Tanks, Steel and Firepower

Gallery

Tanks

Steel and Firepower

Produced by the hundreds of thousands, tanks were one of the most important weapons systems in World War II. An armoured fighting vehicle with heavy firepower, strong armour and excellent battlefield manoeuvrability, tanks were a defining feature throughout the second world war.

Adapted to a wide range of military tasks, specialized models were created, such as flame-thrower tanks, armored recovery vehicles, command tanks with extra radios and tank destroyers with fixed armaments.

Russian T-35 Heavy Tank

German Pz. Kpfw 'Maus'

Weighed a massive 188 tons. One was fully completed and another without a turret by April of 1945. It was said to shatter any road it traveled on.

The Germans also designed an even larger tank that, when built, would weigh over 1000 tons.

T28 Super Heavy Tank

The American T28 Super Heavy Tank (also called 105 mm Gun Motor Carriage T95) weighed a whopping 95 tons. It was originally designed to be used to break through German defenses at the Siegfried Line.

Russian T-34/76's Advancing

Soviet infantry advances behind a pair of Russian T-34/76. The /76 stands for the gun size. Later T-34's come out with an 85mm gun (the T-34/85).

M4 Sherman with T34 calliope

An American M4 Sherman with a T34 calliope attached.

Russian SMK Tank

The SMK (Sergius Mironovitch Kirov) Tank was developed by the Soviet Union prior to World War Two and weighed 55 tons. It was known to German intelligence as the "T-35C".

Advancing Column of M4 Shermans

Three M4 Shermans advance in a column. The M4 Sherman was the most widely used tank by Western Allied forces. It started the war with a 75mm gun, then the British added their 76mm long gun.

Pz. Kpfw VI Ausf B King Tiger Tank

The German Pz. Kpfw VI Ausf B King Tiger (aka Tiger Royal). At 68 tons it was the heaviest tank to see action. It also carried the most powerful tank armament of the war.

This photo was taken in Budapest, Hungary on 19/03/44. The King Tiger in the picture was supporting Otto Skorzeny's special troops at the Castle of Buda.

M4 Sherman tanks on D-Day

American M4 Sherman tanks unload onto the D-Day beaches.

British A34 Comet I

A34 Comet I Cruiser Tank was the supreme British tank of World War Two.

Pz. Kpfw IV Ausf H (Panzer IV)

The Pz. Kpfw IV Ausf H was one of the many versions of the Panzerkampfwagen IV or Panzer IV.

Wrecked German Tiger Tank

Wrecked but no less monstrous, this Pz. Kpfw VI Ausf E 'Tiger', was once a member of the SS-Liebestandatre Korps.

German Panther Tank

The Pz. Kpfw V Ausf G 'Panther' rolls towards the Arch de Triumph, Paris, 1944.

Pz. Kpfw IV Ausf G (Panzer IV)

The Pz. Kpfw IV Ausf G was often mistaken for a Tiger Tank by Allied tankers.

T-40 'Whizz Bang' on M4 Sherman

A T-40 'Whizz Bang' rocket launcher mounted atop an American M4 Sherman Tank.

Tiger Royal at Ardennes Offensive

A Tiger II tank from Schwere SS Panzer Abteilung 501 passes a column of GIs from the 99th Infantry Division captured near Honsfield and Lanzereth during the opening day of the Battle of the Bulge. December 16th 1944.

The town of Merlscheid is in the background.