AFV - TheHistoryFiles.com

AMX-40

The Brenus armor package coupled with the dozer blade would probably increase the combat weight of the AMX-40 to something like 46 metric tons. The AMX-40 was a French prototype main battle tank. Its development began in 1983 as a clean sheet design. Four prototypes had been produced by 1986, and the design was offered […]

AFV, France

Automitrailleuse Panhard et Levassor Type 178

A Panhard 178B. The APX3B turret is of the latest type with a rear episcope. Rear view showing the position of the second driver; the hull, despite having been repainted with a number belonging to the third production batch. Panhard 178B/FL1, French Indo-China, 1947. Panhard 178 tank hunter with the Renault turret designed by Engineer […]

AFV, British

Chieftain Mk.11

Mark 10 upgrade, searchlight replaced with the Thermal Observation and Gunnery System (TOGS), manufactured by Barr and Stroud. The Mk 11 was the last version to be used by the British Army and can be distinguished by its Stillbrew armour (attached to the front of the turret and in front of the turret ring) and […]

AFV, France

French Tank Doctrine

In August 1939, during a conference on the use of armored units held by the 511th Tank Regiment at Verdun, French and German doctrines were compared. The Germans, it was said, preferred mass engagement on a broad front. It was predicted they would use large tank formations on favorable terrain and try to take the […]

AFV, British

Matilda at Arras

By the outbreak of war with Germany in September 1939 there were only two Matildas in service, though 16 had been issued to 7th Royal Tank Regiment in France by early 1940 where they were used with success in the Battle of Arras just prior to the Dunkirk evacuation. The Matilda is best remembered for […]

AFV

Greek Tanks

GREEK M-48A5/MOLF WITH CYPRIOT CAMO Leopard 2A6 HEL (Hellenic) In 1981 Greece ordered 106 Leopard 1A3 GR MBTs plus 4 armoured recovery vehicles, delivered between 1983 and 1984. Almost 170 Leopard 1V were donated by the Netherlands in 1991. In 2003 the Greek army ordered 170 new Leopard 2A6 HEL (Hellenic), to be jointly produced […]

AFV, German Units

Initial Heavy Tank Battalions Organisation

Heavy Tank Company, K.St.N. 1176d Dated 15 August 1942. Heavy Tank Battalion, Organization D, 1942-43. While the Army ordnance department was developing the heavy tank, the Army General Staff made plans to field heavy tank companies when production began. Initially, the plan for the heavy tank company included three platoons, each with three Tigers, for […]

AFV

76-mm Sherman

Standard M4A2(76mm) Sherman M4A3(76mm) Sherman The US Army made a conscious decision in 1943: to ignore calls for rapid development of the heavy, 90mm-gun T26 (Pershing) to take on the Panthers and Tigers, and instead to mass produce the M4 – a medium tank that would do the job well enough rather than brilliantly, and […]

AFV, Soviet

Early Armour of the Soviet Union I

Generally speaking, the Soviets followed a gradual approach in tank design, modifying a proven design rather than starting from scratch. The Soviet Union produced a large number of tank designs in the period between the two world wars. Early Russian experiments with AFVs in World War I had been limited to armored cars, such as […]

AFV, Soviet

Early Armour of the Soviet Union II

In 1936 the design bureau at Zavod Nr. 183in Kharkov built the sleek BT-SV-2 prototype which was the culmilation of their studies on improving the balistic qualities of the Betuska (BT tank). A BT-2 during the battle of Moscow, winter 1941/42. T-28M (or T-28E) of the 1st “Red Banner” Tank Division, 1st Mechanized Corps, Karelian […]