WW1 Armor

[HouseHobbit 2]

For those here who have never seen or been near one of these monsters..

Enjoy..

 

Edited August 16, 2012 by HouseHobbit

[Olham 164]

Here is a pic I just found - no knowledge though, where this tank is exposed.

 

 

 

They look frightening, but tank warfare was yet to be fully invented.

Without the effective shielding by well-trained infantrymen, the tanks could easily get destroyed,

or atl east their crews get killed.

 

The second photo shows the victims of flame throwers. They simply blew their burning oil

through the gun openings and sight holes, and the tank crews had neither sight nor air to breathe

left, after only seconds. Then the fire was inside the tank. A deathtrap...

 

 

[HouseHobbit 2]

Yes when I was in BCT at Fort Knox, Iwent to the Armor museum and Had to touch and droll over this..

Did my AIT Armor school at Fort Knox also..

 

Great picture Olham, would not have liked to have been in one of these no matter what..

Edited August 16, 2012 by HouseHobbit

[Burning Beard 14]

That first picture looks like the one that was sitting in front of the 11th Cav Barracks at Ft. Meade in 1972. Yes I did stroke it a few times and was amazed at the rivets (knowing what happens to them when they are hit by small arms fire). They also had a Renault in front of the 11th Cav museum.

 

Beard

[Flyby PC 23]

Anybody know if the big red and white stripes at the front actually mean anything?

[Olham 164]

White-red-white seems to have been the recognitional stripes for British tanks.

[Burning Beard 14]

I thought it ment "Front"

 

Beard

[Olham 164]

Well, that mustn't even be a joke, BB.

For the forward-storming troops it may have been very reassuring to see the tanks

forward white-red-white stripes pointing in the direction of the enemy trenches.

This colour-combination must have been visible a long distance left and right of

the tank, and I guess it must have felt a bit better to see, that their tanks were the

forward spearheads.

[Flyby PC 23]

If it meant British, you might think there would be some blue there too.

 

Thing is, I've also seen similar red and white stripes of British Matilda tanks during WW2 serving in the desert. I actually wondered whether it meant Canadian, or British right enough. The other option might be regimental colours.

[Olham 164]

If it meant British, you might think there would be some blue there too.

Well, firstly, blue on a green-grey tank isn't "shining" as far as red and white do;

and secondly - could it be that the high brass (being English mostly) only picked the English colours?

"St.George beats the dragon" kind of colours?

[Flyby PC 23]

Possibly, but I also wonder whether the blue might have misinformed the French.

[Bullethead 12]

According to British Tank Markings and Names, by BT White, the red and white stripes were nationality recognition markings introduced in 1918, probably after the Germans started fielding tanks of their own. I guess they served the same purpose as the chevrons we painted on all our vehicles in the Gulf War, where the Iragis had some of the same exact vehicles as the US and Brits.

[HouseHobbit 2]

Wow!! These have stripes too!

 

I landed after a mission to have a quick meal, and a spot of tea..

and along came some of the Armor in BHAH..

Wow!

 

I am surprised Thanks to ALL the OFF team for these..

Yea Hobbits get excited easlly..

 

[Olham 164]

Yes, they are really down there.

Based in northern Flanders, I often see columns of German tanks rolling to the lines.

AFAIK they even advance over the mud, when you fly in the time and area of the battle

of Cambrai, for example.

[Hasse Wind 46]

You can see tanks in OFF even when they weren't yet in use historically. In one of my British 1915 careers, I saw tanks rolling forward on a road. I just pretended I didn't really see anything. Or maybe they were top secret prototypes.

[TSmoke 2]

C.F.B. Borden had a museum in the 80's that had both a Mark4 male and female, a Whippet and a Renault.

 

Whether or not they are still there I have no clue but they were interesting beasts to look at. Well except for the Renault because it looked like a toy compared to the others it is so small.

[Bullethead 12]

If you want to see old tanks, you definitely must visit the Tank Museum at Bovington Camp in southern England. This museum has at least 1 specimen of practically every type of tank ever built, including the very 1st tank ever, "Little Willy". I've been there twice and found it quite difficult to leave. Anyway, the WW1 wing of the museum has an extensive colletion, including a tank that participated in the 1st tank attack on the Somme in 1916 (and has the scars to prove it).

 

Most of the vehicles at the museum are in working condition and they have "ground shows" where they drive them around the yard for spectators.

 

http://www.tankmuseum.org/

[Flyby PC 23]

Bit of a journey, but the War Museum in Beijing has armour I haven't seen anywhere else. - I don't recall any WW1 armour, but some amazing stuff, WW2, Korean etc. A Buffalo, Sherman, and Pershing tanks off the top of my head, the mighty Centurian of course, Katushas, but give me some time to remember... I remember being impressed.... If I could think of a tank, it was there. It was interesting to see Korean and Vietnam things from a different perspective.

