World War Two Tanks

WW2 tanks
This was their finest hour. Never in history have so many tanks and AFV’s been built and fought all around the globe. From the snowy steppes of Russia to the soaky jungles of New Guinea, from the sands of Egypt to the grassy plains of Western Europe, the tanks were wherever soldiers were to be seen. They fought in most battles of the Second World War, some of these have become legendary like Kursk, one of the largest armoured clashes in the history of mankind. Some new tactics were developed during the interwar and refined, such as the “Blitzkrieg” which proved decisive and changed the way tanks would be used thereafter.

Nations

Asia

China
 Japan
Thailand/Siam

Europe

 Belgium
Bulgaria
Croatia
Czechoslovakia
Denmark
Finland
France
Germany
Greece
Hungary
Ireland
Italy
Italian Social Republic
Latvia
Lithuania
Netherlands
Norway
Poland
Romania
Slovenia
Soviet Union
Spain, Kingdom of
Spain, Nationalist
Spain, Republican
Sweden
Switzerland
United Kingdom
Yugoslavia
Yugoslav Partisans

Middle East

Hatay (fictional)
Mandatory Palestine

North America

Canada
El Salvador
United States of America

Oceania

Australia
New Zealand

South America

Argentina
Bolivia
Chile
Peru

WWII Illustrations without a nation page

Marmon-Herrington Mk.I
Marmon-Herrington Mk.I, the first of this lineage assembled in South Africa. It was only used by South African forces, mostly in Eastern Africa during WW2. 133 (130 from other sources) were built from mid-1939 to November 1940. There are few photographs of these vehicles, only active with the UDF during the east African campaign of 1940-1941.

 

Marmon-Herrington Mk.II (1941)

Marmon-Herrington Mk.III (1942)

Marmon-Herrington Mk.IV (1942)

 

58 replies on “World War Two Tanks”

Very well written, it’s been joy to read thus far. To condense such a diverse and complicated history that is armored warfare into this easy to read and understand format is quite the technical coup. I found your site after building the MENG 1/35 Mk A Whippet tank and wanted to learn more. Now I’m keen on building all the WWI tanks that are kitted in plastic!

First, thank you Mark ! In the name of the team, we hope to live up to your expectations
Well, there is a market for WW1 armoured cars as well ! Many ideas for rarely made models and no or a very few companies made them. That’s where we come along…

What are some quality World War II websites?

I have gone on many sites ,but here’s what I found. Some of these are not World War 2 specific to be honest. Achtungpanzer.com is one of my sources for armour research. Militaryfactory.com cotains lists of World War Two weapons like this list of weapo…

Excellent site. I really enjoy the artwork. Thank you for this incredible endeavor that you have undertaken.

Matt, those are the two main versions of the regular T-34. Those are it. Not much else save the “tank destroyer-ish” T-34/57.
As for the T-62, it is on the Cold War page.

I think Matt is referring to the American prototype made famous by World of Tanks, the T34.

I’m interested in purchasing WWII tank posters,how much are they and how do I order them?

many tanks were invented in ww2 and I like tiger king tier j tiger and Maus and E100. these tanks were deadly.

The E100 was only an unfinished prototype. It could never be really considered deadly. Like its overweight brother the Maus, it never saw combat either. The only one that could be considered a force to be reckoned with is the King Tiger, which frightened any Allied tanker. Although, if they were fielded they would have been a nightmare to deal with.

We absolutely love your blog and find many of your post’s to be precisely what I’m looking for.
Does one offer guest writers to write content for you
personally? I wouldn’t mind writing a post or elaborating
on some of the subjects you write about here.

Again, awesome blog!

You might want to check out the tanks under the Nazi Germany tabs, lots of tanks aren’t german…

Hello Nick,
Since it remains only for education purposes and with due credits…
Better to contact however the respective authors first
Good luck

Hello EmeraldBrix here
Just wondering could you do an article on the Grille XV as I would enjoy reading about its history. Also I would like to know how many prototypes were built and if any survive. ?
EmeraldBrix out

If you refer to the WoT Grille 15, then it is an extremely dubious vehicle and there is little, if any, real evidence of it. It may be covered in a Fake Tanks article in the future.

– TE Moderator

Thanks,
I was referring to the grille XV. But maybe a grille series article could be considered? There was a real grille (also referred to as the bison)
Cheers
EmeraldBrix

Thanks guys for doing the grille panther article. A great read, and some good facts there too.
Cheers
EmeraldBrix out~

I can’t wait for this to be finished. I was doing a presentation about WW2 tanks for school history class and I found this to be very helpful. Thank you and keep up the good work!

Hello.

I’ve written you a couple years ago about using several pictures of yours in my non-commercial color pictures mod for WinSPWW2 game (http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/forumdisplay.php?f=139 ), since your page is the only wonderful source of some less-popular vehicles 🙂 I see from Japanese poster, that you have a picture of Type 98 Ta-Se SPAAGun, but there is no article. Could you possibly send me this picture, so I can make my mod complete? (there remained literally several vehicles lacking).

Regards
Michal

I can’t get to the news section properly at the moment. It takes me to a page with irrelevant news stories when I want to see this site’s news – it used to show all the previous and new stories with them in a list view two abreast.

Hello Vanders,
Unfortunately, we haven’t fully recovered from the hack from last week and we are having some problems with certain features.
We are working on it.

Oh, I wasn’t aware the site was hacked. Hackers are scum. Hopefully things can be righted soon. o7

Had any luck restoring full functionality? I’d really like to view a list of the latest articles again.

Hello Vanders, i understand your frustration, but following our last two hack and without a precise path of attack clue we “reduced the attack surface” by deactivating all plugins. We are reactivating them now one by one gradually (about 60% of the total now). The carousel in next on the list but it will be discarded again if not 100% security proofed by the author (3 unsolved issues). Coming soon anyway, perhaps with a tailor made carousel…

Cheers,
David B, the webmaster

Thanks for the update David. I’d actually not noticed the automatically scrolling latest articles at the top so that is sufficient for me until functionality is returned.

Good luck again.

I’m curious why Germany is listed as “Nazi Germany” under countries. Japan isn’t listed as “Imperial Japan” and Italy isn’t listed as “Fascist Italy” I’m wondering why Germany is singled out.

On your side view pic of Lt Bob Boscawen’s Sherman V Tulip, it carries the serial number T47785. What was the source for this number? I’m building a 1/35 model of this particular tank, and would like it to be as accurate as possible.
Cheers,
Chris

Hey well done, great coverage on the different fronts. How far along are you on finishing the rest of the eastern front articles? If you guys need any help editing, writing, or proofreading let me know! I’d love to contribute!

Have you ever thought breaking down some of the individual technologies that make up an armored vehicle and covering their evolution from WW1 up until the current time? Or at least as current as info is available for. For example you could start with suspension: the earliest tanks had none that I am aware of, then progress to leaf springs, coil springs, rubber block and some of the more common ways that these were incorporated. The torsion bar and whatever is currently used. Optics, or more generally, the crews view from the tank, could be another interesting one. Personally, I have not found much info on tank optics on the internet, and some of what I have found I don’t understand. You could do the same for armor, armament, tracks, etc.

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