The T-34 is a Soviet medium tank that was designed in 1940 and served during World War II. When introduced, its 76.2 mm (3 in) tank gun was more powerful than its contemporaries, and its 60-degree sloped armour provided good protection against anti-tank weapons. The Christie suspension was inherited from the design of the American J. Walter Christie's M1928 tank, versions of which were sold turretless to the Red Army. The T-34 had a profound effect on the conflict on the Eastern Front in the Second World War, and had a long lasting impact on tank design. After the Germans encountered the tank in 1941 during Operation Barbarossa, German General Paul Ludwig Ewald von Kleist, called it "the finest tank in the world" and Heinz Guderian affirmed the T-34's "vast superiority" over German tanks. Alfred Jodl, chief of operations staff of the German armed forces, noted in his war diary "the surprise at this new and thus unknown wunder-armament being unleashed against the German assault divisions," although its armour and armament were surpassed later in the war.
The T-26 tank was a Soviet light tank used during many conflicts of the Interwar period and in World War II. It was a development of the British Vickers 6-Ton tank and was one of the most successful tank designs of the 1930s until its light armour became vulnerable to newer anti-tank guns. It was produced in greater numbers than any other tank of the period, with more than 11,000 units manufactured. During the 1930s, the USSR developed 53 variants of the T-26, including flame-throwing tanks, combat engineer vehicles, remotely controlled tanks, self-propelled guns, artillery tractors, and armoured carriers. Twenty-three of these were series-produced, others were experimental models.
The T-28 was a Soviet multi-turreted medium tank. The prototype was completed in 1931, and production began in late 1932. It was an infantry support tank intended to break through fortified defences. The T-28 was designed to complement the heavier T-35, with which it shared turret designs. The type did not have great success in combat, but it played an important role as a development project for Soviet tank designers. A series of new ideas and solutions that were tried out on the T-28 were later incorporated in future models.
The BT tanks were a series of Soviet light tanks produced in large numbers between 1932 and 1941. They were lightly armoured, but reasonably well-armed for their time, and had the best mobility of all contemporary tanks. The BT tanks were known by the nickname Betka from the acronym, or its diminutive Betushka. The successor of the BT tanks was the famous T-34 medium tank, introduced in 1940, which would replace all of the Soviet fast tanks, infantry tanks, and medium tanks in service.
The BT-7 was the last of the BT series of Soviet cavalry tanks that were produced in large numbers between 1935 and 1940. It was lightly armoured, but reasonably well-armed for the time, and had much better mobility than other contemporary tank designs. The BT tanks were known by the nickname Betka from the acronym, or its diminutive, Betushka.
The Jagdpanzer 38, originally the leichter Panzerjäger 38(t), known mostly post-war as Hetzer, was a German light tank destroyer of the Second World War based on a modified Czechoslovakian Panzer 38(t) chassis.
Panzerkampfwagen VIII Maus was a German World War II super-heavy tank completed in late 1944. It is the heaviest fully enclosed armored fighting vehicle ever built. Five were ordered, but only two hulls and one turret were completed, the turret being attached before the testing grounds were captured by advancing Soviet military forces.
The 38M Toldi was a Hungarian light tank, developed on the basis of the Swedish Landsverk L-60. It was named after the 14th century Hungarian knight Miklós Toldi.
The Type 97 Light armored car Te-Ke was a tankette used by the Imperial Japanese Army in the Second Sino-Japanese War, at Nomonhan against the Soviet Union, and in World War II. It was designed as a fast reconnaissance vehicle, and was a replacement for the earlier Type 94 tankette.
The BT-42 was a Finnish assault gun, constructed during the Continuation War. It was constructed from captured Soviet BT-7 light tanks and British 4.5-inch howitzers from 1918, which had been donated during the Winter War. Only eighteen vehicles were constructed.
The T-38 amphibious scout tank was a Soviet amphibious light tank that saw service in World War II. Developed as a modernized version of the earlier T-37A light tank, the T-38 proved to be only a moderate improvement over its predecessor, and was eventually replaced in 1940 by the T-40.
The M2 half-track car is an armored half-track produced by the United States during World War II. Its design drew upon half-tracks imported from France in the 1930s, employing standard components supplied by U.S. truck manufacturers to speed production and reduce costs. The concept was designed, and the pilot models manufactured by the Firestone Tire and Rubber Company Production by the White Motor Company began in 1940 and was expanded to include Autocar.
The T-50 was a light infantry tank built by the Soviet Union at the beginning of World War II. The design for this vehicle had some advanced features, but was complicated and expensive, and only a short production run of 69 tanks was completed.
The Type 1 Ho-Ki was a tracked armored personnel carrier (APC) developed by the Imperial Japanese Army in World War II.
Little Willie was a prototype in the development of the British Mark I tank. Constructed in the autumn of 1915 at the behest of the Landship Committee, it was the first completed tank prototype in history. Little Willie is the oldest surviving individual tank, and is preserved as one of the most famous pieces in the collection of The Tank Museum, Bovington, England.
The Sd.Kfz. 7 was a half-track military vehicle used by the German Army, Luftwaffe and Waffen-SS during the Second World War. Sd.Kfz. is an abbreviation of the German word Sonderkraftfahrzeug, "special purpose vehicle". A longer designation is Sd.Kfz. 7 mittlerer Zugkraftwagen 8t, "medium towing motor vehicle 8t".
The SU-100Y was a Soviet prototype self-propelled gun, developed from the prototype T-100 tank. It was developed during the Winter War with Finland to include a 130 mm gun to destroy concrete defensive structures like bunkers and anti-tank obstacles along with the use as a tank destroyer. It did not see production, but the prototype was brought into use in the Second World War in defence of Moscow and possibly in other operations as it stayed in service until the end of the war.
The Panzerkampfwagen E-100 (TG-01) was a German super-heavy tank design developed towards the end of World War II. The largest of the Entwicklung series of tank designs intended to improve German armored vehicle production through standardization on cheaper, simpler to build vehicles. By the end of the war, the chassis of the prototype E-100 had been partially completed; it was shipped to the United Kingdom for trials, but was later scrapped.
The T19 Howitzer Motor Carriage (HMC) was a 105 mm (4.1 in) howitzer mounted on a M3 Half-track chassis. It saw service during World War II with the U.S. Army. Its secondary armament consisted of an air-cooled .50 in (13 mm) M2 machine gun for local defense. It was produced by Diamond T between January 1942 and April 1942.
Finland