Wednesday, 4 December 2024
Video: Historically Accurate Panzer '46 - Heavy Tank M26 Pershing
Sunday, 24 November 2024
Tank Archives on the big screen
My reenacting group sometimes acts as extras in war movies, but we also decided to make our own! The audio is in Russian, but English subtitles are available.
Sunday, 17 November 2024
Track Bashing
Changing tracks on T-34 and T-34-85 tanks at the Museum of National Military History
As the saying goes, there is no such thing as a light tank. Many operations that seem quite simple are actually very difficult to perform on a machine weighing several dozen tons. Many vehicles from the Great Patriotic War era were anything but light, and servicing them requires a lot of effort.
Changing tracks is a routine but difficult procedure. |
Wednesday, 13 November 2024
Tank Archives on Bluesky
Numbers don't lie, and the numbers haven't been in favour of my Twitter account for quite some time. Despite an increase in content, growth has plateaued and the effort hasn't been worth it. Fortunately with the latest Twitter exodus, there seems to be a new audience forming on Bluesky. Join me there!
Sunday, 3 November 2024
Video: Soviet Super-powered Tank Destroyers
If the Maus or E-100 reached the battlefield during the Second World War, it would not be anywhere as invincible as it might have appeared. The Soviets had four prospective tank destroyers going through testing by the summer of 1945, each powerful enough to pierce its armour from a long range. Find out how and why in my latest video.
Thursday, 17 October 2024
A Paper Alternative to the Panzer IV/70
The performance of German armoured vehicles is often overestimated, particularly of those that remained on paper. It can be anywhere between interesting and sad to watch an attempt to turn a doodle on a napkin into an ultimate weapon that could have changed the balance of power. It is clear why this happened. The thing is that the first German documents to be declassified were the ones with the least value. These were the documents that saw the widest publication even though weapons prepared by other nations for 1945-46 had much more potential.
The "canonical" E-25. The cupola appeared here due to a mistake made by American intelligence. |
The E-series is usually the main subject of these fantasies. However, a careful evaluation shows that these projects achieved very little. The E-100 superheavy tank was actually a resurrection of the Tiger-Maus, rejected back in late 1942. At least the E-100 ended up as an unfinished prototype. None of the other E-series projects made it even this far, including the E-25.
Friday, 4 October 2024
Video: T-54 in 1945
The T-54 is best known as a Cold War era tank, but if the war unfolded a little differently it could have seen battle in WW2. Check out my latest video to see when the T-54 was ready for battle and why it took so long to fight.
Tuesday, 17 September 2024
Pz.Kpfw.I Weak Spots
"Brief characteristics:
- Armour: front, side, and turret armour is 13 mm thick.
- Engine: gasoline.
- Length: 3.7 m, width: 2.1 m, height: 1.8 m
- Armament: 2 machine guns, 2 smoke launchers
Wednesday, 4 September 2024
Video: The Myth of the Disposable T-34
You often hear that the T-34 was a disposable tank that was never intended to survive for very long on the battlefield, so there was no reason to make it particularly reliable, but how true is that really? I run through the numbers to compare where the Red Army wanted its T-34 tanks to be in terms of reliability and how far the tank could actually be expected to travel.
No T-34s were harmed in the making of this video.
Monday, 12 August 2024
BA-10 at the Height of Power
It was not a surprise that armoured cars quickly made way for tanks in the food chain of the battlefield. The problem with an armoured car is its chassis. Even the best car falls short of a tank, especially when it comes to cross-country terrain. Because of this armoured cars were relegated to reconnaissance and signals duties. The Red Army was no exception.
It just so happens that there are no aces among armoured car crews due to the special place they occupy on the battlefield. However, that was not always the case. For instance, BA-10 armoured cars played an important part in the battle for Bain-Tsagan and not as a method of reconnaissance.