tank

Churchill Crocodile tank, Bayeaux Museum, France.

A US army World War II Sherman tank. The Sherman tank was used extensively by the Allied forces during World War II.

German World War II tank. The German forces employed their Panzer divisions to great advantage during World War II.

A camouflaged Sherman tank photographed in Italy in 1944. Sherman tanks were manufactured in the USA from 1942 to 1946, and used by Allied forces throughout World War II.

American tanks seen in World War II action in North Africa, August 1941. These tanks are in fact being tried out by a British cavalry regiment. Invented by the British soldier-historian Ernest Swinton in 1916, the tank was the prime weapon in battles fought across desert country.

German soldier in a tank, surrendering to the British infantry in World War II.

Armoured fighting vehicle that runs on tracks and is fitted with weapons systems capable of defeating other tanks and destroying life and property. The term was originally a code name for the first effective tracked and armoured fighting vehicle, invented by the British soldier and scholar Ernest Swinton, and first used in the Battle of the Somme in 1916.

A tank consists of a body or hull of thick steel, on which are mounted machine guns and a larger gun (usually housed in a turret). The hull contains the crew (usually consisting of a commander, driver, and one or two soldiers), engine, radio, fuel tanks, and ammunition. The tank travels on caterpillar tracks that enable it to cross rough ground and debris. It is known today as an MBT (main battle tank).

The name arose from the cover used when developing the British prototype. In an endeavour to keep the project secret, the test model was described as a ‘water carrier for Mesopotamia’, from which it became known in the factory as ‘that tank thing’. The French, working on a separate project to develop a tank, simply called it char (‘car’).