The tanks of World War II were a leap forward in the development of armored vehicles, showing how important its role on the battlefield is. German generals were the first to understand the power of quick strikes, crushing the infantry and strengthening the enemy. Guderian and Manstein managed to defeat the Polish army in a couple of weeks, using combat vehicles, after which it was the turn of the French. The Anglo-French troops held out for more than a month, but could not oppose anything to the German tanks and were pressed against Dunker, from where they were able to evacuate.

The history of World War II tanks began in 1939, when the outcome of battles was often decided by the dissecting strikes of light and medium tanks, their breakthrough and destruction of the rear. In the period before 1941, there were practically no anti-tank weapons and experience in fighting armored vehicles. Later, heavy tanks with anti-shell armor began to appear, for example, the Soviet KV-1, almost invulnerable to German cannons, but unreliable and with poor cross-country ability. Germany in 1942 applied one of the most powerful tanks World War II - Tiger with powerful armor and a great cannon.

Soviet response

Despite the appearance of multi-ton monsters, medium tanks were still in demand. It was they who played the role of workhorses, making daring breakthroughs of the flanks, hastily transferred to dangerous sectors of the front, destroying enemy columns on the march. The best tank of the Second World War, the T-34, was just a medium one, weighing about 30 tons, thin sloped armor, a medium-caliber cannon and a speed of over 50 km / h. The Americans classified their Pershing as heavy, although in terms of characteristics it was average. Of course, it is worth mentioning the Wehrmacht, which threw the Panther into battle in 1943, which became one of the most massive and dangerous German military vehicles, thanks to the combination of mobility, armor and firepower.

For many years, there was a kind of rivalry between the USSR and Germany for the creation of the most perfect machine. The Germans relied on technology and characteristics, trying to make it possible to destroy any enemy from afar and withstand any retaliatory shot. The disadvantages of this approach were the complexity and cost of production. Soviet engineers relied on manufacturability and mass production, even when creating the legendary thirty-four. This approach justified itself during bloody tank battles, and later, when Germany began to experience a shortage of resources, Soviet tanks finally won.

Other countries

Armored vehicles of other countries lagged behind significantly in development. Japanese tanks did not have serious protection and weapons, like the Italians and the French, and looked like guests from the past.

Great Britain, in addition to Churchill, distinguished by excellent armor, but poor mobility and reliability, also produced other vehicles. The mass Cromwell was distinguished by good mobility, a powerful weapon, and could withstand the Panthers. The comet, which appeared at the end of the war as a result of Cromwell's modification, was even more successful and successfully combined the necessary characteristics.

The United States created 49,234 Medium Shermans that left a notable mark in World War II. The tank, which does not differ in protection or firepower, became the most widespread after the T-34 due to its successful design and ease of production.

Experimental tanks of World War II are interesting, like the built Mouse, which became the most big tank World War II or the giant Ratte, which remained in the blueprints.

During the war years, a huge number of armored vehicles were produced, some of which are little known and are in the shadow of history.

On this page you will find a list of World War II tanks with photos, names and descriptions, which is in no way inferior to the encyclopedia, and helps to find out interesting details and not get confused in the variety of combat vehicles.

Great Patriotic War was a competition not only of the spirit of the fighters, but also of technology. The best tanks of World War II: Sherman, IS-2, Tiger, Panther, KV-1 and T-34.

Tall and clumsy "Sherman" passed long haul before becoming the third massive tank in the world. And this despite the fact that by the beginning of the war there were only 50 emchey (the Russians gave him such a nickname), and by 1945 there were more than 49 thousand units. It gained its fame towards the end of the war, when American designers finally managed to find the perfect combination of armor, maneuverability and firepower, and cast the resulting medium in the shape of a medium tank. The hydraulic turret drive provided the Sherman with special targeting accuracy, which allowed the combat vehicle to emerge victorious in a tank duel.

IS-2

Perhaps the best breakthrough tank. IS-2 is bringing order to the streets of European cities very soon. Just one shot from his 122mm howitzer compares multi-storey building with the ground. The 12.7 mm machine gun leaves no chance for the Nazis entrenched in ruins - a lead burst will sieve brickwork like cardboard. Armor 12 cm thick demoralizes the enemy at all - this monster is simply impossible to stop, the Nazis panic. A chirping symbol of Victory, the IS-2 "liberator tank" will serve the Motherland for another good half a century.

Goebbels personally participated in the preparation of the technical manual for this machine. On his instructions, the inscription was added to the memo: “The tank costs 800,000 Reichsmarks. Keep him safe!" A multi-ton colossus with a frontal armor plate thickness of 10 cm was protected by six people at once. If necessary, the 88 mm anti-aircraft gun KwK 36 "Tiger" could hit a target of 40 x 50 cm from a distance of one kilometer. And its wide tracks gave it such a smooth ride that it could smash its enemies in motion.

