Vickers Mk.7/2

United Kingdom (1984-1986) Main Battle Tank – 1 Built Despite the progressive weakening of the Soviet Union in the 1980s, the prospect of a nuclear war in Western Europe was perhaps just as likely in that decade as anytime during the Cold War. The significant quantitative advantages that the Warsaw Pact had in tank terms …

Lancia 1ZM

Kingdom of Italy (1916) Armored Car – 120 Built First Series Lancia 1ZM with armored guards over the front and rear wheels. Source: Pinterest The need for a new armored car Italy was one of the pioneers of armored cars with several designs and vehicles made before the outbreak of the First World War, such …

Hurthig Amphibious Vehicle

Canada (1953) Amphibious Ball Tank – None Built In 1953, in British Columbia, Canada, an odd design for an amphibious vehicle was created. The intention was to create a tracked vehicle surpassing other designs in mobility across marginal or swampy ground and which could provide both firepower and protection in a simple and robust design. …

Mattila Assault Wagon

Republic of Finland (1943) Armored Fighting Vehicle – None Built In considering tanks and other armored fighting vehicles, there is usually a relatively straightforward choice of two means of propulsion: tracks or wheels, with a general understanding that there are disadvantages and advantages of each type. There are variations of each system and one such …

Wieczorek Engin blindé de combat (EBC) and Engin blindé de combat lourds (EBCL)

France (1986-2000) Main Battle Tank – None Built Patents, the government license issued to an inventor or company to commercially protect or exploit an innovation or design, are wide ranging and can be as small as a new way of doing something up to a total rethink of how an existing thing might work. Julien …

C. L. Best Tractor Tank (‘Best Tracklayer 75’)

United States of America (1916) Mock-up Training Tank – 1 Built In the weeks and months following the tank being unleashed on the battlefields of France by the British in September 1916, the tanks generated enormous amounts of public interest and fascination. It was not until November 1916 that photographs were available from which the …

Wallace Leaping Tank

United States of America (1942-1945) Walking Pillbox – None Built If someone tried to define the term ‘tank’ as a military vehicle, they generally would agree on the need for a turret, armor, and tracks. Whilst there are exceptions to each of these to one degree or another, the only real unifying point across definitions …

Ansaldo Carro da 9t

Kingdom of Italy/United Kingdom (1929-1937) Breakthrough Tank – 1 Built Great Britain was the first nation to deploy tanks in war. The classic ‘quasi-rhomboid’-shaped tanks were first used on the fields of France in 1916. No history of those vehicles is complete without considering the important role of the Lincolnshire-based firm of William Foster and …

40-ton Electric Drive Main Battle Tank (E.D.M.B.T.)

United States of America (1984-1987) MBT – Models Only In 1984, the US military was considering the problems connected with a new range of vehicles, such as the new M1 Abrams main battle tank and M2 Bradley Infantry Fighting Vehicle (IFV). As part of the evaluation of trends in future vehicles, a commission looked into …

Holt Caterpillar G-9

United States of America (1916-1917) Tank Mock-up – 1 Built Tanks first came to the public consciousness with the British unleashing them at Flers-Courcelette on 15th September 1916. It was some time before pictures of them started to appear in the media and, in the meantime, various artistic renderings of this new weapon of war …

Holt’s ‘America First’ Tank

United States of America (1916) Tank Mock-up – 1 Built? Tanks first appeared on the battlefields of Europe on 15th September 1916 at Flers Courcelette, during a British attack on German trenches. Whilst their use was by no means decisive, they showed that not only did the concept of a tracked armored vehicle work but …

FV1801A Austin Champ

United Kingdom (1951) Light Utility Vehicle – 12,000 Built An army functions on logistics. Logistics to bring food, men, guns to a fight. Logistics to move around the battlefield, and logistics to get from A to B in peacetime. The vehicle to fulfill these functions must be simple, reliable, rugged, and adaptable. Probably the most …

1989 US Invasion of Panama

United States of America vs Republic of Panama The construction of a short cut from the Pacific to the Atlantic Oceans was a pipe dream for much of the 19th century for both the British and Americans. If a canal existed, then trade would be substantially easier and the United States would be the prime …

CV3/33 Pre-Series

Kingdom Of Italy (1932-1933) Light Tank – 4 Built Following the successful tests of the Ansaldo Prototype Light tank in 1930 and 1931, the new suspension system, replacing the original rigid-wheel type, had shown itself to be robust and the tank had fulfilled the needs for armor and mobility. The Regio Esercito (Italian Army) would …

Atherton’s Mobile Fort

United Kingdom (1916) Heavy Tank – Design Only Tanks, the new wonder weapons of mechanical inspiration, armored leviathans running on steel tracks to smash their way through German positions on the Western Front, were first used at the Battle of Flers-Courcelette on 15th September 1916. Straight afterward, rumors of this new weapon started to circulate …

British Somaliland Campaign 1920

The 21 day campaign The Mad Mullah Somaliland had been a British protectorate since 1855, covering some 176,000 square kilometres bound by French interests to the North West, Italian interests to the East and Abyssinia to the south. This tiny region supplied beef to Aden which was vital to British global interests as a stopping-off …

Renault Improved Battle Tank

France (1939) Battle Tank – None Built In 1939, France was on the cusp of a new war with Germany. At the time, many foresaw a return to the static type of attritional warfare of World War One. France was very well set for this type of warfare, with large numbers of well-protected tanks and …

Vickers Mk.7

United Kingdom (1984-1986) Main Battle Tank – None Built The Newcastle-based firm of Vickers Defence Systems had been building tanks on Tyneside for decades but had struggled in the 1980s to find markets for its tanks. With the unveiling of the Chobham armor technology in 1976 and Vickers being brought into the committee on its use, …

Operation Sentry – The First Centurion Trials 1945

United Kingdom (1945) 6 Tanks Used In Testing New tanks need to be designed, tested, and deployed carefully. Even with the pressures of war taken into account, the process should be methodical to ensure that mechanically reliable vehicles with good fighting characteristics and survivability get to the front line. The United Kingdom, in particular, had …

British Tank Losses March to May 1945: The War in North West Europe

United Kingdom Tank Losses March to May 1945 This article has been sponsored by VeePN. If you want to browse the internet more safely and block your Internet Provider or Government from tracking you, try out their offers. Operations Veritable, Blockbuster, and Grenade marked the breakout from Holland for Allied forces during February and March …