A Few More Tank Stories
I did post this before the site went dark, but apparently it didn’t stick, so I’m reposting it.
Building the WWII M3 Lee medium tank – US DOD film from 1940
A good number of changes from the British WWI tank, which did a great deal of damage in the field.
Here’s a video of a tank battle between US forces at Ben Het and the NVA, in 1969. American troops at that locus were bolstered by the addition of Montagnards.
Pop some popcorn, get a cold beverage and soak up some history.
Category: Army, Historical
The firepower of an armor element contains two M60 machine guns mounted on each side of an ACAV with shields for protection with a forward weapon being a .50 cal, M2 Browning machine gun with a bell shield for protection. The M48 Patton Tank is also equipped with a .50 cal, M2 Browning machine gun, augmented with a .30 Cal coaxial machine gun and a 90 MM main gun with the Beehive round as the main round used. All of these when brought into action have a wallop of a punch. Read this abridged excerpt from “Viet Cong Infantry Attack On A Fire Base Ends In Slaughter” (www.rbracing-rsr.com/downloads/ArmorBattle67.pdf ), of the last major armored action in Operation Junction City when the enemy launched a daylight attack against Fire Support Base Gold near Suoi Tre and the answering punch of an armor element. “Total forces earmarked for this operation included most of the 1st Infantry Division, 25th Infantry Division, 196th light Infantry Brigade, 173rd Airborne Brigade, and the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment. At 0711, there were reports that a platoon had been overrun. Artillerymen helped to reestablish the perimeter but within 45 minutes, the enemy had again broken through the platoon’s defenses. Within a few minutes, positions on the northeastern portion of the perimeter were completely overrun by a human wave attack with reports of penetration of the northern portion of the perimeter. An armor element was directed to enter the Fire Support Base in the southern section of the perimeter and swing around the perimeter. As the enemy advanced on the smoke-covered battlefield, the defenders of Fire Support Base Gold were in desperate straits. The artillery had depleted their basic load of Beehive rounds, which when fired released thousands of flechettes, now switched to high-explosive direct fire at point-blank range, as the enemy had closed within five meters of the command post. Into this chaos came the Tanks and ACAVs of the armor element, crashing through the last few trees into the clearing. The noise was overwhelming as the new arrivals opened up with machine guns and 90 mm tank… Read more »
Thanks for that! Real history needs to be brought into the light these days.
Tanks!, Ex, for more videos on the mobile artillery forces. Seeing this history come back to life makes one wonder if we could ramp up our production capability quick enough to make a difference when a real shooting war were to break out between us and people who wish to do us harm. Our ability to do so in WWII was the deciding factor in that fight. Keep ’em coming.
Tanks!, too, to Mario for the history lesson on Fire Support Base Gold. Had a BnL that was with the 173rd during that time. He was one of the ones that was killed by Viet Nam but didn’t die until about 6 years ago. Good Soldier and one hell of an LEO.
Any time, 5th/77th
The design, manufacturing, testing and putting a tank into production is a complex process.
By 1942 pretty much every tank in service from 1940 was obsolete.
Despite all the hub bub about he Tigers and Panthers, the Germans absolutely failed at getting effective, efficient and reliable tanks into production.
They were poorly engineered, and often had to be abandoned for want of something as small as a fuel line filter.
They produced under 1900 models of the vaunted Tiger during the war at a cost of 8X what MKIV Panzer Cost.
The most effective Armored Tank killer they had was the Stug.