In this picture is clearly visible the difference in size between the German King Tiger heavy tank, (on the left), and the American M-4A3 Sherman medium tank. The King Tiger weighed 68 tons by 32 of its “little” enemy.A british A-30 Challenger medium tank, and on its right, the impressive German Tiger I heavy tank. Both enemies met in France from 1944 until the end of WWII.In the 60s and 70s the German Leopard 1 MBT tank, (on the left), and the British Chieftain Mk.2 MBT were the greatest exponent of the European armored forces, having the difficult mission of containing the dreaded “Soviet hordes” during the Cold War.The Leopard 1 and Chieftain tanks would have had to face higher forces 3 to 1 if the Cold War had “warmed up” in Europe. To counteract the Warsaw Pact’s numerical superiority, Western’s technological superiority always remained ahead.US Army’s M-1A1 Abrams MBT along with a German Leopard 2A4 MBT, in a break during one of the constant maneuvers made in Germany in the late 80’s.This image shows the most powerful MBTs of NATO between the 60s and 80s, when the Cold War was “hotter”. From left to right we can see: British Chieftain Mk.10 and Challenger 1, German Leopard 2A4, American M-1A1 Abrams and the British Vickers Mk.7 prototype, which would not go into service.Aspect of the artillery storage area in the Krupp factory in 1918. From left to right: a 260mm coastal defense gun, 210mm morsers, 305mm morsers, and standing out above all others, the gigantic 210/162mm K.21 gun, popularly known as the “Paris Gun”.German vehicles captured after the end of WWII, from left to right: Munitionsschlepper 38H, 7.5cm Pak.40/1 Lorraine (Sd Kfz-135), two Panther A, and one Panther G heavy tanks.First examples of two modern German tank destroyers: on the left, the 90mm JgPz 4-5 Kanone, and to its right, the RjPz-3 Jaguar 1 armed with HOT anti-tank missiles.A Leopard 1A4 MBT with additional armor flanked by two new Leopard 2 MBTs delivered to the Bundeswehr around 1980.A Leopard 1A2 MBT with cast turret, (left tank), next to a Leopard 1A3 MBT with welded turret. The look is clearly different, though the armament, engine and equipment are similar in both tanks. The side skirts and gun’s thermal sleeve in the A3 model are the main differences between them.Impressive formation after the annual ILÜ maneuvers, (Informationlehrübung), conducted by the German Bundeswehr. From left to right: M-113GA2A0 evasan APC, RjPz-4 Jaguar 2 TOW ATMC, Marder 1A3 IFV, Leopard 2A6 MBT, PiPz-2 Duchs AEV, BrPz-1 Biber AVLB, BgPz-3 Buffel ARV, Leopard 2A5 KWS.II MBT, Roland II SPAAM, Marder 1A3 IFV & M-113GA2A0 APC.Formation of vehicles after the annual ILÜ maneuvers, (Informationlehrübung), conducted by the German Bundeswehr. From left to right: M-113GA2A0 evasan APC, RjPz-4 Jaguar 2 TOW ATMC, Gepard SPAAG, Leopard 2A6 MBT, PiPz-2 Duchs AEV, BrPz-1 Biber AVLB, BgPz-3 Buffel ARV, Leopard 2A5 KWS.II MBT, Roland II SPAAM, Marder 1A3 IFV & M-113GA2A0 APC.Sweden has always tried to be self-sufficient regarding military equipment as it is a neutral country. That is why has manufactured efficient vehicles such as the Brobv-941 AVLB, Bgbv-82 ARV and Pbv-302 APC. The first two are derived from Pbv-302 APC and entered service in the early 70’s.Tank-S or Strv.103 was a Swedish design of turretless MBT, and beside it, the famous British Centurion MBT which it was replaced to a great extent by the first one. The idea was not completely original in the 70s, but Sweden was the only country in the world that had tanks of this type in service for almost 30 years.Here we have a Swedish Leopard 2A5 (Strv.122) “family picture”, composed from left to right by the Bgbv-120 ARV, Strv-122 MBT, Ingbv-120 AEV and Brobv-120 AVLB. With these vehicles, the Swedish army has a capable range of heavy combat vehicles to tackle the most difficult tasks within the battlefield.This image shows two of the first tank types that British Army put into service. First of all, a 14 tons Whippet medium tank, seems to be towing a 28 tons Mk.V Female heavy tank. Both tanks were produced during the last stage of WWI, in 1917.The Interwar period was really “effervescent” for tanks, with a multitude of prototypes and developments, mainly in the United Kingdom. In this image, on the left we see a 13 tons Vickers Medium Mk.II tank of 1925, followed by a Vickers A6E1 (16-ton) tank prototype of 1926, which would not enter into service.In this picture we can see the British 20th Armoured Brigade waiting to parade at the end of maneuvers carried out in 1965. More than 300 combat vehicles composed this unit and the Centurion Mk.5 MBT was the main offensive weapon of the Brigade, with the M-44 self-propelled howitzers as main artillery support.Here we can see two special versions of the British Churchill tank. On the left the model Mk.V CS (close support), armed with a 95mm howitzer and of which 240 units were built. On the right the Mk.VII or “heavy Churchill”, with reinforced armour to be able to face the German Tiger tanks with more chances of success. This variant could be converted into a flamethrower tank with hardly any modifications.This image shows the two main vehicles from the British Army reconnaissance sections during the 50s and 60s. At the ends of the formation there are two Daimler Ferret armoured cars, light and agile vehicles suitable for this mission. In the middle, we see pair of Alvis Saladin Mk.2, another excellent vehicle, armed with a 76mm gun and that had an excellent off-road mobility.In the 70s, the British Army decided to replace with tracked vehicles part of their wheeled vehicles from the reconnaissance sections. On the left, the FV-107 Scimitar, armed with a high velocity 30mm Rarden gun, and next to it, the FV-101 Scorpion, practically the same vehicle except for the low velocity 76mm ROF gun, which allows it to carry out deep reconnaissance missions with greater security.In the 70s the British Army developed a range of vehicles known as “Combat Vehicle Reconnaissance (Tracked) family” or “CVR (T)”. This family was composed by all kinds of light combat vehicles, from APCs to ARVs. In the image, from right to left we can see: a Spartan APC, a Scorpion light tank and the Scimitar reconnaissance vehicle.This picture from the late 1950s shows what would be the “heavy weights” of the British Army for three decades, from the 1950s to the beginning of the 1980s. From left to right, a Conqueror Mk.II heavy tank, a Centurion Mk.6 MBT, and the prototype of the Chieftain MBT.Since the tank appeared, the Britishs, as their inventors, have always been at the forefront of their design and development. This endearing image shows us the yesterday and today of this magnificent weapon that changed the battlefield forever since 1915. On the left the Mk.V Male heavy tank from 1918, and on the right the Challenger 2 MBT from 1998. Eighty years separate them, but their concept and missions remain the same, to crush the enemy with mobility and firepower!!
