Mo's Manic Monday - Tracks

Posted: Monday, October 08, 2007 by Travis Cody in
15



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Welcome to another Manic Monday with Morgen. Don't forget to cruise by MM HQ at It's A Blog Eat Blog World. Today's theme is Tracks.

Armored combat vehicles, or tanks, were first introduced into combat in World War I by the British. The early tanks were instrumental in allowing troops to cross long stretches of open ground. The tracks made them effective against barbed wire and other man traps, and critical in destroying machine gun nests that raked advancing troops with deadly fire.

This is a British World War I Mark IV tank with experimental "Tadpole Tail".



The M4 Sherman tank was a fast and reliable medium tank deployed in World War II. It was technically simple, very reliable, and easily mass produced. Unfortunately it had thin armor and lighter munitions that had trouble penetrating the heavy armor of German Panzers.

The main advantage of the medium tank was that more than 30,000 Shermans were deployed against about 600 German Tigers and about 1500 German Panthers. The German tanks had better protection and firepower, but the Shermans swarmed them and were often able to out-maneuver them.



This is an M60 Patton Main Battle Tank. The M60 was first put into service in the 1960's and saw service in Vietnam and Desert Storm. It was the primary battle tank until the introduction of the M1.



The M1 Abrams Main Battle Tank entered service in 1980. Improvements in armament, protection, and electronics produced the M1A1 and M1A2 and have made it possible for this tank to become the primary battle tank for the US Army and Marines.



15 comments:

  1. My grandad gave me a toy M60 when I was a kid. I used to put The Incredible hulk, a cowboy and a Red Indian on the truck and move it around :)

  1. Anonymous says:

    Way cool, Trav! :)

    Happy MM.

  1. years ago when sarge and i lived on aberdeen proving grounds in maryland they had tanks lining the entire road onto the base, so many of them. last year we went back and they were all gone, homeland security. i guess someone might have driven them off????

    smiles, bee

  1. Schmoop says:

    Many of the Abrams tanks are built here in Ohio about 90 minutes from my town. Cheers Trav!!

  1. JAM says:

    Great stuff, Travis.

    I remember years ago, just after Desert Storm, my Dad showed me an article with an interview with a Russian (former Soviet) military expert.

    After the stealth fighter and the stealth bombers and then the A-10s decimated the Iraq massive swarms of tanks, he said "tank warfare as we knew it all these years is now over."

    I recently saw a show about the floating tanks they landed at Normandy, and about the many ones that sank with the crews in them.

  1. Terra: I loved to make anachronistic battles when I was a kid with tanks, horse cavalry, toy Indians, and toy knights.

    CWM: Thanks!

    Bee: Or maybe they were afraid people would swipe parts off of them?

    Matt: Cool!

    Sarge: I should have researched a couple of tank battalions too, but I didn't have time for this post.

    Jam: I think I saw that same program about the Normandy tanks, or one like it. The British also utilized so many different attachments on the front of their tanks and other tracked vehicles to make them more effective in the hedgerows as they moved inland off the beaches.

  1. Julie says:

    So I figure my daddy saw quite a few of the M4Sherman tanks, huh? I never knew...thanks Travis.

    **sigh**

  1. I wonder if there'll ever again be such a breakthrough in tank warfare as that introduced by the Germans in WWII with the Blitzkrieg. I'm thinking not.

  1. great take on tracks Travis!

    they are very interesting vehicles.

  1. Big things that shoot....

    very cool....

  1. Liz Hill says:

    When I first saw the theme--this is what I thought of--well done sugar--as always.

    Smooch

  1. Julie: I suspect he did sweetie. You're welcome. Hugs.

    Charles: Some would say helicopter warfare has made a similar impact on the battlefield. But you may be right that we won't likely see another surprise domination like WWII.

    Katherine: Tanks are cool!

    V: Yeppers!

    Turn: Thanks Ma'am.

  1. I enjoyed the tank history - very cool!

  1. Meribah says:

    I love history. Thanks for the post! :)