Main Battle Tanks

INTRO:

Main Battle Tanks were the new generation of tanks produced in the mid-late 1940’s and early 1950’s. These tank designs made use of the hard-won knowledge that came from tank battles in WWII, and were the first generation of main battle tanks (MBT), which encompassed both superior mobility and firepower. In MAKING HISTORY II, the inclusion of main battle tanks lets players to take full advantage of a strategy that invests in tank development by allowing them to research and manufacture these more advanced units. Also, since players are creating their own historical path, tanks planned but never actually manufactured are also included such as the German E-50.

E-50

• Specifications
• Role: Main Battle Tank
• Manufacturing Nation: Germany
• Introduced: 1946-1947 (planned but never introduced)

 The E-50 was one of six planned tanks in the Entwicklung series, more commonly known as the E- series. It was intended as a standard medium tank, replacing the Panther and Tiger I and the conversions based on these tanks. The weight of these vehicles would fall between 50 and 75 tonnes. The Entwicklung series were a late-World War II attempt by Germany to produce a standardized series of tank designs. There were to be standard designs in six different weight classes, from which several specialized variants were to be developed. This was necessitated by the extremely complex tank designs that had resulted in poor production rates and mechanical unreliability.

 While these designs were simpler and more efficient than their predecessors, they did not represent significant technological progress compared to earlier efforts, and was well behind the cutting edge British and Soviet developments. Had the war lasted long enough for them to be put into service, they would have been at a disadvantage compared to new allied designs. After Germany surrendered, all plans to produce these tanks were scrapped.

AMX 50

• Specifications
• Role: Main Battle Tank
• Manufacturing Nation: France
• Introduced: 1951-1955
• Maximum speed: 65 km/h
• Weight: 57-64 Metric Tons
• Main Gun: 120mm Gun

 In the late 1940’s, France began a series of projects with the goal of producing a new generation of medium tanks. However, in response to advances in tank designs from other nations, especially the USSR, two early AMX projects were altered and eventually cancelled. The A third AMX 50 project was begun in August 1951. By this time, the design had evolved into a heavy tank armed with a 120 mm gun in response to the perceived threat posed by the Soviet heavy tanks, such as the IS-3 and the T-10. To accommodate the larger gun, an enormous oscillating turret was fitted and the armor was increased. Eventually, the weight increases to accommodate these changes caused serious mechanical reliability concerns despite a reinforced suspension. From 1956 to 1958 the developers continued to search for the right balance of effective armor and weight, with only limited success. In the end, the AMX 50 was never widely produced.

Centurion

• Specifications
• Role: Main Battle Tank
• Manufacturing Nation: United Kingdom
• Introduced: 1945
• Crew: 4
• Maximum speed: 21 mph (34 km/h)
• Operational Range: 280 miles (450 km)
• Weight: 52 Tons
• Main Gun: 105mm Gun
• Secondary Armaments: .30 caliber Machine Guns

 The Centurion was the primary British main battle tank of the post World War II period, and was a successful tank design, with upgrades, for many decades. The chassis was also adapted for several other roles.

The Centurion, first manufactured in 1945, served in more wars than any other western tank. It first entered combat with British forces in the Korean War in 1950, in support of the UN forces. During the Battle of the Imjin River Centurions won lasting fame when their tanks covered the withdrawal of the 29th Brigade, with the loss of five tanks. Centurions were also involved in the second Battle of the Hook where they played a significant role in repelling Chinese attacks. In a tribute to the 8th Hussars, General John O’Daniel, commanding the US 1st Corps, stated: "...In their Centurions, the 8th Hussars have evolved a new type of tank warfare. They taught us that anywhere a tank can go is tank country: even the tops of mountains."

