1.
ZSU-23-4
–
The ZSU-23-4 Shilka is a lightly armored Soviet self-propelled, radar guided anti-aircraft weapon system. The acronym ZSU stands for Zenitnaya Samokhodnaya Ustanovka, meaning anti-aircraft self-propelled mount, the 23 signifies the bore diameter in millimeters and it is named after the Shilka River in Russia. Afghan soldiers nicknamed it the sewing machine due to the sound of firing guns and it is also referred to by its nickname of Zeus. The previous Soviet self-propelled anti-aircraft gun, the ZSU-57-2, was armed with two 57 mm autocannons, it was aimed using a basic tracking and lead calculating system. The ZPU series armed with 14.5 mm heavy machine guns carried on a mount for stationary. The 23 mm version of this system was known as the ZU-23-2. However, these towed or improvised truck-mounted weapons had similar disadvantages, initially, tank regiments should have had the anti-aircraft artillery battalion of Shilka. At the end of the 1960s, one battery was equipped with ZSU-23-4s, motorized rifle and tank regiment standard anti-aircraft batteries consisted of two platoons later. The ZSU-23-4 combined a proven radar system, the chassis based on GM-575 tracked vehicle. This delivered a highly effective combination of mobility with heavy firepower, the ZSU-23-4 outclassed all NATO anti-aircraft guns at the time, and it is still regarded as posing a major threat for low-flying fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters. The system was widely fielded throughout the Warsaw Pact and among other pro-Soviet states, around 2,500 ZSU-23-4s, of the total 6,500 produced, were exported to 23 countries. The Soviet Unions successor states continue to manufacture and supply variants of the ZSU-23-4, notably the Ukrainian Donets, ZSU-23-4 units saw active service in the Yom Kippur War and other Arab-Israeli conflicts, the Iran–Iraq War, and the First Gulf War. During the 1973 Yom Kippur War, the system was effective against the Israeli Air Force. Israeli pilots attempting to fly low in order to avoid SA-6 missiles were shot down by ZSU-23-4s as in Operation Doogman 5. They were also used to suppress defensive positions around the palace during the initial coup in Kabul at the start of the Soviet-Afghan war. The Russian Army used the ZSU-23-4 for mountain combat in Chechnya, the ZSU-23-4 has a very high density, rate and accuracy of fire, as well as the capability for each of the four autocannons to fire its own type of projectile from separate belts. Operators were strongly discouraged from shooting from a single barrel, the appearance of the Shilka caused significant changes in NATO tactics in aircraft use at low altitude over the battlefield. With its high rate of fire, the ZSU-23-4 can even neutralize tanks by destroying their gun sights, radio antennas
2.
California
–
California is the most populous state in the United States and the third most extensive by area. Located on the western coast of the U. S, California is bordered by the other U. S. states of Oregon, Nevada, and Arizona and shares an international border with the Mexican state of Baja California. Los Angeles is Californias most populous city, and the second largest after New York City. The Los Angeles Area and the San Francisco Bay Area are the nations second- and fifth-most populous urban regions, California also has the nations most populous county, Los Angeles County, and its largest county by area, San Bernardino County. The Central Valley, an agricultural area, dominates the states center. What is now California was first settled by various Native American tribes before being explored by a number of European expeditions during the 16th and 17th centuries, the Spanish Empire then claimed it as part of Alta California in their New Spain colony. The area became a part of Mexico in 1821 following its war for independence. The western portion of Alta California then was organized as the State of California, the California Gold Rush starting in 1848 led to dramatic social and demographic changes, with large-scale emigration from the east and abroad with an accompanying economic boom. If it were a country, California would be the 6th largest economy in the world, fifty-eight percent of the states economy is centered on finance, government, real estate services, technology, and professional, scientific and technical business services. Although it accounts for only 1.5 percent of the states economy, the story of Calafia is recorded in a 1510 work The Adventures of Esplandián, written as a sequel to Amadis de Gaula by Spanish adventure writer Garci Rodríguez de Montalvo. The kingdom of Queen Calafia, according to Montalvo, was said to be a land inhabited by griffins and other strange beasts. This conventional wisdom that California was an island, with maps drawn to reflect this belief, shortened forms of the states name include CA, Cal. Calif. and US-CA. Settled by successive waves of arrivals during the last 10,000 years, various estimates of the native population range from 100,000 to 300,000. The Indigenous peoples of California included more than 70 distinct groups of Native Americans, ranging from large, settled populations living on the coast to groups in the interior. California groups also were diverse in their organization with bands, tribes, villages. Trade, intermarriage and military alliances fostered many social and economic relationships among the diverse groups, the first European effort to explore the coast as far north as the Russian River was a Spanish sailing expedition, led by Portuguese captain Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo, in 1542. Some 37 years later English explorer Francis Drake also explored and claimed a portion of the California coast in 1579. Spanish traders made unintended visits with the Manila galleons on their trips from the Philippines beginning in 1565
3.
