As German engineering churned-out ever more advanced war machines – bigger tanks with more powerful guns and thicker sloped armour – the British facing the big cats needed to continuously develop weapons to counter them. From the sands of the Desert campaign to the hedgerows of Normandy, British forces were accompanied to battle by a…
Bronze Age expert Nigel Stillman continues his series of articles on King Hammurabi of Babylon, his wars against neighbouring city-states including the Elamites and his final defeat at the hands of the Hittites. Click here for Part 1 – The Rise of Babylon. WARS OF THE AMORITE AGE From the fall of Ur in 2004…
With the Tiger I tank being the king of the battlefield, and the Tiger II being the god of it by the end of the war, the Panther tank was by far the shining champion of the German Armoured Forces of World War 2. Introduced in 1943, the Panther tank was Germany’s counter to Russia’s…
History The Panther was the main battle tank of the German army and was one of the best all round tanks of the war. Sharing the same engine of the larger Tigers, the Panther was lighter, meaning it had greater manoeuvrability and speed. The sloped frontal armour gave it more protection from head on assaults,…
At the outbreak of the Napoleonic wars the French light infantry was the finest in Europe. They could best the fierce obedience of the Germans and Dutch with their high level of independence and initiative, those of the Spanish and Italians through their determination and bravery and, in some situations, the British, using their own…
While we were writing the ‘Tank War’ book, I did some research into Italian tank crew in WWII as, being Italian, I wanted to add an Italian tank ace to the book… …and I eventually found one – with over 50 kills, Alfredo Carpaneto was ranking on par with the best Allied tank aces. However,…
Bronze Age expert Nigel Stillman returns with a new series of articles on King Hammurabi of Babylon, his wars against neighbouring city-states including the Elamites and his final defeat at the hands of the Hittites. RISE OF BABYLON The rise of Babylonia and Assyria can be traced back to the age of Amorite warlords. In…
With Tank War now making it’s way into the hands of eager Bolt Action players around the world and all these tanks rumbling around, we thought it was high time we highlighted some anti-tank weaponry. Matthew Davies starts us off with a look at the arsenal of the US army: Tanks can be a terrifying…
The Soviet T-34 series was unsurprisingly the mainstay of the Soviet armoured forces during World War Two – its sloped armour changed the fundamental design of armoured vehicles later in the war, and allowed it to withstand all but the heaviest of German fire. The T-34/85 introduced a new turret to the rugged and reliable…
History The T-34 series, with its sloping armour, changed the principles of tank design during the war. The sloping, angular layout of the T-34 increased the effective armour thickness, and also saw a larger proportion of shells deflected away than penetrated its armour. The introduction of the T-34 into action saw German tank design follow…
Rich Dando
Graham Davey