Yesterday, I watched a fascinating documentary about the history of tanks. It goes beyond the scope of this article to outline the history of the tank in detail. It is such a comprehensive voyage of discovery, it is impossible to cover in one article.
I did not know that they were originally to be called landships, because they were modeled on the early warships used by navies around the world. But allies felt that the name would give an a hostile WWI Germany a hint of what was being planned, the name tank was coined. Because it looked somewhat like an old water tank.
‘Little Willie’, the first prototype tank with tracks. Image courtesy of Richard Pullen
By early 1915 the First World War was in a bit of a stalemate and many thousands of Allied soldiers were dying daily.
The problem was the barbed wire that lay along the 700 odd kilometres of fortified enemy trenches that ran through Belgium and France. The only way to break through was finding some sort of vehicle that could ride over the trenches, the barbed wire and expose the machine guns for the artillery to attack.
Winston Churchill, then First Lord of the Admiralty, gathered together technical experts and formed the Landships Committee whose brief was to develop armoured fighting vehicles for use on the Western Front.
It was on 15 September 1916 at the Battle of Flers-Courcelette (Battle of the Somme). that tanks were first seen in battle. I cannot imagine how the German troops must have felt seeing these dalek type robotic monsters approaching.
With their single " eye " emitting such ferocity and seemingly impervious to attack.
But early tanks only had a top speed of 6 km an hour. And, unlike the daleks, the early tanks bodies were vulnerable to concentrated fire.
Conditions inside were horrific – heat that could reach 50 degrees centigrade, extreme noise and toxic exhaust from the engine, as well as violent movement. The 8 man crew would often be severely sick. Communication was difficult.
Despite early attempts to upgrade the tanks, their soft bodies were too exposed: They were hopeless in the mud. At the Third Battle of Ypres (Passchendaele, 31 July- 1 November 1917), the tank did not look long for the battlefield.
The British government set out to raise funds to improve the development of tanks and to build more of them. They appealed to the public.
It is interesting to note that each city in the United Kingdom tried hard to be the highest fundraiser. Glasgow won and raised 16 million pounds.
After the war, the people of Glasgow went on strike for better working conditions and the tanks that they had paid for were sent in to quell the strike.
By WWII, tanks had become almost synonymous with battle.
They were faster. They were better designed. They could traverse different terrain. These days, they are able to speed forward at an impressive 80 km per hour.
The effect on the human psyche of an approaching fleet of Panzer tanks or Tiger tanks on the populace must have been terrifying.
Fast forward to the wars fought since.
By 1950, the Korean War had begun.
The tank was, again, a key component in the great war machine.
By Vietnam, the tank had again been brought into play. And many a bombardier would relive his moments - with his buddies - in those intense moments of battle.
Enter the Gulf War and the dramatic change to tank warfare. Tanks did not have air filters for the sand. The heat was so much greater.
So the allies had to do what they could to overcome their shortfalls.
And they did. In fact, the tank had become a much more sophisticated beast.
It had night vision. Highly effective armour. Suddam Hussein had a massive military in Iraq. Kuwait was less well endowed. Enter the USA.
Suddenly, war was being fought in tanks with GPS. What if GPS is knocked out?
Enter Ukraine. Enter Putin.
Will it be a nuclear war or a tank war?
I will leave it with a commenter who posted this and suggest that the war in Ukraine will NOT be nuclear. Unless NATO create it. In my opinion, Putin has tanks on his side.
I would wait for my 300,000 reassigned troops to be ready to deploy, probably in about 3 weeks, maybe four. By then the ground will have frozen, temperatures will have dropped and Ukraine should be just about out of fuel.
Then I would cut the water, heat, lights, transportation, communications of all of Ukraine and roll into the country, slowly making sure that my troops were protected and that the Ukraine death totals remained high.
A priority would be to take all of the Black Sea coast, to take Odessa, to unite with Transnistria. I would drop leaflets in Kiev demanding surrender. I would not stop until I had taken the entire country, but I would go slowly for General Winter is my top commander.
I would watch the destruction of the West's currencies, the increasing protests in the EU, the outcome of the US midterms. My war is fought on my fronts.
Russia's military trains in the Arctic, their weapons, including tanks are designed to work in the cold, and in severe cold. The weapons Ukraine is using all come from NATO, most are weapons bought from the US. The US does not gear its weaponry for winter fighting, keep in mind the US has only fought in hot climates for the last twenty years.
So Russian tanks will roll, Ukraine ones probably will have real problems in the cold. Further NATO has told Ukraine they have no more weapons to give them. The US has no shells of the proper caliber for Ukraine's weapons and is giving them lower grades, that don't have the power or range needed to hit Russian targets.
A further problem Ukraine has is outfitting their soldiers for winter war. Right now the rains are falling and the fields are mud, temperatures at night are at freezing. Any soldier without proper cover, raincoats, boots, etc., tents will not last. Winter will be far worse for them.
You know how Ukraine is saying that Musk shut off his satellites? His satellites are used by the US military, his role is maintenance, no way he shut them off. What has happened is Russia decided to shut them down. Remember Russia has advanced electronic weaponry, the US has nothing like it and no protection against it.
Bottom line Russia has spent 20 years getting ready for this war, the US has spent 20 years using its military budget as a slush fund for its political aims. The Pentagon knows it can't win. That is why Biden is talking about nuclear weapons, he may use them in a FF to justify nuclear strikes on Russia. We are governed by the people willing to destroy the world rather than lose power."
It seems to me that the tank will feature highly and it will be dictated by the preparedness of the tanks, the men and the ability to overcome a bitter winter that may end in a winter of defeat for NATO because the tank is still the greatest Dalek in any army.
And when you look into the eye of a Dalek that says " exterminate " it is possible that it will, indeed, annihilate. And exterminate
NATO is playing a very dangerous game.
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