The Panther was created as a cheap and mass-produced version of the Tiger. Smaller main gun caliber, easier booking and increased speed on the highway turned her into a formidable enemy. At a distance of 2 kilometers, the KwK 42 cannon shell pierced the armor of any Allied tank.

The KV was an extremely unpleasant surprise for the Panzerwaffe. In 1941, Germany did not have a gun capable of dealing with the 75 mm armor of a Russian tank, while its long-barreled 76 mm cannon smashed German armored vehicles effortlessly.

... On August 20, 1941, the KV tank under the command of Senior Lieutenant Zinovy ​​Kolobanov blocked the road to Gatchina for a column of 40 German tanks... When this unprecedented battle ended, 22 tanks were burning on the sidelines, and our KV, having received 156 direct hits from enemy shells, returned to the disposal of its division ...

“… There is nothing worse than a tank battle against superior enemy forces. Not in terms of numbers - it was not important for us, we got used to it. But against better vehicles - it's terrible ... Russian tanks are so agile, at close range they will climb the slope or overcome the swamp faster than you can turn the tower. And through the noise and rumble you always hear the clang of shells on the armor. When they get into our tank, you often hear a deafening explosion and the roar of burning fuel, too loud to hear the dying screams of the crew ... " of the year.

Constant attempts to bury the idea of ​​a tank do not find their realization. Despite the rapid evolution of anti-tank weapons, there is still no more reliable means of covering soldiers than heavy armored vehicles. I bring to your attention an overview of the outstanding tanks of the Second World War, created on the basis of the Discovery programs - "Killer Tanks: Steel Fist" and the Military Channel - "Ten Best Tanks of the 20th Century". Undoubtedly, all the cars from the review are worthy of attention.

But I noticed that when describing tanks, experts do not consider it combat history entirely, but they only talk about those episodes of World War II when this machine was able to prove itself the best way... It is logical to immediately break the war into periods and consider which tank was the best and when. I would like to draw your attention to two important points.:

Firstly, strategy and technical characteristics of machines should not be confused... The red flag over Berlin does not mean that the Germans were weak and did not have good equipment. It also follows that having the best tanks in the world does not mean that your army will advance victoriously. You can be crushed corny by the amount. Do not forget that the army is a system, the competent use of its diverse forces by the enemy can put you in a difficult position.

Secondly, all disputes, "who is stronger, IS-2 or" Tiger ", do not make much sense... Tanks rarely fight tanks. Much more often, their opponents are enemy defensive lines, fortifications, artillery batteries, infantry and automotive equipment. In World War II, half of all tank losses were due to actions anti-tank artillery(which is logical - when the number of tanks went to tens of thousands, the number of guns was estimated at hundreds of thousands - an order of magnitude more!).

Another fierce enemy of tanks is mines. They were blown up by about 25% of combat vehicles. Aviation chalked up a few percent. How much is left for tank battles then ?!

Hence it follows that tank battle near Prokhorovka - a rare exotic. Currently, this trend continues - instead of the anti-tank "forty-five" are RPGs.

Well, now let's move on to our favorite cars.

Period 1939-1940. Blitzkrieg

... Pre-dawn haze, fog, shooting and the roar of engines. On the morning of May 10, 1940, the Wehrmacht breaks into Holland. After 17 days, Belgium fell, the remnants of the British expeditionary force were evacuated across the English Channel. On June 14, German tanks appeared on the streets of Paris ...

One of the conditions of the "lightning war" is the special tactics of using tanks: an unprecedented concentration of armored vehicles in the direction of the main attacks and perfectly coordinated actions of the Germans allowed the "steel claws" of Goth and Guderian for hundreds of kilometers to crash into the defenses, and, without slowing down, move deep into the enemy's territory ...

Unique tactical technique demanded special technical solutions. German armored vehicles were required to be equipped with radio stations, with tank battalions there were air traffic controllers for emergency communication with the Luftwaffe. It was at this time that " finest hour» Panzerkampfwagen III and Panzerkampfwagen IV... Behind such clumsy names are formidable combat vehicles that have wound on their tracks the asphalt of European roads, the icy expanses of Russia and the sands of the Sahara.

PzKpfw III, better known as T-III - light tank with 37 mm gun... Reservation from all angles - 30 mm. The main quality is Speed ​​(40 km / h on the highway). Thanks to the perfect optics of Carl Zeiss, ergonomic workstations of the crew and the presence of a radio station, the "troikas" could successfully fight with much heavier vehicles. But with the advent of new opponents, the flaws of the T-III became more pronounced.

