Research Paper
on History and Development
of Tanks
Introduction
In 1918, Germany was banned from making Military hard ware or having tanks under
her hangers. As a tactical move the Hitler, depicted tanks of rough wooden frame
placed on a pram wheel with canvas on top, which looked from a distance as a
real tank. Hitler wanted to strike terror in the hearts of enemy, so he used his
ingenuity and utilized the model of tank to his advantage. The Tanks thus
damaged more with their thunder than with the ammunition. Tanks “looked like a
huge dish cover on wheels it was rejected by Lord Palmerston as being too brutal
for civilized warfare”. (Liddell Hart, 13)
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Old History and Development Phase
In 1855 James Cowan, a wealthy philanthropist, took out a patent for a steam
driven locomotive land battery fitted with scythes to mow down infantry. It was
a four wheeled armored vehicle armed with guns and looked like a giant. In 1813
Robert Fulton build the first steam propelled armored ship, the Fulton. She was
of twin hull construction with a paddle wheel between the hulls, and a belt of
timber protected her 58 inches in thickness. This monstrous vessel clearly
showed that a more suitable system of propulsion and a less clumsy means of
protection were needed. In 1836 the first was met by John Ericsson’s successful
application of the screw propeller, and the second by substituting iron for
wood. “Strangely enough, the British opposed to the introduction of steam ships,
and when the Colonial Office asked the First Lord for a steam packet to convey
mails for Malta to the Ionian Island, the following reply was received: their
lordships felt it their bounden duty to discourage to the utmost of their
ability the employment of steam vessels.” (Fuller, 91) This is how Tank came
into shape.
Development of Tanks–World War-I
The history of oldest battlefield tank can be better understood if we start
tracing the oldest tank regiment and find the tanks held by them. The
organizational order of the units was almost the same, as it is being relied
upon today
(1) The first ever Tank Regiment, was formed in Rome with 5 battalions, four
companies having bout 180 Fiat 3000 model – 1921 Tanks and Renault FT-17 Italian
version tanks. Speed of the tank hardly reached 22 KM per hour or so.
(2) Back in 1961 when the trench war on Western front was in full swing before
World War-I, a major break through in Armed vehicle was achieved. The Armed
vehicle because of their ugly shape was named as “tank”. The new vehicle was to
support Infantry in difficult phases of war. The 1st ever battle of tanks as per
British took place on Sep 15, 1916 when Marshal Haig ordered the first 2 tank
companies to attack on German forces. Although the result could not be achieved
in “Battle of the Some” but remarkable, psychological impact of tanks was
established.
(3) On September 1, 1918, the Italian Army had an addition of 1st ever Armored
Regiment in one of its unit sections called “Armored Vehicle Special Section”.
(4) The tanks were used in Ethiopian War 1935 and the Spanish civil war (1936 –
1939) despite their handicap of their armory.
Development Post World War Period
(1) Journey from T-16 to T-18. The development of Russian tank started with T
series tank i.e. “T-18”, which the Russian, built to achieve extra maneuver
ability, in 1920. A three-year plan was made in 1926 for production of tanks on
commercial scale, with an objective of covering 10 km of front. French Renault
Tank (Also known as Russian Renault) was considered but found too heavy and
inaccurate, as it could not fire beyond 400 meters. Similarly Italian FIAT 3000
was also considered for induction in Russian Army due to its lighter weight and
higher speed but they decided to build a 5-ton prototype tank in their Bolshevik
Factory and named it as T-16 (Russian Renault) tanks. Later in 1927 it due to
less cost more speed, less weight and less size was made acceptable. They
developed some fault due to which Russian had to look for some other variety. In
July 1927, Russian T-18 tank somehow rolled out of factory (Beskurnikov 15-20).
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(2) Painting Tradition. The tradition of painting the tank after carrying out
trial dug its roots in almost all the Armies of the worlds after an incident
which occurred in Russia during the conduct of trial of T-series tanks. The tank
was got painted before undergoing the trial and was made completely ready for
induction in Army. The outcome of trial however produced different result due to
which Russian Military Brass had to face embarrassment because the tank was at
subsequent stage rejected. It was thereafter ensured that at the time of
induction of T-18, untested tanks were not painted n and so a tradition was (Beskurnikov,
33-34).
(3) Mass Production T-18 Tanks. T-18 tanks were made at Boshevik plant but in
April 1929, the venue changed and the production started taking place at
Motovilikha factory. The main product in 1929 was not up to the mark. 96 units
of tanks instead of 133 tanks could be manufactured. The same factory later
reached the next highest level in 1929-30 when it started producing over 300 of
T series tank.
(4) Ditch Test. Another interesting incident took place when Russian introduced
2-meter wide and 1.2-meter deep trench for testing the forward and reverse slop
and check the thrust of the test during emergency. The same test is even now in
vogue everywhere in the world (Beskurnikov, 5).