The Centurion later served in the Indo-Pakistani wars of 1965 and 1971, successfully fighting US supplied Pakistani M47s, then with the Royal Australian Armoured Corps in Vietnam. It was sold to Israel who used Centurions in 1967, 1973, and during the 1975 and 1982 invasions of Lebanon. It became one of the most widely used tank designs, equipping armies around the world, with some still in service until the 1990s. As recently as the 2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict the Israel Defense Forces employed heavily modified Centurions as armored personnel carriers and combat engineering vehicles.

M-48 Patton

• Specifications
• Role: Main Battle Tank
• Manufacturing Nation: United States
• Introduced: 1952
• Crew: 4
• Maximum speed: 30 mph (48 km/h)
• Operational Range: 287 mi (463 km)
• Weight: 49 Tons
• Main Gun: 90mm gun (105mm gun on later models)
• Secondary Armament: Machine Guns

The M48 Patton II was the third and final US medium gun tank of the Patton series, named after 3rd Army commander General George S. Patton, one of the earliest American advocates for the use of tanks in battle. Although largely resembling the M47, the M48 Patton was a completely new tank design. Some M48A5 models served well into the 1980s. It was widely used by U.S. Cold War allies, especially other NATO countries, and over 12,000 were built. The M48 Patton would serve as an interim tank until replaced by the US Army’s first Main Battle Tank (MBT), the M60 Combat Tank.

The M48 would serve as the U.S. Army and Marine Corps’s primary battle tank during the Vietnam War. It provided excellent protection for its crew from small arms, mines, and rocket-propelled grenades and was also one of the only vehicles in Vietnam that could reasonably protect its crews from land mines. After the US left Vietnam, the tanks were used successfully by the South Vietnamese Army in defeating NVA T-34 and T-55 tanks and even slowing the North’s offensive. However, due to bans on the transfer of fuel and ammunition to South Vietnam, the M-48 tanks were soon out of ammunition and fuel and abandoned.

Internationally, many various M48 Patton models remain in service. The M48 was the last US tank to mount the 90mm tank gun, with the last model, the M48A5, being upgraded to carry the new standard weapon of the M60, the 105mm gun. The Turkish Army is currently the largest operator of modernized M48 MBT. It currently has in excess of 1,400 M48s remaining in its inventory.

IS-3

• Specifications
• Role: Main Battle Tank
• Manufacturing Nation: USSR
• Introduced: 1945
• Crew: 4
• Maximum speed: 37 km/h
• Operational Range: 240 km
• Weight: 46 Tons
• Main Gun: 122 mm Gun
• Secondary Armament: Machine Guns

The Iosif Stalin (IS) tank was a heavy tank developed by the Soviet Union during World War II. Designed with thick armor to counter the German 88 mm guns, the IS tanks sported a main gun that was capable of defeating the German Tiger and Panther tanks. It was mainly a breakthrough tank, firing a heavy high-explosive shell that was useful against entrenchments and bunkers.

The IS-3 first appeared to Western observers at the Allied Victory Parade in Berlin in September 1945. The IS-3 was an impressive development in the eyes of Western military observers, the British in particular, who responded with heavy tank designs of their own. This tank had improved armor layout, and a hemispherical cast turret (resembling an overturned "soup bowl") which became the hallmark of post-war Soviet tanks. The IS-3 reflected the main battle tank concept - combining medium tank mobility with the firepower of the heavy tank. By the early 1950’s, this MBT concept rendered heavy tanks obsolete in Soviet operational doctrine.

The IS-3 was used by the Soviets in the 1956 invasion of Hungary and the Prague Spring in 1968. The Egyptian Army acquired about 100 IS-3M tanks from the Soviet Union. During the Six Day War, despite being handicapped by its slow rate of fire and inadequate speed and engine performance for desert warfare, Israeli infantry and paratrooper units had considerable difficulty with the IS-3M when it was encountered. Its thick armor shrugged off hits from normal infantry anti-tank weapons such as the bazooka. Even the 90 mm AP shell fired by the main gun of the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) M48 Patton tanks could not penetrate the frontal armor of the IS-3s at normal battle ranges. It was eventually overwhelmed by Israeli air superiority.