The Germans replaced the 37 mm cannon with 50 mm guns and covered the tank with hinged screens - temporary measures gave their results, the T-III fought for several more years. By 1943, the production of the T-III was discontinued, due to the complete depletion of its resource for modernization. In total, the German industry has produced 5,000 "triplets".

The PzKpfw IV, which became the most massive Panzerwaffe tank, looked much more serious - the Germans managed to build 8,700 vehicles. Combining all the advantages of the lighter T-III, the "four" had a high firepower and security - the thickness of the frontal plate was gradually increased to 80 mm, and the shells of its 75 mm long-barreled gun pierced the armor enemy tanks like foil (by the way, 1,133 early modifications with a short-barreled gun were produced).

The weak points of the car are too thin sides and stern (only 30 mm in the first modifications), the designers neglected the slope of the armor plates for the sake of manufacturability and convenience of the crew.

Seven thousand tanks of this type were left lying on the battlefields of World War II, but this history of T-IV did not end - the "fours" were operated in the armies of France and Czechoslovakia until the early 1950s and even took part in the 1967 Six-Day Arab-Israeli War.

Period 1941-1942. Red Dawn

“… From three sides we fired at the Russian iron monsters, but it was all in vain. The Russian giants came closer and closer. One of them approached our tank, hopelessly bogged down in a swampy pond and drove over it without any hesitation, crushing it with tracks into the mud ... "- General Reinhard, commander of the 41st Panzer Corps of the Wehrmacht.

... August 20, 1941 KV tank under the command of senior lieutenant Zinovy ​​Kolobanov, he blocked the road to Gatchina for a column of 40 German tanks. When this unparalleled battle ended, 22 tanks were burning on the sidelines, and our KV, having received 156 direct hits from enemy shells, returned to the disposal of its division ...

In the summer of 1941, the KV tank smashed the elite units of the Wehrmacht with the same impunity, as if it rolled out onto the Borodino field in 1812. Invincible, invincible and incredibly powerful. Until the end of 1941, all the armies of the world had no weapons at all that could stop the Russian 45-ton monster. The KV was 2 times heavier than the largest tank in the Wehrmacht.

Armor KV - a beautiful song of steel and technology... 75 millimeters of steel from all angles! The frontal armor plates had an optimal angle of inclination, which further increased the projectile resistance of the KV armor - the German 37 mm anti-tank guns did not take it even at close range, and the 50 mm guns did not go further than 500 meters. At the same time, the long-barreled 76 mm gun F-34 (ZIS-5) made it possible to hit any German tank of that period from a distance of 1.5 kilometers from any direction.

If battles like the legendary battle of Zinovy ​​Kolobanov took place regularly, then 235 KV tanks of the Southern Military District could completely destroy the Panzerwaffe in the summer of 1941. The technical capabilities of the KV tanks, in theory, made it possible to do this. Alas, not everything is so simple. Remember - we said that tanks rarely fight tanks ...

In addition to the invulnerable KV, the Red Army had even more scary tank- a great warrior T-34.

«… There is nothing worse than a tank battle against superior enemy forces. Not in terms of numbers - it was not important for us, we got used to it. But against better vehicles - it's terrible ... Russian tanks are so agile, at close range they will climb the slope or overcome the swamp faster than you can turn the tower. And through the noise and rumble you always hear the clang of shells on the armor. When they get into our tank, you often hear a deafening explosion and the roar of burning fuel, too loud to hear the dying screams of the crew.... "- the opinion of a German tanker from the 4th Panzer Division, destroyed by T-34 tanks in the battle of Mtsensk on October 11, 1941.

Neither the volume nor the objectives of this article allows you to fully cover the history of the T-34 tank. Obviously, the Russian monster had no analogues in 1941: a 500-horsepower diesel engine, unique booking, 76 mm F-34 gun (generally similar to the KV tank) and wide tracks - all these technical solutions were provided by the T-34 optimal ratio mobility, firepower and security. Even individually, these parameters of the T-34 were higher than those of any Panzerwaffe tank.

The main thing is that the Soviet designers managed to create a tank exactly the way the Red Army needed it. The T-34 was ideally suited to the conditions of the Eastern Front. The extreme simplicity and manufacturability of the design made it possible in the shortest possible time to establish the mass production of these combat vehicles, as a result - the T-34s were easy to operate, numerous and ubiquitous.

In the first year of the war alone, by the summer of 1942, the Red Army received about 15,000 T-34s, and more than 84,000 T-34s of all modifications were produced.

Discovery journalists were jealous of the success Soviet tank building, constantly hinting that the basis of a successful tank is the American design "Christie". In a playful manner, the Russian “rudeness” and “uncouthness” got it - “Well! I didn't have time to get into the hatch - I got scratched all over! "

Americans forget that convenience was not a priority feature of armored vehicles on the Eastern Front: the fierce nature of the fighting did not allow tankers to think about such trifles. The main thing is not to burn out in the tank.