History of the tank
–
Though initially crude and unreliable, tanks eventually became a mainstay of ground armies. By World War II, tank design had advanced significantly, 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 operations in the 21st century. World War I generated new demands for armoured self-propelled weapons which could navigate any kind of terrain, the great weakness of the tanks predecessor, the armoured car, was that it required smooth terrain to move upon, and new developments were needed for cross-country capability. The tank was designed as a special weapon to solve an unusual tactical situation. It was a designed for one simple task, crossing the killing zone between trench lines and breaking into enemy. Few recognised during World War I that the means for returning mobility and shock action to combat was already present in a device destined to warfare on the ground. With increased firepower and protection, these forces would, only some 20 years later. Numerous concepts of armoured vehicles had been imagined for a long time. With advent of trench warfare in World War I, the Allied French and British developments of the tank were largely parallel, in the 15th century, a Hussite called Jan Žižka won several battles using armoured wagons containing cannon that could be fired through holes in their sides. But his invention was not used after his lifetime until the 20th century, in 1903, a French artillery captain named Léon Levavasseur proposed the Levavasseur project, a canon autopropulseur, moved by a caterpillar system and fully armoured for protection. This arrangement gave them the maximum of adaptability to the contours of the ground and they crawled level along the ground with one foot high upon a hillock and another deep in a depression, and they could hold themselves erect and steady sideways upon even a steep hillside. In the years before the Great War, two practical tank-like designs were proposed but not developed, in 1911, the Austrian engineering officer Günther Burstyn submitted a proposal for a fighting vehicle that had a gun in a rotating turret. In 1912, the Australian civil engineer Lancelot de Moles proposal included a model of a functional fully tracked vehicle. Both of these were rejected by their respective governmental administrations, benjamin Holt of the Holt Manufacturing Company of Stockton, California was the first to file a US patent for a workable crawler type tractor in 1907. The centre of innovation was in England, and in 1903 he travelled to England to learn more about ongoing development. Holt paid Alvin Lombard US$60,000 for the right to produce vehicles under Lombards patent for the Lombard Steam Log Hauler. Holt returned to Stockton and, utilising his knowledge and his companys metallurgical capabilities, he became the first to design, in England, David Roberts of Hornsby & Sons, Grantham, obtained a patent for a design in July 1904
4.
