Medium/Heavy Tank M26 Pershing

United States of America (1944) Medium/Heavy Tank – 2,212 Built A bit late for WWII The M26 Pershing descended from a long series of medium and heavy tank prototypes, dating back from 1936. During the war, heavy tank development had been long delayed or given low priority since the US Army, USMC and Allied forces required …

M18 76mm GMC Hellcat

United States of America (1944) Tank Destroyer – About 2,507 Built Historical Background As the United States army entered World War II, it drew certain conclusions from Germany’s quick victories over Poland and France. One was that a highly mobile tank destroyer force needed to be held in reserve to deal with sudden Panzer breakthroughs …

M10 3inch GMC

United States of America (1942) Tank Destroyer – 6,706 Built Early development After their first encounters with the Soviet KV-1s and T-34s, the German Army was poised to revise its tank design and take immediate action to bolster their firepower and protection. On one hand, they up-gunned the Panzer IV, which became the staple of …

Medium Tank M4 Sherman

United States of America (1941) Medium Tank – ~49,234 Built Quantity and quality The M4 Sherman (named after the famous American Civil War general William T. Sherman) is one of the few really iconic fighting vehicles of the Allies during World War Two, and one of the most famous tanks in history. But while this …

Medium Tank M3 Lee/Grant

United States of America (1941-1942) Medium Tank – 6,258 Built A Lend-Lease stopgap tank The Lee/Grant never achieved the fame of the Sherman. This was due to its very roots and the role it played during the war. Born as a replacement for the unsuccessful M2 Medium Tank (1938), which never left the American soil, the M3 …

Light Tank M5 Stuart

United States of America (1942) Light Tank – About 8,884 Built Origins: The M3 Stuart The US Army needed a more convincing light tank than the small M2, especially after the 1940 campaign, following a new tactical thinking about armored forces in the USA. A light, fast tank, equipped with one of the most common …

Light Tank M3 Stuart

United States of America (1940) Light Tank – About 13,860 Built Origins: from the “Combat Car” to the M2 In September 1939, the US Army was ill-prepared as far as armored vehicles, training and tactics went. Soon, it became clear that a new model, which could be favorably compared to the European models, had to …

A.22, Infantry Tank Mk.IV, Churchill

United Kingdom (1941) Infantry Tank – 7,368 Built The last “infantry tank” The A.20 British infantry tank design was a prewar General Staff specification, meant to be a replacement for both the Matilda and the recent Valentine. Just like the former, it incorporated typically trench-warfare features. It was envisioned as slow (infantry pace), heavily protected …

Infantry Tank Mk.III, Valentine

United Kingdom (1939) Infantry Tank – About 6,855 Built Genesis: A cruiser with increased protection The British tank doctrine split tanks into Light Tanks, used for reconnaissance, Cruiser tanks, fast and well armed, meant to act as the cavalry of old, and Infantry tanks, slow and heavy, meant to support the infantry. The A.11 Infantry Tank …

A.12, Infantry Tank Mk.II, Matilda II

United Kingdom (1937) Infantry Tank – 2,987 Built A complete overhaul of the infantry tank concept The former Infantry Tank Mk.I was a product of the 1929 financial crisis, a rather limited and compromised vehicle, badly suited to real battlefield operations. In 1936 it entered production. During the very same year, another parallel specification (A.12) …

T-55

Soviet Union (1958) Main Battle Tank – 27,500 Built The most produced tank in history? Still classed as a medium tank, the T-54 was clearly a superior design to the T-44. Nowadays it is seen as an all-out classic of the Cold War. The T-55 version, which appeared in 1958, was the sum of all …

105mm Gun Tank M60

United States of America (1960) Main Battle Tank – 15,000 Built A logical evolution of the M48 The M60 looks, at first glance, very much like the M48 designed five years earlier, and for good reasons. It was nothing more than an evolution of the type but modified too extensively in too many ways to …

90mm Gun Tank M48 Patton III

United States of America (1955) Medium Tank – Around 12,000 Built A real departure from the M47. Third in line to be named after US Army’s ardent promoter of tanks during ww1 and legendary commander during WW2, the M48 was a development of the M47 Patton (or “Patton II”). It was born soon after it …

90mm Gun Tank M47 Patton II

United States of America (1950) Medium Tank – 8,576 Built First real postwar US MBT The M47 was a relatively short-lived MBT (then called “medium tank” created to replace the M46 Patton/M26 Pershing and the M4 Sherman). It was widely produced to fit the needs of the US Army, US Marines, but also NATO nations …

76mm Gun Tank M41 Walker Bulldog

United States of America (1951) Light Tank – 5,500 Built Development history On November, 7, 1950, the US Ordnance Committee Minutes (OCM) published the #33476 item. This was a new classification between the heavy (120 mm gun), medium (90 mm), and light tank (76 mm), according to their main armament. At the same time, a …

FV4007 Centurion

United Kingdom (1945) Main Battle Tank – 4,423 Built Too late for WW2 The Centurion was simultaneously the last of the cruiser type and the first main battle tank. It was one of the most influential design in history, the embodiment of Darwinian evolution in solid cast steel, summed up in a few years of …

Universal Carrier

United Kingdom (1934-1960) Tankette – ~113,000 built Origins: The Carden-Loyd Mk.VI tankette The early Carden-Loyd tankettes from 1933 were the very basis for the Universal Carrier. Originally, these machines were invented by Major Giffard LeQuesne Martel, who developed a prototype privately, for potential requests from the Royal Army Corp. He was a military engineer and a …

KV-1

Soviet Union (1939) Heavy Tank – 5,219 Built Heavy tank and “deep battle” concepts in the USSR The concept of “deep battle”, which contained the doctrinal use of the Soviet heavy tank, was first theorized during the late twenties, then refined and eventually adopted by the Red Army Field Regulations in 1936. The tactical deep …

IS-3

Soviet Union (1944) Heavy Tank – 2,311 Built The peak of the Soviet heavy tank line The IS-3 was only superficially a major departure from previous heavy tanks, with a lineage including the KV-1 (1939), KV-1S, KV-85, IS-1 and the IS-2. The IS-3 had a new front hull and a new turret shape which became …

IS-2

Soviet Union (1943) Heavy Tank – 3,854 Built A new standard in hell: The IS-2 As the escalation between German and Russian engineers reached a new point with the introduction on the German side of the Panther and Tiger, and the knowledge that something bigger was brewing, the IS-2 was pressed into introduction as soon …