that did 2-gun tanks for a while?

 

 

Marmon-Herrington built the tanks...AAC built the guns. :D

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The Vickers Mediums were also significant.

 

Yes they were. I think they were probably the most advanced tank of the 1920's.

 

They also played a role in developing doctrine that in the west became known as Blitzkrieg. One of them we even the very first armoured command vehicle fitted with radios.

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The Vickers Mediums were also significant.

 

Yes they were. I think they were probably the most advanced tank of the 1920's.

 

They also played a role in developing doctrine that in the west became known as Blitzkrieg. One of them we even the very first armoured command vehicle fitted with radios.

 

Looks rather tall for a pre-war/early war tank.

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The Vickers Mediums were also significant.

 

Yes they were. I think they were probably the most advanced tank of the 1920's.

 

They also played a role in developing doctrine that in the west became known as Blitzkrieg. One of them we even the very first armoured command vehicle fitted with radios.

 

Looks rather tall for a pre-war/early war tank.

 

 

In some ways it was more like a late WW1 project, but advanced for its 1920s time frame.

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Arguably the only thing that Soviets learned from Spanish Civil War was that tanks needed to be at least partially armored against contemporary anti-tank guns, and it can be debated if they were already aware of that but industrial base could not follow-up, as can be seen with experimental light infantry tank T-46-5.
In the beginning of 1936, renowned tank designer S.A. Ginzburg (later responsible for T-50 and SU-76) wrote to the chief of the Main Directorate of Armoured Forces that the BT and T-26 light tanks no longer meet the modern battle requirements*, emphasized that these vehicles were no longer adequately protected and are basically vulnerable even to small caliber fire and artillery shrapnel. Furthermore, he pointed out the fact that foreign tanks are much better armored and often have sloped and thicker armor. He also stated that it was his belief the Red Army doesn’t really need planned T-46, because he considered its up-armoring not sufficient so he designed more heavily armoured T-46-5 (ot T-111) on his own initiative, but that eventually turned into failed project.

Other design aspects like sloped armor, 76mm main gun, radios, wider tracks etc. were already in development or fielded (T-28) by the time Spanish war started. On operational level they concluded that infantry needs decently armored light tank support, which resulted in T-50 light tank and clinched with that concept even late into war.
On a side note, probably a most far reaching Soviet operational conclusion in Spanish Civil War was that mobile artillery and self-propelled guns were unnecessary, resulting in abandonment of some promising projects like SU-1, SU-5, AT-1 etc.

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Japanese tanks in this period remained fairly advanced.

 

Certain successes among the many French tanks also date from the period in the OP.

Edited by Ken Estes
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The Vickers Mediums were also significant.

 

Yes they were. I think they were probably the most advanced tank of the 1920's.

 

They also played a role in developing doctrine that in the west became known as Blitzkrieg. One of them we even the very first armoured command vehicle fitted with radios.

 

Looks rather tall for a pre-war/early war tank.

 

 

In some ways it was more like a late WW1 project, but advanced for its 1920s time frame.

 

 

Yeah, I can see the Medium C and D in it.

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The Vickers Mediums were also significant.

 

Yes they were. I think they were probably the most advanced tank of the 1920's.

 

 

They also played a role in developing doctrine that in the west became known as Blitzkrieg. One of them we even the very first armoured command vehicle fitted with radios.

 

Looks rather tall for a pre-war/early war tank.

 

 

It was, but as you can see, they were firing on the move. If they made it any shorter, they might not have the hull Mg's and they would probably be bouncing around the turret on the move. There was as you will note, no seats in the turret. You stood on the pedestal.

 

It was probably the most advanced tank of its era, but as David Fletcher (and Kenneth Macksey) points out, the armour was derisory.

 

This gives some idea of its significance. It played a vital role in developing Tank Doctrine, not least at 'The Battle of Tilshead', the first armoured drive commanded by Radio in history.

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Some of the early to mid 1930s French light tanks were mechanically reasonable and had fair armour and armament for the time, and the Somua S-35 medium was similarly advanced when introduced in 1935, but were all cursed with the one man turret.

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I always liked the Char B. If they had stuck a 2 man turret on it like the Grant had, it would have been a real bruiser in 1940.

 

Was there a fault in the Gallic character against two or three man (person) turrets that lead to such idiocy? Did not the officer class trust the plebs to inhabit a turret with them? OR maybe a divine right of kings (commanders) to be able to do everything?

 

It may be superfluous to say, but the less autocratic armoured forces seem to accept non autocrats in the turrets,

Edited by DougRichards
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