(5) T-18 to T-18 Refined or T-20. T-18, after passage of time became outdated,
and had to be improved and made sophisticated by the experts. The speed
increased to 25 miles per hour and 37 mm high velocity gun was introduced. The
intended modernization however did not work and tank could not be termed
anything more than T-18 1930 model or T-20 series.
(6) T-20 to T-26 Tank. In year 1933, the modification attempt partially met with
running gear, alongwith prototype test succeeded but it could not climb 30
degree hill infirst gear. The tank was however renamed as T-26 tank.
(7) T-26 to T-38 Tank. Finally, Russian succeeded in making necessary changes in
engine and its compartment was remade. It also changed the canopy type
commander’s cupola after carrying out test in Mar 1938. The test was however
satisfactory in all respects except that the tank speed could not touched to
desired figure of 25 km/h and remained stuck at 24.3.
World War II Tanks
The Italian introduced M-11/39 Medium Tank during world war II to provide close
support to infantry. Later in 1940 its advanced version M-13/40 was conducted in
the Army by establishing 92 units. The short fall in M-13/40 was observed due to
its modest amour height and traverse gunnery led to improved variant M-14/41.
These tanks with 47 mm anti tank guns effectively used against British and
Australian Army during World War II.
Modern Battle Field Tanks
The latest battle field tanks, are now being manufactured by different countries
including underdeveloped countries like India and Pakistan etc. The China, too
has advanced in this field and is trying to export its surplus stuff to her
friends. Following modern tanks have been included for study/reference: -
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(1) Type 85 & Type 90 Tanks (Chinese Version). Reactive armour system based tank
type 85 and type 90 are about to be rolled out by China in export market. These
tanks have also been issued to PLA. Marine and amphibious assault forces and may
be utilized for reinforcing Armored units with reactive armed vehicle.
(2) Jaguar Tank. It is a light and highly agile tank with ADVANCED ballistic
computer, night infrared sighting, Laser range finder and stabilized sight. It
has 105 mm rifle gun and 7-62 mm machine gun fixed on its turret.
(3) Type 90-II/96/98/99 Tank. It cruises at the speed of 37 mph and has 12.9 mm
smooth bare gun, one 12.7 mm machine gun and 7.62 mm machine gun. It has all
modern facilities i.e. slave targeting sight and gun. This is the most modern
tank of this period.
(4) M 60 A3 Tank. It has a maximum of 30 mph of speed with all normal guns i.e.
105 mm rifled main gun, 12.7 mm and 7.62 mm as side machine guns.
(5) Type 85-II/85-III/88-C Tank. It has an excellent speed of 40 mph withal
other normal guns. It is the new version of old T-59 tanks.
(6) CM-II. It has maximum of 33 mph. The fire power of CM-II is considered equal
to M-60A3 but is very sensitive to anti tank weapon.
(7) Type 80-II/88-B Tank. Maximum speed of the tank is 35 mph. It has a powerful
and sophisticated engine.
(8) CM-12. It has a speed of 32 mph. The fire power is however more than its
counter parts.
Development – USA Tank
Word War – I
During word war – I USA used foreign tanks, as it did not have worth while armed
vehicles to contribute to his allies. French provided FT-17S and British
supplied Mark-V heavy tanks to USA forces. The heavy tanks were since, still in
prototype stage, could not be moved from their location.
After World War I
At the close of World War I America had about 800 light and heavy tanks
(including the tanks of her allies). The role of tanks was however considered
unnecessary after the war and Tank regiments were disbanded and distributed to
infantry. They were also treated as “mercenaries are as often treated, who are
accompanied by hordes of starving people”. (Gindely, 334) Tanks similarly met
the same fate. In 1922, role of Armour was defined as these were to assist
infantry. The US Armored Regiment however re-appeared in 1927/28 when a heavy
tank battalion, a light tank battalion were raised. The experiment didn’t
succeed due to use of obsolete equipment. In 1930 the Mechanized Force, again
merged General Douglas Mac Arthus took over as Chief of staff in 1931 and story
of success began thereafter. By the time, II World War approached, American
Armed strength had grown to 1 Armored Corps, 2 Armored Division and a tank
Battalion.
Rapid Development Period
In 1936, idea of making T5 Medium tank was floated which was larger M3 light
tank. Later it culminated into ordering of M3 Medium tanks US Army by World War
II had following Armored Strength: -
i. Corps in 1940
ii. Corps in 1942 (February)
iii. Corps in 1942 (August)
iv. Corps in 1942 (September)
Works Cited
Captain B,H. Liddell Hart The Tanks vol 1 1959
Gindely. History of the Thirty Years War Vol II .1884 12334
Major General J.F.C Fuller The conduct of war 1789 – 1961 ed. 1998
Online.wwii.vehicle.com<http:/www.wwii vehicles.com/html/USA/> retrieved at 1400
hours on 2 Nov 2002.
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