 

I think it's funny how tanks always look bigger in pictures than they do in the flesh. I remember seeing the T-34 and the Jagdpanther in London's Imperial War Museum, and thinking they couldn't be full sized exhibits, but of course they were. They also have a WW1 tank, and it didn't look half as beefy as Olhams picture. The overiding impression I had seeing inside was wanting a good pair of ear muffs because it looked rather 'loud'.

 

When you watch war films, directors make sure you get a good view of the tank, but with cover and shooting at you, these would be very dangerous things to encounter. I reckon they'd be as likely to see you before you saw them.

 

I'm going back a few years, but I remember being a little disappointed by the size of a 'real' tank, but at the same time, a lot more aware how dangerous they were.

 

Edited August 21, 2012 by Flyby PC

[Bullethead 12]

You're not kidding about how dangerous tanks are. I recall folks saying how the Iraqi army wasn't much of a threat because most of their tanks were T-55s. But I found out that if it's just you in a hole with your 5.56mm weapon, a T-55 coming at you might as well be a tornado, a pyroclastic flow, or some other utterly unstoppable, casually anihilating force of nature. Fortunately, it didn't see me and went away .

 

On the size of WW1 tanks, except for the little Renault (about the size of a VW Beetle), they were friggin' huge by today's standards in all dimensions. While their bodies were the same width as today's tanks for the same reason (to fit on trains), the British tanks had those gun sponsons that stuck out much further. These were actually retractable for transport and they used 1 tank to push or pull the sponsons in and out on another tank. This required the tanks to be very tall, to have room inside for the retracted sponsons. And they were built very long to be able to cross wide trenches. In fact, they got longer as the war progressed and the Germans began digging bigger and bigger anti-tank ditches. For example, the Mk V tank (mainstay of the Brit army in 1918) was 26.5' long, while the Mk VIII (its intended replacement, scheduled for mass production in 1919) was over 34' long.

 

I used to have a photo of me standing beside the Jagdtiger at Bovington Camp. I'm 5' 11" and the top deck of the hull was a bit above my eye level.

[Hasse Wind 46]

You're not kidding about how dangerous tanks are. I recall folks saying how the Iraqi army wasn't much of a threat because most of their tanks were T-55s. But I found out that if it's just you in a hole with your 5.56mm weapon, a T-55 coming at you might as well be a tornado, a pyroclastic flow, or some other utterly unstoppable, casually anihilating force of nature. Fortunately, it didn't see me and went away .

 

Any tank is a serious threat to an infantryman. But I guess if you had been in one of those fancy M1 Abrams MBTs, you wouldn't have been so impressed by the T-55.

[shredward 12]

I remember those tanks at Camp Borden well. Some of them you could squeeze into from underneath (if you were 15 and skinny, and those days are now many decades in the past) I think most, if not all of those treasures are now in the War Museum in Ottawa

Cheers

the shredder

[Olham 164]

I have never been at war, but when I saw the scenes in "Band of Brothers", when they have

their first encounter with German tanks in Normany - boy, I can imagine how this could drive

the sh*t out of you.

The other very well made film scene is that one in "Saving Private Ryan".

Here you got an idea of how it was, when you could hear the screaching tank chains long

before you could see the iron beast. And you got an idea, how well it was protected by the

Panzergrenadiere - like the hounds of war around their iron master.

These scenes really made me shudder with goose skin.

 

Edited August 21, 2012 by Olham

[HouseHobbit 2]

Armor is still the Queen of the battlefield wiithout question..

 

All the Grunts I knew always welcomed my MBT when we rolled up to support them..

Never had a infantryman complain that a MBT was parked infront of him..

Between them and hell as one once said to me..

 

I never worried that something would threathen me..

I had 2 1/2 miles killing range(first round hit) and nothing could cause me concern when the main gun was loaded and the MG were primed..

 

Always liked having the Grunts near by too, they had a way fo keeping the anti tank toys at bay..

So as said we depended upon each other and it worked very well..

 

Oh in my Book the infantry are the Kings of the battlefield..Got to give those Grunts on the ground credit due..

[Bullethead 12]

Oh in my Book the infantry are the Kings of the battlefield..Got to give those Grunts on the ground credit due..

 

But artillery is the God of War .

 

As to grunts complaining about tanks, I do know of one instance, from a Bill Maldin "Willy and Joe" cartoon:

[Flyby PC 23]

Think I'd rather have an Apache gunship overhead than a bullet magnet parked out front, - but best of all, I'd like the all round protection of a pub several miles away.