Tank II.

This is coolbert:

From that prior blog entry:

"Armor design and engineering development in a rapid state of ferment in those inter-war years [1919-1939]. Indeed, a tank mostly at the time of initial production already antiquated by more sophisticated designs on the drawing board or existing as experimental or prototype versions."

Ferment indeed! Military planners, theoreticians, the general staffs of the various world powers able to make the correct conclusions in the aftermath of the first World War [WW1], armor [tank] development and engineering being conducted at what must have seemed as a fevered pace.

"Military planners, theoreticians" and general staff officers in all instances seeking that correct combination of protection, firepower and mobility as envisioned for mission, task and purpose.

An amazing number of types and varieties of tanks existing during that inter-war [1919-1939] period between the end of the Great War [WW1] and the start of the Second World War [WW2].

So many types, designs and categories as almost to bewilder! It might seem as envisioned and was the perception that NO ONE tank could do it all! That task of combining firepower, mobility and protection in the same package difficult the ideal hard to achieve.

Those categories of tanks thanks to the wiki with type-specimen images:

1. Tankettes. "Baby tanks" more or less  a mobile machine gun position offering slight protection and slightly armed.

Czech AH-IV. This tankette incredibly enough still in active service and used in a combat capacity in 1982! The Ogaden War between Ethiopian and Somalia!

"A tankette is a tracked armoured fighting vehicle resembling a small tank roughly the size of a car, mainly intended for light infantry support or scouting. Colloquially it may also simply mean a 'small tank'."

2. Light. Larger than a "baby tank, useful for reconnaissance and scouting ". LIGHT armor and LIGHT ordnance.

"A light tank is a tank variant initially designed for rapid movement, and now primarily employed in the reconnaissance role, or in support of expeditionary forces where main battle tanks cannot be made available. Early light tanks were generally armed and armored similar to an armored car, but used tracks in order to provide better cross-country mobility."

­Panzer I German light tank of the WW2 era. Armed with the two turret mounted machine guns.

3. Medium. The ALL-PURPOSE tank. That perfect [as best the term understood] compromise of mobility, firepower and protection. THE MODERN TANK IS AN ALL-PURPOSE TANK!

"Medium tank was a classification of tanks, primarily used during World War II. The medium tank, as the name suggests, represented a compromise in features between the reconnaissance and mobility oriented light tanks and the armor and armament oriented heavy tanks"

Soviet WW2 era T-34 tank. Described and generally agreed as being the BEST tank of that period. Still was in combat use [Angola] thirty years AFTER the end of the war [1945].

4. Cavalry, Cruiser or Fast. A tank more than anything part and parcel of an ideal concept of warfare that holistic answer to the stalemated trench warfare of the Great War.. A tank designed with the sole intent of being able to exploit a breakthrough, a breach of enemy defenses. Lightly protected but possessing good mobility and speed and gunned with some robustness.

"The cruiser tank (also called cavalry tank or fast tank) was a British tank concept of the inter-war period. This concept was the driving force behind several tank designs which saw action during the Second World War. In British use, the cruiser formed part of a doctrine paired with the 'infantry tank', a much slower but better amoured design intended to work in concert with the infantry in punching holes through enemy lines for the cruisers to exploit."

­

British Cruiser Mk I ·tank

"Once gaps had been punched in the enemy front by the infantry tanks, the cruisers were intended to penetrate to the rear, attacking lines of supply and communication in accordance with the theories of J.F.C. Fuller, P.C.S. Hobart, and B.H. Liddell-Hart. The cruiser tank was designed to be used in way similar to cavalry in its heyday and thus speed was a critical factor,"

5. Infantry. Slow and plodding, not so mobile but good firepower and protection. Designed to accompany the infantry during an offensive. ALMOST an all-purpose tank but not quite. These tanks punching a hole in the enemy defenses, allowing for the cruiser tank exploitation.

"The infantry tank was a concept developed by the British and French in the years leading up to World War II. Infantry tanks were tanks designed to support the infantry in the attack. To achieve this they were generally heavily armoured to allow them to operate in close concert with infantry even under heavy gun fire."

­British tank Infantry Mk I, Matilda ·

6. Heavy. Very heavily gunned and protected but not so mobile. Big gun and thick armor.

"A heavy tank was a subset of tank that provided equal or greater firepower as well as armor than tanks of lighter classes, at the cost of mobility and maneuverability."

"Heavy tanks have usually been deployed to breakthrough enemy lines, though in practice have been more useful in the defensive role than in the attack. Design goals have included attacking obstacles, creating breakthroughs, and engaging enemy armoured formations."

Soviet WW2 Joseph Stalin heavy tank.

7. Super-heavy. Very big gun in bore and caliber [that ratio of the barrel length to the bore diameter] both with very thick armor, slow and plodding, hardly even mobile. THESE SUPER-HEAVY TANKS ALMOST WITHOUT EXCEPTION EXISTING AS DRAWING BOARD PHENOMENON AND NOTHING MORE THAN A CONCEPT!

"Super-heavy tanks are armored fighting vehicles of very large size, generally over 75 tonnes. Programs have been initiated on several occasions with the aim of creating an invincible vehicle for penetrating enemy formations without fear of being destroyed in combat"

British TOG2 super-heavy tank. That small girl to the left of the tank left track gives us some sense of scale. Such a "monster" lacking I would think in mobility?

That trend since the end of WW2 armor [tanks] general purpose preferred. The American M48/M60, the Soviet T-54/T-55, the French AMX series, etc.

coolbert.