In the battle, the Germans relied on strong defense lines such as trenches and barbed wire to resist the repeated attacks of the British and French Coalition forces, and both sides came and went, causing heavy casualties.
In the 1 month offensive and defensive war, the British and French allied forces suffered more than 620,000 casualties, and the German army also lost about 600,000 people, but it was still difficult to draw a conclusion. As a result, offensive warfare became positional warfare.
The first tank to participate in actual combat-MK Ⅰ
/kloc-in the early morning of September, 0/5, the cold battlefield was foggy and all around was silent. The Germans, exhausted by positional warfare, are sleeping in the trenches.
Suddenly, they were awakened by the roar from the front of the position, and the earth seemed to be shaking under their feet. A sense of foreboding began to flood the minds of German soldiers.
Soon, the German soldiers saw the black "monster" appear in front of them. They rushed through the early morning fog and shot. Suddenly, the German positions were in chaos, with explosions and shouts.
Frightened, the Germans tried their best to shoot at the "monster" with guns and cannons, but the "monster" was not damaged at all, and like being angered, they opened their guns and cannons more violently and rampaged.
They destroyed the bunkers that shot at it one by one, rushed through the trenches and razed the barbed wire to the ground. Many Germans died in its artillery fire.
In the chaos, the remaining Germans stopped unnecessary resistance and began to give up their positions and escape.
And this position, which was not conquered after a long period of fierce fighting in front of the British army, collapsed in an instant.
These successful "monsters" in the first battle are nothing more than MK ⅰ tanks made in Britain.
Although only 18 of the dozens of tanks put into use at that time really took part in the battle, it played an important role in breaking through the long-term German defense line.
Because tanks participated in the war for the first time in history, the Battle of the Somme was also recorded in history.
Tanks were born in the First World War and dominated the Second World War. Since the Second World War, they have been the leading force in the land battlefield and are known as the "king of land warfare".
It is the most basic type of armored vehicle, a tracked armored fighting vehicle with strong direct firepower, high off-road maneuverability and strong armored protection ability, and it is the main assault weapon and basic equipment of armored forces in ground operations.
Tanks can undertake various combat tasks in complex terrain and all-weather conditions, mainly used to fight against enemy tanks and other armored vehicles, and can also suppress and destroy anti-tank weapons and other artillery weapons, destroy field fortifications and annihilate effective forces.
The development of tanks has a decisive influence on the development of other armored vehicles.
French "Saint Sha Meng" tank
As early as the end of 19 and the beginning of the 20th century, steam engine technology, internal combustion engine technology, armored and crawler propulsion technology and artillery technology have basically matured.
1906, the British made a crawler tractor powered by a steam engine.
At the beginning of World War I, wheeled chariots appeared, and the British army was also trying to modify some crawler tractors for war.
All these paved the way for the emergence of tanks in technology.
19 14 years, World War I broke out, but soon the warring sides reached a deadlock.
Because at that time, the defensive positions composed of trenches, barbed wire and machine guns were all over the European battlefield, and any party who wanted to move forward had to pay a huge price.
In the face of bullets and shells from storms, human flesh and blood are so vulnerable that some battles are even called "meat grinders".
Therefore, since the winter of 19 14, the situation has taken a turn for the worse, and all sides have turned from sports warfare to protracted positional warfare, and no one can break through the defense of the other side.
In this situation, it became the most urgent need at that time to develop a weapon that not only had the protective force against the enemy's machine gun bullets, but also had some maneuverability to break through the enemy's barbed wire to guide the infantry to charge, and also had some firepower to destroy the enemy's effective strength and firepower points on the battlefield.
Coupled with the maturity of the technical conditions mentioned above, tanks came into being.
However, the birth of tanks was not smooth sailing. Anything new will be mixed with many opposing voices at the same time, and tanks are no exception.
At that time, there was an army colonel named swinton in England. He first put forward the idea of adding steel plates to crawler tractors to resist machine gun fire, which was the earliest idea of tanks. Swinton was later called "the father of tanks".
