Hi Jim, Just come across these great photos of HEREWARD THE WAKE. Do you know who it belonged to? Cheers Kevin
Hello Kevin, From memory chaps and Sherman are from 1 RTR, the only name (surname) I have though is Parkes. I've highlighted said chap with a green circle (and also green arrow) in the clearer photos. Unfortunately the other photos of Hereward The Wake that I have are quite indistinct but I've included them here for you. The super ex-tankies and historians that frequent the site may hopefully be able to identify other chaps, and they may be able to tell you more about "Hereward The Wake". Kind regards, always, Jim.
Seoul 1950: South Korea-American M26 Pershing Tanks & North Korean Prisoners of War. Might well be press, but it doesn't, instinctively, look staged. Full-size/resolution here: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/26/M26_Pershing_Seoul_1950.jpg
'Flexible axles'... Torsion bars? Tracked? Wheeled? Anyone know any more at all about M. Balbi's efforts? Name rings a tiny bell, but inspiration fails to strike.
I like the part about being "sufficiently armed (armored?) to resist any artillery of those days" I think the only thing moving under its own power on land that could have done that would have been on rails.
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.2050-411X.2000.tb00294.x page 11: LES TANKS: Le Petit Journal Illustré 1917 translated text: "Moved by steam, he said, and built like the American monitors, that is to say armoured and artillery-proof, this fortress, of variable dimensions, pierced with crenellations for the firing of rifles and armed with either machine guns or cannons of different calibres, can, by bearing down on the enemy works, destroy them and clear, through their lines of investment, a passage for the defenders of Paris. Built in such a way as to be able, on the plains as well as on the coasts, to climb or descend inclined planes, it must, by the mere mass of its weight, rising to ten, fifteen thousand kilograms and more, overturn, crush and destroy all obstacles. It is, in a word, a real rolling fortress, invulnerable and whose action is terrible. On the slope of this fortress, in its essential parts, projectiles of all kinds can only deflect or ricochet. The artillery piece with which it must be armed cannot be dismantled. By a new arrangement, the scuttle, which opens only for the exit of the cannonball, the shell or the grapeshot, closes again as soon as the shot has been fired and reconstitutes, by the junction of the four triangular blades of which it is composed, the spur which ends, as in the maritime monitors, the front of the fortress. "Assailed by enemies who would, by impossibility, attempt an assault, the conical roof of the tower, armed at its base with solid, sharp and cutting blades, begins to turn with a speed that becomes vertiginous, and everything that approaches it is, in an instant, thrown away, mowed down, scattered, destroyed. Large wheels, adapted to broken axles, support the machine and enable it to advance, retreat, oblique, and move in all directions over the most uneven terrain, which it levels, so to speak, under its enormous weight, as on ordinary roads or railways. Apart from the artillerymen and the soldiers posted at the battlements, one man is enough to direct this enormous machine. And the cost of fuel is one and a half francs per hour, The price of each fortress is seventeen thousand francs. " Comment fut inventé le tank ?
For those interested in the early attempts of armoured land vehicles, the following publication is highly recommended: Mechanical traction in war for road transport, with notes on automobiles generally : Layriz, Otfried, b. 1847 : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive
No mention of Balbi from "Ogo", yet he's pre-dated said Frenchman by around five hundred years with another European innovator, one "Guido da Vigevano". And has J Cowan's patent been seen on WW2 Talk previously? (if yes please point me in the right direction as I'd like to see that). Not sure about the claims inside Ogo's front cover; "His book is the first of its kind published in English or indeed any other language" (hopefully just publisher's hype and not from the author himself!) And, he does go straight in with some other historical heavyweight name dropping right from the off (please see extract from Chapter 1 below). Kind regards, always, Jim. P.S. 50 shillings in 1968! (Daren't quote what my grandmother on Irish side said about expenditure like that).
Crikey! Mind you, compared to the prices his 'Technology of Tanks' books fetch now, not half bad. Only died recently. Quite thankful Osprey released his '100 years' book as an accessible summary of his work. (Though it is made with the ironically named 'perfect bound' method, so, obviously, was falling to pieces from day one.)
As I get older everything seems smaller. Motor cars, radios, chocolate bars, my brain capacity. Kind regards, always, Jim. P.S. Interesting exhaust outlet.
Looks like they might have finished it. https://www.facebook.com/museodelleforzearmate/photos/a.182496868477345/4267588553301469/ And then begun work on a Fiat 3000...
Via the excellent Camille Harlé Vargas on Twatter. (Follow her, if you browse that hellsite. Seriously worthwhile.) Not just our Cavalry that perhaps showed a certain resistance to mechanisation... AMR 33 at a 'Cavalry Festival' in 1938. Looks like I'm going to be googling French Cavalry Festivals for a while.
In 1944 it was proposed to modify a Panzer 38(t) Ausf.M chassis into a „Mörserträger“ (mortar carrier) One mockup was made but the project was rejected. 65 years later: Rheinmetall offers the Bundeswehr a modern and innovative mortar carrier
Very sadly this article seems to have been taken down. You can see the text here NA75 by David Morrell Showcase but not the pictures...