 | This article needs additional citations for verification .(May 2021) |
The Disston Tractor Tank, also called the Six-Ton Tractor Tank, was an American light tank of the mid 1930s. It was cheap to make, but few were sold as it was primitive and markedly inferior to the other light tanks of the era.
The tank was created as a joint venture by the Caterpillar Corporation and the Disston Saw Works. Caterpillar provided the chassis, which was from a standard Caterpillar Model 35 civilian tractor, and Disston provided the tank body, which was bolted on to the Caterpillar chassis. The Caterpillar track was lengthened by adding a road wheel to the front of the track assembly, but some examples apparently do not have this lengthened track. [1] [2]
The Disston had a 37mm gun mounted in the body, and a turret with a .30 caliber (7.62 mm) light machine gun. It weighed about six tons, probably had a speed of 5 to 6.5 miles per hour, and had armor sufficient to stop small arms fire. The crew consisted of three men. At a cost of $21,000 (equivalent to $331,000in 2021), the Disston was cheaper than similarly-armed tanks, but – being quite slow, with tracks unsuited for difficult terrain, thin armor, a high boxy superstructure, and the engine exposed in the front – was generally deemed unsatisfactory even so. [2]
A few were sold and delivered to Afghanistan and entered service there. Some of these still exist, in broken-down condition or in Afghan scrapyards. The vehicle was marketed to Kuwait, New Zealand and Romania, and perhaps some other countries, but there is no reliable evidence that any were sold. [2]
An armoured fighting vehicle or armored fighting vehicle (AFV) is an armed combat vehicle protected by armour, generally combining operational mobility with offensive and defensive capabilities. AFVs can be wheeled or tracked. Examples of AFVs are tanks, armoured cars, assault guns, self-propelled artilleries, infantry fighting vehicles (IFV), and armoured personnel carriers (APC).
A tank destroyer, tank hunter or tank killer is a type of armoured fighting vehicle, predominantly intended for anti-tank duties. They are typically armed with a direct fire artillery gun, also known as a self-propelled anti-tank gun, or missile launcher, also called an anti-tank missile carrier. The vehicles are designed specifically to engage and destroy enemy tanks, often with limited operational capacities.
An anti-aircraft vehicle, also known as a self-propelled anti-aircraft gun (SPAAG) or self-propelled air defense system (SPAD), is a mobile vehicle with a dedicated anti-aircraft capability.
A military engineering vehicle is a vehicle built for construction work or for the transportation of combat engineers on the battlefield. These vehicles may be modified civilian equipment or purpose-built military vehicles. The first appearance of such vehicles coincided with the appearance of the first tanks, these vehicles were modified Mark V tanks for bridging and mine clearance. Modern military engineering vehicles are expected to fulfill numerous roles, as such they undertake numerous forms, examples of roles include; bulldozers, cranes, graders, excavators, dump trucks, breaching vehicles, bridging vehicles, military ferries, amphibious crossing vehicles, and combat engineer section carriers.
Self-propelled artillery is artillery equipped with its own propulsion system to move toward its firing position. Within the terminology are the self-propelled gun, self-propelled howitzer, self-propelled mortar, and rocket artillery. They are high mobility vehicles, usually based on continuous tracks carrying either a large field gun, howitzer, mortar, or some form of rocket/missile launcher. They are usually used for long-range indirect bombardment support on the battlefield.
The history of the tank begins with World War I, when armoured all-terrain fighting vehicles were introduced as a response to the problems of trench warfare, ushering in a new era of mechanized warfare. Though initially crude and unreliable, tanks eventually became a mainstay of ground armies. By World War II, tank design had advanced significantly, and tanks were used in quantity in all land theatres of the war. The Cold War saw the rise of modern tank doctrine and the rise of the general-purpose main battle tank. The tank still provides the backbone to land combat operations in the 21st century.
The Morris Commercial C8 FAT, commonly known as a (Beetle-back) Quad, is an artillery tractor used by the British and Commonwealth, during the Second World War. It was used to tow field artillery pieces, such as the 25-pounder gun-howitzer, and anti-tank guns, such as the 17-pounder.
Tanks were initially deployed in World War I, engineered to overcome the deadlock of trench warfare. Between the two world wars, tanks were further developed. Although they had demonstrated their battlefield effectiveness, only a few nations had the industrial resources to design and build them. During and after World War I, Britain and France pioneered tank technology, with their models generally serving as a blueprint for other countries. However, this initial advantage would slowly diminish during the 1930s, shifting in favor of the Soviet Union and, to a lesser degree, Nazi Germany.
The Bob Semple tank was a light tank designed by New Zealand Minister of Works Bob Semple during World War II. Originating out of the need to build military hardware from available materials, the tank was built from corrugated iron on a tractor base. Designed and built during a period of uncertainty in which New Zealand feared having to defend itself from Japanese invasion without external assistance, these tanks were a civilian effort to design and create a means to protect New Zealand.
The KhTZ-16 was a Soviet improvised fighting vehicle of the Second World War, built on the chassis of an STZ-3 tractor. The vehicles were built in Kharkiv until the factory was evacuated to the east, at which time production moved to Stalingrad. No less than 809 vehicles were planned, but no more than about 60-90 were actually built. Some vehicles were used in the fighting around Kharkiv in October 1941, but were quickly lost in battle against Axis forces.
The Schofield tank, named after its designer, was a New Zealand tank design of the Second World War. Developed in 1940 when it seemed that the Pacific War might reach New Zealand and with little likelihood of weapons coming from Britain, it did not enter service. It was designed to run on either tracks or wheels.
An artillery tractor, also referred to as a gun tractor, is a specialized heavy-duty form of tractor unit used to tow artillery pieces of varying weights and calibres. It may be wheeled, tracked, or half-tracked.
The Panzerkampfwagen I was a light tank produced in Germany in the 1930s. The Panzer I was built in several variants and was the basis for a number of variants listed below.
D-8 (Dyrenkov-8) was an early Soviet armored vehicle built in 1932–34. Only 60 were built; it was quickly superseded by the FAI armoured car. Both were assembled in the Izhorsky Factory near Leningrad.
The BMP series were among the first production line infantry fighting vehicles. Included in the series are the mainline BMPs, the airborne variant BMDs, and licensed modified and reverse engineered versions. BMP stands for Boyevaya Mashina Pekhoty, meaning "infantry fighting vehicle". They were initially developed in the 1960s in the Soviet Union.
This article deals with the tanks serving in the German Army throughout history, such as the World War I tanks of the Imperial German Army, the interwar and World War II tanks of the Nazi German Wehrmacht, the Cold War tanks of the West German and East German Armies, all the way to the present day tanks of the Bundeswehr.
The New Zealand Army use of tanks from after the First World War, through the interwar period, the Second World War, the Cold War and to the present day has been limited, but there is some history. The New Zealand armed forces developed in the early twentieth century but served alongside the British and other Empire and Commonwealth nations in World War I and World War II.