Unfortunately, because the British conservative forces prevailed at that time, swinton's proposal failed to be passed in the Imperial National Defense Commission, and this important invention was about to be aborted because there was no research funding.
At the critical moment, Churchill, then British Minister of the Navy and later British Prime Minister of World War II, saw the future of this proposal and ordered the Navy to set up a "Land Warship Committee" to allocate funds to start developing tanks.
For the sake of secrecy, the code name of the project was called "Tank" (meaning "Water Tank"), which later became the name of the tank and is still in use today.
Speaking of which, do you think that the "king of the land war" was born with the support of the navy? This was really a helpless way at that time.
19 15 12, Land Warships Committee developed the world's first tank prototype "Little Wanderer".
Its shape is really similar to a big water tank. There are two tracks in the moving part. The body is square, welded with 6 mm thick armor, and the steering wheel is dragged behind like a tail. There are six passengers in the car, equipped with 1 guns and several machine guns.
However, the "little tramp" is just an experiment, and its off-road driving ability, crossing ability and reliability are very poor, so it cannot be used on the battlefield.
So shortly after it, Britain developed the second tank "Mother".
1965438+65438 in 2006+20061October 16, this new type of tank carried out its first driving test and successfully passed the simulated "obstacle runway in battlefield".
Its width through the trench is 2.24 meters, and its height through the vertical wall is 1.37 meters. The test was successful.
Since then, the world's first truly practical tank was born. After being equipped with the British army, it was officially named Type I tank.
19 16 years, Britain produced 150 type I tanks.
Type I tank has a huge body, a diamond-shaped outline, a crawler overhead and a pair of steering tail wheels at the tail. Its armor thickness is 6 ~ 12mm, and its maximum running speed is 6 km/h. ..
Interestingly, Type I tanks can be divided into "male" and "female": The total combat weight of "male" tanks is 28.45 tons, and the weapons are 2 57 mm guns and 4 machine guns; The "female" tank weighs 27.43 tons and only has five machine guns to deal with infantry.
In the Battle of the Somme, the British used Type I tanks.
The appearance and use of tanks ushered in a new era of army mechanization, which had a great impact on military operations and had far-reaching historical significance in the military.
French Renault FT 17 tank
During the First World War, on the basis of Type I tanks, Britain improved and produced Type II to V tanks, of which Type IV tanks produced the most, about 1 2,000, and participated in the famous battles such as Ferrer and Cambre, which were used until the end of the First World War.
At the same time, Britain also developed and produced "Dog Race" medium-sized tanks and C-type medium-sized tanks.
France is the second country to produce tanks after Britain, and has successively developed Schneider assault tanks, Saint Sha Meng assault tanks, Renault FT- 17 light tanks and 2C heavy tanks.
The most noteworthy one is Renault FT- 17 light tank.
It is the world's first tank with a turret that can rotate 360 degrees. The power cabin is at the rear and the driver's seat is in front of the car body. Most modern tanks we see now follow this design.
After being hit hard by British tanks, Germany hastily began to design its own tanks, thus becoming the third country in the world with tanks.
19 18 At the beginning of this year, the first tank A7V developed by Germany was put into actual combat, but before it played any role, Germany was defeated.
The United States and Russia also developed and produced their own tanks during this period, but at this time their products were not as good as Britain in performance and quantity.
Although these tanks played a certain role in World War I, due to the technical conditions at that time, their firepower, maneuverability, protection and reliability were very poor, and the working environment of the crew was also very bad. They can only guide the infantry to complete the tactical breakthrough, and cannot expand the results in depth.
Nevertheless, because tanks appeared in World War I and played a more important role in the battlefield, they wrote a brilliant first chapter in the history of tank development.
Because tanks became the main assault force of ground combat troops in World War II, their power was unparalleled, so they ascended the throne of "king of land warfare".
At the same time, guderian and Rommel, Barton of the United States, zhukov of the Soviet Union, leclerc of France and other famous players who used armored forces were also created.
After the end of World War I, many countries saw the future of tanks and developed and equipped various types of tanks according to their own operational ideas. Among them, light and ultra-light tanks have been popular for some time, as well as wheel-tracked light tanks and heavy tanks with multi-turret structure, which can drive alternately with tracks and wheels.