The "thirty-four" had much more serious shortcomings. Transmission - the weak link of the T-34... The German design school preferred front location gearbox, closer to the driver. Soviet engineers took a more efficient path - the transmission and engine were compactly located in an isolated compartment in the rear of the T-34. There was no need for a long propeller shaft through the entire body of the tank; the design was simplified, the height of the car decreased. An excellent technical solution, isn't it?

The gimbal was not needed. But control rods were needed. In the T-34, they reached a length of 5 meters! Can you imagine what efforts were required to be made by the driver? But this did not create any special problems - in an extreme situation, a person is able to run on his hands and paddle with his ears. But what Soviet tankers could withstand - metal could not withstand.

Under the influence of monstrous loads, the thrust was torn. As a result, many T-34s went into battle in one pre-selected gear. They preferred not to touch the gearbox during the battle at all - according to the veteran tankers, it was better to sacrifice mobility than suddenly turn into a standing target.

The T-34 is a completely ruthless tank, both in relation to the enemy and in relation to its own crew. It remains only to admire the courage of the tankers.

Year 1943. Menagerie.

“… We made a detour through the beam and ran into the" Tiger ". Having lost several T-34s, our battalion returned back ... "- a frequent description of meetings with PzKPfw VI from tankmen's memoirs.

1943, the time of great tank battles. In an effort to regain lost technical superiority, Germany is by this time creating two new models of "superweapons" - heavy tanks "Tiger" and "Panther".

Panzerkampfwagen VI "Tiger" Ausf. It was created as a heavy breakthrough tank capable of destroying any enemy and putting the Red Army to flight. By personal order of Hitler, the thickness of the frontal armor plate had to be at least 100 mm, the sides and stern of the tank were protected by eight centimeters of metal. The main weapon is the 88 mm KwK 36 cannon, created on the basis of a powerful anti-aircraft gun. Its capabilities are evidenced by the fact that when firing a captured Tiger cannon, it was possible to achieve five consecutive hits on a 40 × 50 cm target from a distance of 1100 m.

In addition to its high flatness, the KwK 36 inherited a high rate of fire of an anti-aircraft gun. In combat conditions, the "Tiger" fired eight rounds per minute, which was a record for such large tank guns. Six crew members sat comfortably in an invulnerable steel box weighing 57 tons, looking at the wide Russian expanses through high-quality Carl Zeiss optics.

The bulky German monster is often described as a slow and clumsy tank. In reality, the "Tiger" was one of the fastest fighting vehicles of the Second World War.... The 700-horsepower Maybach engine accelerated the Tiger to 45 km / h on the highway. This thick-skinned tank was no less fast and maneuverable on rough terrain, thanks to an eight-speed hydromechanical gearbox (almost automatic, like on a Mercedes!) And sophisticated side clutches with a dual power supply.

At first glance, the design of the suspension and caterpillar drive was a parody of itself - the 0.7 meter wide tracks required the installation of a second row of rollers on each side. In this form, the "Tiger" did not fit on the railway platform, each time it was necessary to remove the "ordinary" caterpillar tracks and the outer row of rollers, instead installing thin "transport" tracks.

It remains to be amazed at the strength of those guys who "shooed" a 60-ton colossus in field conditions... But there were also advantages to the strange suspension of the "Tiger" - two rows of rollers ensured a high smoothness of the ride, our veterans witnessed cases when the "Tiger" fired on the move.

The Tiger had one more drawback that frightened the Germans. It was an inscription on a technical memo that was in every vehicle: “The tank costs 800,000 Reichsmarks. Keep him safe!". According to Goebbels's perverted logic, the tankers should have been very happy to learn that their "Tiger" is worth like seven T-IV tanks.

Realizing that the "Tiger" is a rare and exotic weapon of professionals, German tank builders created a simpler and cheaper tank, with the intention of turning it into a massive Wehrmacht medium tank.

Panzerkampfwagen V "Panther" is still the subject of heated debate. The technical capabilities of the car raises no objections - with a mass of 44 tons, the Panther surpassed the T-34 in mobility, developing 55-60 km / h on a good highway. The tank was armed with a 75 mm KwK 42 cannon with a barrel length of 70 calibers!

An armor-piercing sub-caliber projectile fired from its infernal vent flew 1 kilometer in the first second - with such performance characteristics, the Panther cannon could pierce any Allied tank at a distance of over 2 kilometers. The armor of the Panther was also recognized as worthy by most sources - the thickness of the forehead varied from 60 to 80 mm, while the angles of inclination of the armor reached 55 °. The board was less protected - at the level of the T-34, so it was easily hit by Soviet anti-tank weapons. Lower part the sides additionally protected two rows of rollers on each side.

