World War II AFV
The massive employement of tanks during WW II was the result of the newly adopted tactical requirements of the modern warfare : surprise, deployment "en masse" of armoured vehicles, and their capacity to operate on every suitable terrain.
The Germans were the first ones to realize how units' mobility
was fundamental to give adequate support to their "lightning moving" panzer
divisionen and, accordingly, widely adopted self-propelled guns as well
as half-tracked armoured personnel carriers .
Sdkfz 251/1
The Americans learned, however, this lesson very well and, between 1941 and 1945, produced more than 41,000 half-tracks and armoured personnel carriers.
M.3 A1 Half Track
Self-propelled guns were realized by mounting howitzers or heavy guns on either tanks' hulls or armoured cars. This process involved, with different emphasis, all the belligerant armies other than the British one. Salient examples were
|
|
| The Sdkfz 165 Hummel was realized by assembling mechanical parts of
the PzKfw III and PzKfw IV tanks. It was armed with a 150 mm. howitzer and saw combat on
various fronts, specially the Russian one. The American 105mm. M. 7 howitzer motor carriage was first introduced into action at El Alamein. It was named the Priest because of the pulpit appearance of the .50 caliber antiaircraft mount. Rapidly replacing the half-track 105mm. howitzer motor carriage T19, it served with U.S. troops in Tunisia and became the standard light artillery weapon for the U.S. armoured divisions. |
|
In addition to these platforms, extremely important for antitank (Pak) or infantry support tasks, other became, however, necessary for the British, the German, the Italian, and the Japanese armies : the antiaircraft (Flak) self-propelled guns/machine guns.
|
|
| The Flakpanzer IV was realized by mounting on the
Panzerkampfwagen IV hull either a 37 mm. gun (Ostwind version) or a
four-barreled 20 mm. machine gun (Wirbelwind version). The British vehicle was a Crusader III hull with a 40 mm. Bofors gun mounted on a 360-degree traverse armoured turret. |
|
|
|
| The Semovente contraereo (anti-aircraft
self-propelled gun) , manufactured by Ansaldo in 1943, was realized
by mounting on the M15/42 hull a turret armed with four 20 mm. Isotta
Fraschini-Scotti machine guns . The Japanese prototype was armed with two 20 mm. guns. It was not, however, produced. |
|
Further development of the AFV/antitank artillery combination was a new generation of armored vehicles : the Tank Destroyers or Jagdpanzer, heavily armored and armored assault guns, widely employed as infantry support as well as tank hunters (panzerjager).
|
|
| The Jagdpanther was realized by mounting on the PzKfw V hull
the 88mm PAK . The Jagdtiger mounted a 128mm KWK (a 60 pounds!) capable of penetrating, at a distance of 1,000 mt, a 200mm 60-degree slope steel plate !. Fortunately (for the Allies) only 48 units were produced. |
|
|
|
| The S.U. 85 (Samokhodnaya Ustanovka) was realized by mounting on
the T34/85 hull an 85mm gun. The J.S.U.122 (Josef Stalin Ustanovka), as well as his "big brother" J.S.U. 152 were developed from the hulls of the KV / JS heavy tanks class. |
|
The Americans followed a more traditional design for their Tank Destroyers
|
|
| The M.10 was a 76.2 mm. Gun Motor Carriage based on the M4A2
hull .Standardized in June 1942, the M.10 was produced through the end of 1943
(when it was replaced by the M.36); about 7,000 were built, of which some 2,600
of the M.10A1 type (based on the M4A3 hull). The M.10 in British
service was know as the Wolverine and its main gun was still a 76.2 mm but it was
the 17-pounder mounted on the Sherman Firefly and the Archer tank
destroyer. The M.18 Hellcat TD was designed in 1942 for the U.S. Army as a state-of-the-art tank destroyer. It was armed with an excellent 76mm antitank gun and, even though less armored than the M10, it was highly valued for its speed (more than 70 km/hr !) and extraordinary mobility. General Patton selected the M18 for his Third Army at the Battle of the Bulge. |
|
Please forward your comments (if any) to my Mailbox
Back to Klisura 69 homepage
Page established on : July 15, 1998
Last update : July 15, 1998
This page is maintained by Mario Paesani .....the webmaster !
This page hosted by 
Get your own Free
Home Page