Compared with the tanks in World War I, the tactical and technical performance of these tanks has been obviously improved. Their total combat weight is generally between 9 and 28 tons, the maximum running speed is 20 to 43 km/h, the maximum armor thickness is 25 to 90 mm, and the caliber of artillery is mostly 37 to 47 mm, and some of them reach 75 or 76 mm.
Armored forces have been established in major countries, and armored forces have been formed as an independent arms.
Before the outbreak of World War II, there were about 20,000 tanks in the world.
Among them, the former Soviet Union became the largest tank country, with more than15,000 tanks, and Germany became the second tank country with 3,500 tanks. Britain and France, the initially established tank kingdom, lost their momentum in developing tanks, with165,438+050 and 2,200 respectively.
At this time, because the conservative forces gained the upper hand, the US Army did not realize the powerful assault function of tanks, so it did not attract attention. There were only 470 light tanks.
1933 65438+ 10, Hitler became the German Chancellor with the support of the monopoly group.
This ex-German corporal, who was scared to death in the Battle of the Somme in World War I and shivered in the trenches, promoted fascism in Germany, rearmed his arms and began to prepare for aggression and expansion.
Hitler had a soft spot for tanks. After watching the performances of several tanks developed by the army, he shouted excitedly: "This is exactly what I want! This is exactly what I want! " Therefore, the position of tanks in the German army is simply in full swing and developing rapidly.
Soviet ис -2 Stalin -2 heavy tank
1939 65438+ 10, the Germans concentrated 2800 tanks to launch a "blitzkrieg" against Poland, occupied Poland in a lightning-fast manner, then occupied Belgium and France, swept everything in the European battlefield, and drove the British and French allied forces to Dunkirk for a big retreat (in fact, it was a big defeat).
On June 22nd,/KOOC-0/94/KOOC-0/,Germany concentrated on/KOOC-0//KOOC-0/8 Infantry Division,/KOOC-0/9 Tank Division and/KOOC-0/5 Motorized Division, with about 4,300 tanks and 4,900 aircraft, and launched a large-scale attack on the Soviet Union.
The Germans, with armored cluster as the pioneer, used "blitzkrieg" again when they invaded Poland and France, which made the unprepared Soviet Union suffer heavy losses.
On the first day of the war, the Germans advanced 50-60 kilometers into the Soviet Union, and in the next ten days, they advanced another 300 kilometers.
In the Soviet-German battlefield in the middle and late World War II, the land battles between the two sides almost evolved into tank battles, and general battles involving thousands of tanks were not uncommon.
Especially in the Battle of Kursk in 1943, in a short period of more than 1 month, the total number of tanks and self-propelled guns fought by the Soviet Union and Germany reached 13000, creating a "world record" that has never been broken so far.
On July 1943, there were more than 200 tanks in Prokholoka 12 alone.
In the Battle of Kursk, the two sides destroyed more than 3,000 tanks, and the Germans suffered more than 500,000 casualties, and the elite armored forces suffered heavy losses.
The Soviets won the battle and smashed the last large-scale strategic attack of the Germans.
In addition, in the battlefields of North Africa and the Far East, many countries also have a large number of tanks to participate in the war.
1945, Soviet troops attacked Berlin, Germany, and assembled 2.5 million troops, including 2/kloc-0 tanks and mechanized troops, totaling 6,250 tanks and 7,500 planes, which broke through the German defense line west of the Oder River and completed the siege of Berlin.
By the end of the war,1May 2, 945, the Soviets conquered Berlin, Hitler committed suicide, and Germany surrendered unconditionally.
World War II was the most glorious period of armored vehicles headed by tanks. The warring parties produced about 300,000 tanks and other armored vehicles.
Among them, the former Soviet Union manufactured 104000 vehicles, mainly T-34 medium tanks, ис-2 heavy tanks and T-70 light tanks.
At the beginning of the war, the United States, which did not pay attention to tanks, came from behind, surpassing Germany, Britain, France and other countries, and produced 90,000 vehicles, mainly M3 and M4 medium tanks, M24 light tanks and M26 heavy tanks.