The whole question is in the very appearance of the "Panther" - did the Reich need such a tank? Perhaps you should have focused on modernizing and increasing production of the proven T-IV? Or spend money on building invincible Tigers? It seems to me that the answer is simple - in 1943, nothing could save Germany from defeat.

In total, less than 6,000 Panthers were built, which was clearly not enough to saturate the Wehrmacht... The situation was aggravated by the drop in the quality of the armor of tanks due to the lack of resources and alloying additives. "Panther" was the quintessence of advanced ideas and new technologies. In March 1945, near Balaton, at night, an attack on Soviet troops went hundreds of Panthers equipped with night vision devices. Even that didn't help.

Year 1944. Forward to Berlin!

The changed conditions required new means of warfare. By this time, the Soviet troops had already received heavy breakthrough tank IS-2, armed with a 122 mm howitzer... If the usual hit tank shell caused local destruction of the wall, then a 122 mm howitzer shell demolished the whole house. Which was required for successful assault operations.

Another formidable tank weapon - 12.7 mm DShK machine gun mounted on a tower on a pivot installation. Bullets of a large-caliber machine gun reached the enemy even behind a thick brickwork... The DShK increased the capabilities of the Is-2 by an order of magnitude in battles on the streets of European cities.

The thickness of the IS-2's armor reached 120 mm.... One of the main achievements of Soviet engineers is the efficiency and low metal consumption of the IS-2 design. With a mass comparable to that of the Panther, soviet tank was much more seriously protected. But the too dense layout required the placement of fuel tanks in the control compartment - when the armor was penetrated, the Is-2 crew had little chance of surviving. The driver, who did not have his own hatch, was especially at risk.

Liberation tanks IS-2 became the personification of Victory and were in service Soviet army nearly 50 years.

Next hero M4 "Sherman", managed to fight on the Eastern Front, the first vehicles of this type came to the USSR back in 1942 (the number of M4 tanks delivered under the Lend-Lease M4 was 3600). But fame came to him only after massive use in the West in 1944.

Tank "Sherman" - the pinnacle of rationality and pragmatism... It is all the more surprising that the United States, which had 50 tanks at the beginning of the war, managed to create such a balanced combat vehicle and riveted 49,000 Shermans by 1945 various modifications... For example, in ground forces used "Sherman" with a gasoline engine, and in the division Marine Corps received a modification M4A2, equipped with a diesel engine.

American engineers rightly believed that this would greatly simplify the operation of tanks - diesel fuel could be easily found on sailors, in contrast to high-octane gasoline. By the way, it was this modification of the M4A2 that entered the Soviet Union.

No less famous are the special versions of the Sherman - the Firefly tank hunter armed with a British 17-pounder cannon; "Jumbo" - a heavily armored version in an assault body kit and even an amphibious "Duplex Drive". Compared to the swift forms of the T-34, the Sherman is tall and clumsy. Equipped with the same weaponry american tank significantly loses in mobility T-34.

Why did the command of the Red Army like Emcha (as our soldiers called the M4) so ​​much that they were completely transferred to them? elite units, for example the 1st Guards Mechanized Corps and the 9th Guards Tank Corps? The answer is simple: The Sherman had an optimal balance of armor, firepower, mobility and ... reliability.

In addition, the "Sherman" was the first tank with a hydraulic turret drive (this ensured special guidance accuracy) and a gun stabilizer in the vertical plane - tankers admitted that in a duel situation their shot was always the first. Of the other advantages of the "Sherman", usually not listed in the tables, was low noise, which made it possible to use it in operations where stealth is needed.

The Middle East gave the Sherman a second life, where this tank served until the 70s of the twentieth century, having taken part in more than a dozen battles. The last Shermans completed their combat service in Chile at the end of the twentieth century.

Year 1945. Ghosts of the coming wars.

Many people expected long-awaited and lasting peace after the horrific sacrifices and devastation of World War II. Alas, their expectations were not met. On the contrary, ideological, economic and religious contradictions have become even more acute.

This was well understood by those who created new weapons systems - therefore, the military-industrial complex of the victorious countries did not stop for a minute. Even when the Victory was already obvious, and fascist Germany fought in her death throes in the design bureau and in the factories theoretical and experimental research, development of new types of weapons was carried out.

Particular attention was paid to the armored forces, which had proven themselves well during the war. Starting with bulky and uncontrollable multi-turreted monsters and ugly tankettes, tank building reached a fundamentally different level in just a few years. where again faced with many threats, tk. anti-tank weapons have evolved successfully. In this regard, it is curious to look at the tanks with which the Allies ended the war, what conclusions were drawn and what measures were taken.