Tanks in World War I
–
The development of tanks in World War I was a response to the stalemate that had developed on the Western Front. Research took place in both Great Britain and France, with Germany only belatedly following the Allies lead, in Great Britain, an initial vehicle, nicknamed Little Willie, was constructed at William Foster & Co. during August and September 1915. The prototype of a new design that would become the Mark I tank was demonstrated to the British Army on February 2,1916, although initially termed Landships by the Landships Committee, production vehicles were named tanks, to preserve secrecy. The term was chosen when it became known that the workers at William Foster referred to the first prototype as the tank because of its resemblance to a steel water tank. The French fielded their first tanks in April 1917 and went on to far more tanks than all other combatants combined. The Germans, on the hand, began development only in response to the appearance of Allied tanks on the battlefield. Whilst the Allies manufactured several thousand tanks during the War, Germany deployed only 1680 of her own, the first tanks were mechanically unreliable. There were problems that caused considerable attrition rates during combat deployment, the heavily shelled terrain was impassable to conventional vehicles, and only highly mobile tanks such as the Mark and FTs performed reasonably well. The Mark Is rhomboid shape, caterpillar tracks, and 26-foot length meant that it could navigate obstacles, especially wide trenches, along with the tank, the first self-propelled gun and the first armoured personnel carrier were also constructed in World War I. The conceptual roots of the tank go back to ancient times, with the coming of the Industrial Revolution and the demonstrable power of steam, James Cowan presented a proposal for a Steam Powered Land Ram in 1855, towards the end of the Crimean War. Lord Palmerston is said to have dismissed it as barbaric, at one point in 1908, Major William E. Donohue of the Mechanical Transport Committee remarked to Roberts that he should design a new machine with armour, capable of carrying its own gun. But, disheartened by years of ultimately fruitless tinkering for the Army, in later years he expressed regret at not having pursued it. The Austrian government said it would be interested in evaluating it if Burstyn could secure commercial backing to produce a prototype, lacking the requisite contacts, he let it drop. An approach to the German government was similarly fruitless, De Moles proposal already had the climbing face, so typical of the later World War I British tanks, but it is unknown whether there was some connection. De Mole noted in 1919 that he was urged by friends before the war to approach the Germans with his design, before World War I, motorized vehicles were still relatively uncommon, and their use on the battlefield was initially limited, especially of heavier vehicles. Armoured cars soon became commonplace with most belligerents, especially in more open terrain. Armored cars did indeed prove useful in open land such as in deserts, the other issue was that it was very hard to add much protection or armament. The main limitation was the wheels, which gave a high pressure for the vehicles weight
5.
Tanks of the interwar period
–
This article discusses tanks of the interwar period. World War I established the validity of the concept and between the two world wars, many nations needed to have tanks, but only a few had the industrial resources to design. During and after World War I, Britain and France were the leaders in tank design. This early lead would be gradually lost during the course of the 1930s to the Soviet Union and, to a lesser extent, the final tank designs of 1918 showed a number of trends. The joint US and British Mark VIII tank was supposed to be a heavy tank design for them. The design should have overcome the limitations of the earlier British heavy tanks, the 34-foot-long, 37-ton armored vehicle was powered by a 300-hp V-12 engine and capable of 7 mph cross-country. Worldwide, many sizes of tank were considered, and much of the development effort went into light tanks that were primarily against infantry or for colonial police-type work. The worldwide economic difficulties of the 1920s and 1930s led to an emphasis on light tanks as they were much cheaper to produce than medium or heavy tanks. However, the Spanish Civil War showed that tank-versus-tank engagements and tank-versus-towed antitank gun engagements would now be a consideration for the future of tank warfare. It became clear that tanks would need to be heavily armoured, Tank shape, previously guided purely by considerations of obstacle clearance, now became a trade-off between a low profile, desirable for stealth, and weight savings. In Britain, a deal of study on the future of tank warfare was carried out. In the U. S. J. Walter Christie developed a series of fast tanks and this was combined with very high power-to-weight ratios achieved by fitting large aircraft engines in his tanks. Christies prototypes were purchased by the Soviet Union, and were to be developed into the BT tanks and eventually, on the eve of World War II. Today it may be difficult to understand why the idea found such resistance from the leadership of several armies. Part of the explanation is that the automotive industry was in its infancy. Tanks were rightly considered unreliable, troublesome equipment as late as the early 1930s, weak engines, poor transmissions, and fragile, short-life tracks contributed to this reputation. The international success of the Vickers six-ton tank is due more to its high reliability than any brilliance in the design, however, as the decade passed, engines, transmissions and tracks all improved. By the beginning of World War II, reliable engines and transmissions, a final trend in the between-the-wars period was changes in manufacturing methods
6.
