A tank is a track-laying, turreted, all-terrain AFV (armoured fighting vehicle). They are distinguished from other AFVs primarily by purpose, armament, and mobility.
Key features of a tank. A tank:
- is a self propelled mobile multi-purpose gun
- has off-road mobility through track based movement instead of wheel based preventing the heavy vehicle to 'sink' into the ground
- has all-around armour protection for tank crew and motor
During World War I, motorized vehicles were still relatively new and uncommon, but their use on the battlefield was imminent. The earliest motorized AFVs were tractors with crude metal plates bolted on to give some protection to the driver and passengers. The British Royal Navy developed the idea into the first tanks (called 'landships') by fully-enclosing the armoured area, adding a track laying suspension, and guns mounted in turrets. Early tanks were large, had large crews, and moved about the same speed as marching infantry. They were 'male' or 'female', depending upon whether their armament was a large cannon or multiple smaller machine guns. The nickname 'tank' was a codeword used to confuse the enemy and maintain secrecy while they were being built and shipped to the front.
The first use of tanks on the battlefield was the use of 49 British tanks at the Battle of the Somme (1916) on September 15, 1916, but most of the machines broke down and the attempt proved nothing.
Many feel that because the British Commander Field Marshal Douglas Haig was himself a horse cavalryman, his command failed to appreciate the value of tanks. In fact, horse cavalry doctrine in World War I was also to "follow up a breakthrough with harassing attacks in the rear", but there hadn't been any breakthroughs on the Western Front until the tanks came along.
The first successful use of tanks came in the Battle of Cambrai in 1917. British Gen. J.F.C. Fuller, chief of staff of the Tank Corps, planned the battle. The tanks made an unprecedented breakthrough, but the British were so surprised they failed to exploit the opportunity. Ironically, it was the soon-to-be-supplanted horse cavalry that had been assigned the task of following up the motorized tank attack.
Later, Fuller's Plan 1919 for an offensive was the inspiration for German blitzkrieg tactics in World War II. The plan itself was never used because the blockade of Germany brought an end to the war. As a military planner and later journalist, Fuller continued to develop his doctrine of using tanks supported by infantry to break through enemy lines to attack communications in the rear.
Tank became really efficient with the Renault FT-17. Small and light compared to his predecessor and to modern standards and conceived for mass production, it was operated by two men only, and equiped with a rotating turred it establish the basic concept of modern tank.
(more on WWI usage) (between the wars: mention Basil Liddell Hart's and Heinz Guderian's advocacy of mechanized warfare)
During World War II, the tank reached new heights of capability and sophistication. The German tanks, though technologically inferior to many of their opponents' tanks in the areas of armor and weaponry, were used most skilfully to achieve surprising strategic victories early in the war. The German doctrine stressed the use of combined-arms involving infantry and air support, and the tactic of the Blitzkrieg (lightning warfare). Furthermore, the Germans were quick to supply their tanks with radios, which provided unmatched command/control.
- It was true that nothing larger than machine guns could be mounted in any turret that this vehicle could carry. But with this disadvantage, it could be made ready for action by 1934 and it would at least serve as a training tank until our real combat tanks began to appear. [...] Nobody in 1932 could have guessed that one day we should have to go into action with this little training tank.
- -- Heinz Guderian, Chief of German Army General Staff, on the Pz I.
(use of Pz I and Pz II training tanks due to lack of combat tanks)
The largest tank ever built was the Maus, designed in 1942 by Ferdinand Porsche under direct order from Adolf Hitler. Weighing 188 tons, the Maus was armed with a 128mm cannon and a coaxial 75mm gun, and covered with 180-240mm of armour. Only two prototypes were built, and both were lost while still undergoing testing. One of the Maus prototypes currently resides in the Museum of Armoured Forces in Kubinka Russia.
(What's the true story behind the Maus in the museum? There are conflicting stories. In one version, both were scuttled at the factory prior to Soviet occupation, in another, one fought briefly before being captured.)
(T-34, tankettes, and other allied tanks of WWII; Patton, Rommel, Guderian, etc)
Since WWII, most of the changes in tank design have been refinements to targeting, ranging, and stabilization equipment, and to communications, and crew comfort. Armour has evolved to keep pace with improvements in weaponry, and guns have gotten bigger, but in most cases haven't fundamentally changed.
During the latter half of the 20th century, some tanks were armed with ATGMs (Anti-Tank Guided Missiles) which could be launched through the main gun barrel. In the U.S., the M60A2, M551 Sheridan, and prototype MBT-70, with 152mm barrel/launchers, used the Shillelagh infrared missile. The MBT-70 was cancelled prior to production due to high cost, and superseded by the M1 Abrams, which used a conventional gun. Both the M551 and the M60A2 were widely considered failures; expensive, unreliable, and difficult to maintain. They were replaced by M60A3's (using conventional guns) and M2 Bradleys. ATGMs are currently mounted on lighter AFVs, such as the M901 ITV and the M2/M3 Bradley.
(Russian missile-armed tanks: T64, T72, T80, T90?)
There are several types of ammunition designed to defeat armour, including HESH (High Explosive Squash Head), HEAT (High Explosive Anti Tank), APDS/APFSDS (Armour Piercing Fin Stabilized Discarding Sabot) - the latter being a type of KE-penetrator.
HESH shells (Also called HEP shells, High Explosive Plastic, in US use) are meant to smear explosive over the surface of the armour plating prior to detonating. This will cause the inside surface of the armor to break off, called spallation, damaging equipment and injuring soldiers inside. HESH shells will rarely actually penetrate the armour. They are not normally used by modern tanks.
HEAT type shells use a shaped charge of varying degrees of sophistication to penetrate armour.
Sloping and curving armour both increase the effective thickness, as a projectile striking at an angle must cut through more armour than one impacting perpendicularly. They also increase the chances of deflecting projectiles. The sloping front armour of a tank is often called the glacis, and provides the best protection as it is assumed to be the easiest part of the tank to hit.
Recent developments in tank armor have focused primarily on ways to defeat HEAT and other shaped-charge warheads.
Spaced armor is simply leaving hollow spaces in the armor to dissipate the energy of a shaped-charge warhead.
Composite (aka Chobham) armour was developed in the 1970s by the British and first used on the German Leopard II. It consists of layers of steel, ceramic, and plastic honeycomb, sometimes with layers of depleted uranium added. Composite is effective against both kinetic and shaped-charge munitions. Against kinetic penetrators, the brittle ceramic blunts the projectile while the softer steel layers absorb its kinetic energy. Still, it is significantly more effective against shaped charge munitions, so the depleted uranium layers are added to provide extra protection against kinetic penetrators.
Reactive armour, developed by Israel, uses layers of high explosive sandwiched between steel plates. When a shaped-charge warhead hits, the explosive detonates and pushes the steel plates into the warhead, disrupting the charge's plasma flow. It is not effective against kinetic penetrators.
Recently, many manufacturers have added a spall liner to the inside of the armour, which is designed to absorb fragmentation (spallation) released from the impact of an enemy shell, protecting soldiers and equipment inside.
(use of tanks and new tactics by Israelis in Arab-Israeli wars)
See Also:
External link
- Achtung Panzer - The history of tanks and people of the Panzertruppe.
Tank also means: