Tanks

It has been said that in World War II there has been more people killed and more land destroyed than any other war. About 17million military personnel were killed not to mention twice as many citizens because of bombing raids, epidemics, and starvation. This battle spread to parts all over the world. There were battles in jungles, deserts, and even in cities.

World War II started on September 1, 1939 when Germany, led by Adolf Hitler, invaded Poland. Hitler had built Germany into one of the strongest fighting nations in the world and was prepared to show it. Hitler and his men quickly defeated Poland, Denmark, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Belgium, Norway, and France. In June of 1940 Italy joined Germany’s defense leaving Great Britain alone to face the two of them (Crawford, 70).

Germany invaded the Soviet Union in June of 1941. On Dec.7, 1941 the United States was drug into the war by the bombing of Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. Japan signed an alliance with Germany and Italy to form the axis. The U.S., Great Britain, China and the Soviet Union were known as the allies. By 1942 Allies had already stopped the Axis in Northern Africa, the Soviet Union, and in the Pacific. US troops landed in Italy in 1943 and France by 1944. They drove back into Germany forcing them to surrender in May 7, 1945 and Japan also surrendered on September 2, 1945 (Crawford, 70).

There were several factors that made the war a victory for the Allies. For example, there were warships that fought battles on the sea. There were fighter jets that fought battles in the air. Also there were troops that fought on the ground, but they needed a little more help defeating their enemy. Tanks were invented to help the soldiers out in battle. There was little known about tanks, but they were greatly appreciated.

Maybe this paper will enlighten you a little on the development on tanks (Crawford, 70).

The Combat Car M1 was built and produced at the Rock Island Arsenal in 1937. This type of tank was mainly used for scouting because it was only equipped with a 30 cal. and a 50 cal. machine guns, it was also considered an anti-aircraft tank. It had a 250 hp guiberson diesel motor to run the light tank. The tank would reach speeds up to 45mph and ran on rubber tracks instead of metal. The rubber tracks were quieter than the metal ones and better for scouting. The M1 was not equipped with heavy armor because it was not in battle very often and was operated by a four-man crew (Crawford, 70).

After discovering the tracks and armor wasn’t tough enough to withstand battle the government had to come up with a better design and a heavier tank. So the first heavy tank was made for the war and weighted 126,500 pounds. It ran off an 800hp Wright G-200 diesel motor pulling it about 22mph. It was approved in May of 1940 and registered to make four M6’s by February 1941 (White, 104).

By February the four tanks were finished and ready for a trial run. They quickly found out that they were too heavy, under gunned, and had a faulty transmission. They also found out that the armor was to thin but the armor protecting to tracks worked perfectly. It also had a poor design and was an easy target to get a direct hit by an enemy gunner. The Army still planned to make 5,500 M6’s for the war but it was later reduced to 115 in September of 1945. Only 40 were ever made because they were already considering them obsolete (White, 104).

Then the Army came out with a light tank weighing only 19, 100 pounds and it was called the M2A2. It was run on a 250hp aircraft motor and would run about 45mph.

The M2A2 was considered more of an aircraft tank than anything because of its thick armor and quick muzzle velocity. Its armor was five inches thick and could withstand some harsh punishment for enemy bullets. The M2A2 had two .3in machine guns and one .5in machine that could return more harsh treatment than most enemy bullets (White, 105).

The .3in Browning machine gun was a big advantage because it only allowed a small hole in the tanks armor to operate. This type of gun was made to fire on aircraft

or tanks because it could fire steel balls or armor piercing bullets. Its muzzle velocity was an astonishing 2,700feet per second. This allowed a bullet to hit every 2 1/2 inches down the side of a moving airplane. The other gun, the .5in Browning machine gun, was a bigger caliber it also had a slower firing rate and mainly used for shooting through the armor on tanks. When the second series of the tanks came out they had thicker armor and were powered by a GM diesel engine (White, 105).

Another series of the M2 tanks were the M2A4 that was powered by the same Continental Radial 250hp aircraft engine. It weighed the same but only ran 37mph instead of 45mph. It too had the .3in Browning machine guns mounted on the back and two on both sides of the driver.