Tanks in World War II
–
Tanks were an important weapons system in World War II. Although tanks were the subject of research in the inter-war years. However, during World War II most armies employed tanks, Tank usage, doctrine and production varied widely among the combatant nations. By wars end, a consensus was emerging regarding tank doctrine, the tank was invented by the British in World War I, with nearly simultaneous development in France. Tanks of the First World War reflected the novelty of the idea, World War I tanks moved at a walking pace, were relatively unreliable, and the best usage of them was still developing up to the wars end. In addition to support, tanks fulfilled traditional cavalry roles, provided mobile artillery support. Tank design gradually improved in the period also. Reflecting the growth of the industry, tank engines, transmissions. By the beginning of the war in September 1939, tanks were available that could travel hundreds of miles on their tracks with a number of breakdowns. The war accelerated the pace of change in design, in particular, the gun-vs-armor race of the war led to rapid improvements in firepower and armor. The United Kingdom, the United States, the Soviet Union, the early tanks of Germany were inferior to many of their opponents tanks in the areas of armor and firepower. However, in their tactical employment the German tanks dominated all rivals early in the war, German doctrine stressed the use of rapid movement, mission-type tactics and combined-arms where tanks operated with mobile infantry and air support, this doctrine was popularly called Blitzkrieg. This doctrine required the Germans to equip their tanks with radios, in contrast, for example, almost 80 percent of French tanks lacked radios, essentially because their battle doctrine was based on a more slow-paced, deliberate conformance to planned movements. This required fewer radios at all levels, French tanks generally outclassed German tanks in firepower and armor in the 1940 campaign, but their poor command and control doctrine negated these advantages. By 1943, two-way radio was nearly universal in all armies, a trend towards heavier tanks was unmistakable as the war proceeded. In 1939, most tanks had maximum armor of 30 mm or less, by 1945, typical medium tanks had maximum armor over 60 mm thick, with guns in the 75–85 mm range and weights of 30 to 45 t. Light tanks, which dominated most armies early in the war, turrets, which had always been considered, but were not previously a universal feature on tanks, became recognized as essential. Also, mounting the gun in a turret ensured that the tank could fire from hull down cover, hull-mounted guns required that most of the vehicle be exposed to enemy fire
7.
Tanks in the Cold War
–
During the Cold War, the two opposing forces in Europe were the Warsaw Pact countries on the one side, and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization countries on the other side. The Warsaw Pact was seen by the West as having an aggressive force outnumbering the NATO forces, Soviet domination of the Warsaw Pact led to effective standardization on a few tank designs. In comparison, NATO adopted a defensive posture, the major contributing nations, France, Germany, the USA, and the UK developed their own tank designs, with little in common, while the smaller nations of NATO purchased or adapted these designs. After World War II, tank development continued largely as it had been because of the Cold War, Tanks would not only continue to be produced in huge numbers, but the technology advanced dramatically as well. Tanks became larger and their armour became thicker and much more effective, aspects of gun technology changed significantly as well, with big advances in shell design and terminal effectiveness. However, nowadays most tanks in service still have manually breech-loaded guns, many of the changes in tank design have been refinements to targeting and ranging, gun stabilisation, communications and crew comfort. Armour has evolved to keep pace with improvements in weaponry, but there have been no fundamental changes. The design and budgeting of tanks has known severe ups and downs, right after the war, tank design budgets were cut and engineering staff was often scattered. The Korean War proved that tanks were useful on the battlefield. Medium tanks gradually evolved into the new concept of the battle tank. This transition happened gradually in the 1950s, as it was realized that medium tanks could carry guns that could penetrate any practical level of armor at long range. The World War II concept of heavy tanks, armed with the most powerful guns and heaviest armor, likewise, World War II had shown that lightly armed, lightly armored tanks were of little value in most roles. Even reconnaissance vehicles shown a trend towards heavier weight and greater firepower during World War II, speed was not a substitute for armor, an increasing variety of anti-tank weapons and the perceived threat of a nuclear war prioritized the need for additional armor. The additional armor prompted the design of more powerful cannons. The main battle tank thus took on the role the British had once called the Universal tank, typical main battle tanks were as well armed as any other vehicle on the battlefield, highly mobile, and well armored. Yet they were enough to be built in large numbers. The classic main battle tanks of the 1950s were the British Centurion, the Soviet T-55 series, and these three basic vehicles were upgraded significantly over time. For example, the Centurion began life with the highly effective 17-pounder gun, the Russian T-55 started with a 100 mm gun, but has been upgraded with both 115 mm and 125 mm guns, much improved fire control systems, new engines, track, etc
8.