In the USSR, in May 1945, the first batch was rolled out of the Tankograd factory workshops tank IS-3... The new tank was a further upgrade of the heavy IS-2. This time, the designers went even further - the inclination of the welded sheets, especially in the front of the hull, was brought to the maximum possible. Thick 110-mm plates of frontal armor were positioned so that a tricycle, tapered, forward-extended nose section, called the "pike nose", was formed.

The turret received a new flattened shape, which provided the tank with even better anti-cannon defense. The driver received his own hatch, and all viewing slots were replaced with modern periscopes. The IS-3 was several days late by the time the hostilities ended in Europe, but the beautiful new tank took part in the Victory Parade along with the legendary T-34 and KV, still covered in the soot of recent battles. Visual change of generations.

Another interesting novelty was tank T-44(in my opinion - an epoch-making event in the Soviet tank building). Actually, it was developed back in 1944, but never had time to take part in the war. Only in 1945 did the troops receive a sufficient number of these excellent tanks.

A major drawback of the T-34 was the forward-shifted turret. This increased the load on the front rollers and made it impossible to strengthen the frontal armor of the T-34 - the T-34s ran until the end of the war with a 45 mm forehead. Realizing that the problem could not be solved just like that, the designers decided on a complete rearrangement of the tank. Thanks to the transverse placement of the engine, the dimensions of the MTO have decreased, which made it possible to mount the turret in the center of the tank.

The load on the rollers leveled off, the frontal armor plate increased to 120 mm (!), And its slope increased to 60 °. The working conditions of the crew have improved. T-44 became the prototype of the famous T-54/55 family.

A specific situation has developed overseas. The Americans guessed that in addition to the successful Sherman, the army needed a new, heavier tank. The result was the M26 Pershing, a large (sometimes considered heavy) medium tank with heavy armor and a new 90mm cannon.

This time, the Americans failed to create a masterpiece. Technically, "Pershing" remained at the level of "Panther", while having a little more reliability. The tank had problems with mobility and maneuverability - the M26 was equipped with a Sherman engine, while having a mass of 10 tons more. The limited use of Pershing on the Western Front began only in February 1945. The next time the Pershing went into battle in Korea.

The history of armored forces begins at the beginning of the twentieth century, when the first models of self-propelled armored vehicles, more like matchboxes on tracks, nevertheless proved to be excellent on the battlefields.
The high maneuverability of firearm fortresses gave them a huge advantage in trench warfare. Truly successful fighting machine had to easily overcome the trenches, barbed wire and the landscape of the advanced dug by artillery preparation, inflict good fire damage, support the "queen of the fields" (infantry) and never break. Unsurprisingly, the most influential powers in the world immediately jumped into the "tank race."

Dawn of the tank era

The laurels for the creation of the first tank rightfully belong to the British, who designed and successfully used their “Tank. Model 1 ”in 1916 at the Battle of the Somme, completely demoralizing the enemy infantry. However, there were still decades of painstaking work on armor, rate of fire, maneuverability, it was necessary to change the weak carburetor engine to a more powerful diesel engine, come up with a rotating turret, solve problems with heat dissipation and the quality of travel and transmission. The world awaited tank duels and anti-tank mines, round-the-clock operation of steel factories, crazy projects of multi-turret monsters and, finally, a silhouette carved in the fire and fury of wars of the twentieth century modern tank now familiar to anyone.

The calm before the storm

In the 30s, England, Germany, the USA and the Soviet Union, anticipating big war, raced to create and improve their tank lines. Engineers-designers of heavy armored vehicles were lured away and outbid from each other by hook or by crook. For example, in 1930, the German engineer E. Grotte worked at the Bolshevik plant, who created a number of interesting developments that later formed the basis for later tank models.

Germany hastily forged the ranks of the Panzerwaffe, the British created the Royal Armored Corps, the USA - the Armored Force. By the beginning of the war, the tank forces of the USSR already had two legendary vehicles that did a lot for victory - the KV-1 and T-34.
By the beginning of World War II, the competition to each other was mainly made up of the USSR and Germany. The Americans also produced an impressive amount of armored vehicles, only giving 80 thousand under the lend-lease to the allies, but such fame as "Tigers", "Panthers" and "Thirty-fours", their cars did not earn. The British, on the other hand, because of the disagreements that existed before the war, in which direction to develop the tank industry, gave the palm and used mainly American M3 and M5 tanks on the battlefields.

Legendary tanks of World War II

"Tiger" - a heavy German breakthrough tank, created at the factories of the company Henschel und Sohn. He first showed himself in a battle near Leningrad in 1942. Weighed 56 tons, was armed with an 88 mm cannon and two machine guns, and was protected by 100 mm armor. Carried by five crew members. He could submerge 3.5 meters under water. Among the shortcomings - the complexity of the design, high cost (the production of one "Tiger" cost the treasury as the cost of two medium tanks "Panther"), incredibly high fuel consumption, problems with undercarriage in winter conditions.