Germany has made 42,000 vehicles, including leopard, tiger and rat tanks, as well as tiger hunting, cheetah and elephant tank destroyers.
Britain made 26,000 vehicles, mainly Churchill infantry tanks and Cromwell cruise tanks.
Compared with the previous tanks, the tanks in World War II have made remarkable progress, and the structure is basically stereotyped, which is not much different from modern tanks.
They generally adopt a single turret structure, and medium-sized tanks are the main ones in combat, especially in the middle and late World War II, which has accounted for 76% of the total number of tanks.
The firepower of tanks has also been significantly improved. The caliber of artillery is generally 57 ~ 85 mm, and the caliber of some heavy tanks reaches 88 ~ 122 mm. Sub-caliber armor-piercing projectiles and hollow charge armor-piercing projectiles with the main purpose of armor-piercing become the main types of tanks.
The armor thickness of the tank is also greatly increased. Medium-sized tanks reach 45 ~ 100 mm, and the total combat weight is about 30 ~ 40 tons.
German Tiger King Heavy Tank
The famous tanks during World War II are: T-34 in the former Soviet Union, Panther and Tiger tanks in Germany, M4 Sherman in the United States, Churchill and Cromwell infantry tanks in Britain, and Type 97 in Japan.
Among them, T-34 is regarded as the best tank in World War II and occupies a prominent position in the history of tank development in the world.
During the Soviet-German War, the output of T-34 accounted for 40% of all tanks in the former Soviet Union in194/kloc-0, and rose to 86% in 1944.
The first batch of T-34 medium-sized tanks came out in 1940 65438+ 10, equipped with 76.2 mm caliber guns, so it was also called T-34/76.
The tank has a total combat weight of 26.3 tons, four crew members, a B-2 diesel engine, a power of 500 HP, a maximum road speed of 55 km/h and a maximum driving distance of 300 km.
The overall performance of the T-34 tank is very good, with good protection and off-road maneuverability, and the artillery power is relatively large, and its combat performance was at the advanced level in the world at that time.
More importantly, it is simple in structure, reliable in machinery and convenient for mass production and maintenance during war damage, which is very necessary in wartime.
There are many models after T-34, and the most important one is T-34/85 with 85mm gun.
It has a total combat weight of 32 tons and five crew members. 85 mm artillery can penetrate German heavy tanks with armor thickness of 1000 mm at a distance of 1000 m.
After World War II, T-34s were exported in large quantities and participated in the Korean War, the Vietnam War and the Middle East War.
China also bought a large number of T-34s from the Soviet Union in the early 1950s.
T-34 can still be seen in the armies of some countries in the world.
The M4 "Sherman" medium tank in the United States was the most produced tank in World War II, with a total production of about 50,000 vehicles and the most improvement, reportedly reaching more than 50 kinds.
In addition to their own equipment, there are a lot of allied support. It is widely used not only in the European battlefield, but also in the Pacific battlefield.
Like the T-34, it still serves in the armies of some small countries.
At that time, the best tank in Germany was the famous Panther medium tank. In fact, it is an imitation of German T-34. It is very similar to T-34 in appearance and internal structure, but its protective performance is superior to T-34. The thickest armor reaches 1.20mm, the total combat weight is 43 tons, a 650 HP gasoline engine is used, and the maximum running speed is 43 km/h.
The most important improvement in its later period is the "Panther" G, 1 700 HP engine, with a slight increase in speed and total combat weight.
Its main weapon is 175 mm extended barrel. Although its caliber is not as big as T-34/85, it can launch sub-caliber armor-piercing projectiles, so its firepower can still compete with it.
The fatal shortcomings of "Panther" tank are short travel (only 1 16 km) and complex mechanical structure (in fact, this is a common problem of almost all armored vehicles produced in Germany in World War II), which brings a heavy burden to the logistics support in the battle. Not only is it extremely difficult to maintain in the harsh battlefield environment, but it is also not convenient for mass production in the wartime rear. During the whole war, it only produced 5505 vehicles.