Tanks in the Australian Army
–
The Australian Army has used tanks from after the First World War, through the interwar period, the Second World War, the Cold War and to the present day. Throughout this period the Army has primarily been an infantry force. The Australian Armys tanks have seen combat during the Second World War and the Vietnam War, the first Australian tanks were a small number of British medium and light tanks which were operated mainly for training purposes during the 1920s and 1930s. The outbreak of the Second World War in 1939 led to a significant expansion of Australias armoured force, from 1942 large numbers of American light and medium tanks were delivered to Australia, along with British Matilda IIs. In addition, a number of Australian-designed Sentinel tanks were delivered to the Army during 1942 and 1943. Three armoured divisions capable of independent operations were formed during the Second World War, many individual units later fought against the Japanese in the Pacific, although only in regimental strength. With few modern tanks at the time of the Korean War, during the 1950s the Army standardised on the British Centurion tank, which saw action in Vietnam and remained in service until it was replaced with the German Leopard 1 in the mid-1970s. In addition to these types, the Army has operated small numbers of tank designs for training. The operational use of tanks during the part of the First World War established the validity of the tank concept. After the war, many nations recognised the importance of tanks, during and after the First World War, Britain and France were the intellectual leaders in tank design, while other countries generally followed, adopting their designs. Since then Australias armoured forces have fought in a number of battles during key conflicts, such as those in the Second World War and the Vietnam War. Primarily a light infantry force for most of its history, the Australian Army has used mainly in the direct support role as opposed to engaging in sweeping manoeuvre against other tanks. After the First World War, many European countries attempted to mechanise their cavalry, in parallel, Australian cavalry also shifted to military armoured units. The Australian Army tried various methods to integrate modern armour into their traditional horse cavalry formations, as a result, the Australian Army sought to obtain tanks of its own, however, due to post-war economic measures this was slow in occurring. Four British Vickers Medium Mark II tanks were procured in 1927 to build its force, the 1st Tank Section was subsequently was formed as a part-time Militia unit in 1930. The unit was based at Randwick, New South Wales, and training was undertaken at Greenhills. The 1st Tank Section was disbanded in November 1937 with the men and it was not the Australian Armys only armoured unit as the Second World War approached. The 2nd Light Tank Company was formed as a Militia unit at Caulfield, the light tank companies were then equipped with the Light Tank Mark VIa,10 of which had been acquired to replace the ageing Mark IIs
9.
Tanks in the British Army
–
Tanks first appeared on the battlefield as a solution to trench warfare. The British Army was the first to use them, who built them in secret to begin with, to keep the enemy from finding out about this new solution, the public were informed that the vehicles were large water carriers, or tanks, and the name stuck. World War I established the validity of the tank concept, after the war, many nations needed to have tanks, but only a few had the industrial resources to design and build them. During and after World War I, Britain and France were the leaders in tank design. This early lead would be gradually lost during the course of the 1930s to the Soviet Union who with Germany began to design and build their own tanks. While World War I saw the first use of the tank as a weapon of war, the British, American, German and Soviet armies all had different approaches to tanks and tank warfare, each with their fair share of successes and failures. The infantry tank was a developed by the British and French in the years leading up to World War II. Infantry tanks were designed to support the infantry in the attack. To achieve this they were heavily armoured compared to the cruiser tanks. The extra armouring came at the expense of speed, which was not an issue when supporting relatively slow moving infantry, no one individual was responsible for the development of the tank. Rather, a number of technological developments brought the development of the tank as we know it closer until its eventual form was unveiled out of necessity by the British army. The British army designs were forced by the warfare in which neither side could achieve more than small incremental gains without heavy loss of soldiers lives. They were made to cross the trenches and quickly break into the enemy rear, the next development of the more heavily armoured and upgunned tanks was brought about by the tank on tank battles in World War II German Blitzkrieg. This continued throughout the war, and led to heavy tanks which became the basis of the current Main Battle Tanks seen throughout the armies today. The Landships Committee commissioned Lieutenant Walter Gordon Wilson of the Royal Naval Air Service and William Tritton of William Foster & Co. Ltd. of Lincoln, constructed in great secrecy, the machine was given the code-name tank by Swinton. Nicknamed Little Willie, this prototype tank weighed 14 tons and could carry a crew of three, at speeds of less than 2 mph over rough ground. The great secrecy surrounding tank development, coupled with the skepticism of infantry commanders, the first use of the British tanks on the battlefield was the use of 49 Mark I tanks during the Battle of the Somme on 15 September 1916, with mixed, but still impressive results. Many broke down but nearly a third succeeded in breaking through, finally, in a preview of later developments, the British developed the lighter Whippet
10.