The T-34 was developed at the design bureau of the Kharkov steam locomotive plant under the leadership of Mikhail Koshkin before the war. It was a maneuverable tank, well protected by sloped armor, equipped with a powerful diesel engine and a long-barreled 76mm cannon. The reports, however, mentioned problems with optics, visibility, the tightness of the fighting compartment, and the lack of walkie-talkies. Due to the lack of space for a full-fledged crew, the commander had to act as a gunner.

The M4 Sherman, the main American tank of the period, was produced in Detroit factories. The third (after the T-34 and T-54) most mass tank in the world. It has medium armor, is equipped with a 75-mm gun, and has successfully shown itself in battles against German tanks in Africa. Cheap, easy to use, maintainable. Among the disadvantages: easily overturns due to the high center of gravity.

The Panther is a medium armored German tank, the main competitor to the Sherman and the T-34 on the battlefield. Armed with a 75 mm tank cannon and two machine guns, armor thickness up to 80 mm. First used in the Battle of Kursk.

Famous WWII tanks also include the German fast and light T-3s, the Soviet heavily armored Joseph Stalin, which performed well in the storming of cities, and the founder of the KV-1 single-turret heavy tanks Klim Voroshilov.

Bad start

In 1941 the Soviet tank forces suffered crushing losses, since the German Panzerwaffe, having weaker light-armored T-4 tanks, in their tactical skills, in the coordination of the work of the crews and the command, were significantly superior to the Russians. T-4, for example, originally possessed good overview, the presence of a commander's cupola and Zeiss optics, and the T-34 received these improvements only in 1943.

The swift strikes of the Germans were skillfully backed up by self-propelled guns, anti-tank guns and air raids, which made it possible to inflict massive damage. “It seemed to us that the Russians had created a tool that they would never learn to wield,” wrote one of the German generals.

Tank-winner

After the completion of the T-34-85, its "survivability" could seriously compete even with the heavily armored, but clumsy German "Tigers". Possessing incredible firepower and thick frontal armor, "Tigers" could not compete with "thirty-fours" in speed and maneuverability, stuck and drowned in difficult terrain. They required refuellers and special rail vehicles for transportation. Tank "Panther" with its high technical characteristics, just like the "Tiger", was characterized by capricious operation, was expensive to manufacture.

In the course of the war, the thirty-four was modified, expanded the compartment for the crew, equipped with intercoms, and installed an even more powerful cannon. The heavy armor easily withstood the impact of a 37mm gun. And most importantly, Soviet tank crews mastered the methods of communication and interaction of tank brigades on the battlefield, learned to use the speed, power and maneuverability of the new T-34-85, inflicted swift strikes behind enemy lines, destroying communications and fortifications. The machine began to brilliantly perform the tasks for which it was originally intended. Soviet industry has established a continuous production of improved, well-balanced models. It is especially worth noting the simplicity of the design and the possibility of a quick and cheap repair, because it is important for a tank not only to efficiently perform combat missions, but also quickly return back to service after damage or breakdown.

You can find a model of that time that surpassed the T-34 in some characteristics, but it is precisely in terms of the aggregate performance characteristics that this tank can rightfully be called the best and most effective tank of the Second World War.

Specialists of the American military history museum have selected 10 of the best tanks of the Second World War. It is noteworthy that in the foreign ranking there is not only an uncontested tank, but also self-propelled gun.

Heavy tank"Joseph Stalin"

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The heavy tank "Joseph Stalin", better known as the IS-2, was named after the leader of the USSR and at the time of its appearance was the strongest in the world. Its armor successfully withstood the fire of German anti-tank artillery, and after modernization, when the “stepped” upper frontal part was replaced with its straightened configuration, it could hold at close range the shells of the most powerful 88-mm Pak 43 anti-tank gun. The tank itself was armed with a 122-mm cannon, shells which tanks such as Tank PzKpfw IV Ausf H, PzKpfw.VI Tiger and PzKpfw V Panther right through.

JagdPanther

According to the German classification, the JagdPanther is a tank destroyer. This machine is considered one of the best self-propelled guns World War II. Having managed to fight on the Western and Eastern Fronts, the JagdPanther proved to be a dangerous enemy, its Pak.43 L / 71 cannon (88 mm, 71 caliber) pierced the armor of almost any Allied tank from 1000 meters.