Tanks in China
–
This article on military tanks deals with the history of tanks employed by various military forces belonging to the Kuomintang and Communist Party of China within China. In China, every sort of available import and captured weapon was used, warlords set up their own armies and bought what tanks and weapons they could. Many local armour versions were assembled from materials on hand, as an example, the use of tanks along with artillery in the Chinese army was generally in ones and twos, and they were usually hoarded to enhance the power and prestige of a commander, governor or warlord. Armor was not used en masse for shock, but in penny packets in a support role exclusively, tank against tank fighting with the Japanese was never contemplated. During the entire Sino-Japanese war from 1937-1945 there was not one single major tank on tank confrontation between Chinese and Japanese armor, Sun Yat-sen, first provisional president of China and his protégé Chiang Kai-shek tried to bring under control the warlords who controlled much of the nation. Trains were intended to be used offensively and could carry troops, weapons, Chiang Kai-shek, Sun Yat-sens close ally, took Suns place in the party when the latter died in 1925 and led the Northern Expedition to unify the country, becoming Chinas overall leader. This led to a break with the Communists and the expulsion of their Soviet advisors and a strengthening of Sino-German cooperation, along with German advisers and weapons and training. The cooperation intensified with the Nazi takeover of Germany in 1933 to the start of the war with Japan in 1937, the Russians became advisors again but by 1939 the USSR signed a non-aggression pact with Germany and relations started to cool. With the signing of the Soviet and Japanese non-aggression pact, China turned to the US, the US could only offer limited official help until the Japanese Attack on Pearl Harbor, which brought the Americans into World War II and massive amounts of aid including US tanks. After World War II ended in 1945, the hostility between the ROC and the CPC exploded into civil war and many former Japanese weapons were used by both sides. Chiang Kai-shek and the Nationalist cause went steadily downhill until 1949, the Chinese warlord Zhang Zuolin introduced tanks to China. The Manchurian Army purchased 14 more FTs in 1924-25, and these were used in the fighting with the warlord Wu Pei-fu in 1926. Surprised during the Northern Expedition by Chiang Kai-sheks National Revolutionary Army, however, the Japanese Army seized nearly all of Chinese/Manchurian FTs in 1931 when they occupied Manchuria. The tanks captured by the Japanese army were deployed in the Kwantung Army, in 1929,24 of the British Mk VI Carden Loyd tankettes were purchased by the Chinese Nationalists and its known they fought on the Lunghai front, apart from its armoured train fleet. Later they bought 20 Vickers 6-ton tanks between 1934 and 1936, which were used in combat against the Japanese in the Battle of Shanghai in 1937 and they also bought 29 Vickers Amphibious Tanks, which were developed in 1932 but not used in the United Kingdom. Chiang Kai-shek then turned to Germany, historically a great power, for the reorganisation and modernisation of the National Revolutionary Army. The Nationalists hired many German military advisers to help them with their buildup of the mechanisation, the German military advisers made the Nationalists purchase many European weapons through a German company with which the German advisers cooperated. The Nationalists bought Italian CV-33 and CV-35 tankettes, German Panzer I Ausf, a light tanks, and British 12-ton tanks