M4 Sherman

The most massive tank of the American army during the Second World War, about 50 thousand of these vehicles were produced in total.
Simple and reliable, the M4 Sherman was loved by tankers. Its 75-mm cannon, equipped with a Westinghouse gyroscopic stabilizer, made it possible to fire fairly accurately even on the move. However, with the appearance of the PzKpfw.VI “Tiger” and PzKpfw V “Panther”, its armor penetration was not enough, and subsequently the tank was equipped with a more powerful weapon. The main drawbacks of the tank were its high silhouette and weak armor, and the tank often caught fire when a shell hit it. The Germans even nicknamed the M4 Sherman as the "Burning Cauldron" or "Soldier's Bowler".

PzKpfw V "Panther"

This tank was created as a response to the Soviet T-34 and was subsequently to replace the Panzer III and IV. Due to the technological complexity of production, this could not be done, as well as to bring the design of the tank to mind - the PzKpfw V “Panther” suffered from childhood diseases throughout the war. Nevertheless, armed with a 70-caliber long-barreled 75 mm KWK-42 cannon, this tank was a formidable enemy. So, in one battle, "Panther" SS Haupscharfuehrer Franz Faumer in Normandy destroyed 9 M4 Sherman and 4 more were captured completely serviceable. Not without reason "Panther" is considered by some experts to be the best tank of the Second World War.

PzKpfw IV

The main workhorse of the German armored forces throughout the war. The tank had a large supply for modernization, thanks to which it was constantly being improved and could withstand all its opponents on the battlefield. By the end of the war, when Germany's resources were depleted, the design of the PzKpfw IV was greatly simplified. For example, on the Ausf.J version, the electric turret drive, an auxiliary carburetor engine were removed, and in 1944 it was necessary to reduce the road wheels and abandon the zimmerite coating. But the tank soldier, as the "four" is also called, continued to fight.

Sherman Firefly

The British variant of the Sherman, armed with an excellent 17-pounder cannon, could withstand the German PzKpfw.VI Tiger and PzKpfw V “Panther”. Moreover, the British gun had not only excellent armor penetration, but also fit into a standard tank turret.
The long and thin barrel of the gun required careful attitude: in the stowed position, the Sherman Firefly turret turned 180 degrees and the gun barrel was fixed on a special bracket mounted on the roof of the engine compartment.
In total, 699 tanks were converted: the crew of the vehicle was reduced to 4 people, in addition, the machine gun was removed to accommodate part of the ammunition.

The tank, which was put into service on December 19, 1941, became a real nightmare for German tank crews on the battlefield. Fast, agile and invulnerable to most of the Wehrmacht's tank and anti-tank guns, the T-34 dominated the battlefield for the first two years of the war.
It is not surprising that further development of German anti-tank weapons was aimed primarily at combating the terrible Soviet tank.
The T-34 was upgraded several times throughout the war, the most significant improvement was the installation of a new turret with an 85 mm cannon, which made it possible to fight against German “cats”: PzKpfw.VI “Tiger” and PzKpfw V “Panther”. By the way, due to their simplicity and efficiency, these tanks are still used in some countries of the world.

Even more advanced than the T-34-85, the T-44 medium tank was adopted in 1944, but never took part in the war. Before the end of World War II, only 190 vehicles were built. The T-44 became the predecessor of the most massive T-54/55 tank in history. By the way, 44 did appear on the battlefield, but, however, in the movies and in the role of German tanks Pz VI “Tiger” in the film “Liberation”.

PzKpfw.VI "Tiger"

The best means of dealing with tanks T-34 and KV steel anti-aircraft guns caliber 88 mm, and the Germans rightly decided that if such a weapon was adapted for installation on a tank chassis, then the tank superiority of the USSR could be leveled.
A total of 1,358 PzKpfw.VI “Tiger” tanks were built. Armed with the 88mm Kwk L56 cannon, these vehicles wreaked havoc on enemy lines.
Fighting on the PzKpfw.VI "Tiger" tanker-ace Michael Wittmann destroyed 138 tanks and 132 anti-tank guns of the enemy. For the Americans and their allies, aviation was the only means of fighting the Tigers. Thick frontal armor reliably protected the Pz VI from enemy gun fire. So, there is a known case when the tank received 227 hits, but, despite the fact that the tracks and rollers were damaged, it was able to go another 65 kilometers until it was safe.

"Tiger II"

"Tiger II", aka "King Tiger", appeared at the final stage of the war. This is the hardest and most armored tank Wehrmacht. The weapon used was the 88 mm KwK.43 L / 71 cannon, which divided the turret almost in half. In fact, it was modified for installation on a tank and improved anti-aircraft gun Flak 37. Its projectile, at an angle of encounter of 90 degrees, penetrated 180 mm thick armor at a distance of one kilometer.
A wrecked tank was officially recorded at a distance of about 4 km. True, despite the thick armor, the tank was not invulnerable: by the end of the war, the Germans had lost their deposits of alloying metals, and the armor of the "Tiger II" became fragile. And the constant bombing of factories did not allow the production of these machines in the required quantities.