What associations do the majority of people with the word "tank"?That's right, a formidable fighting machine with excellent armor and weaponry.How could it be otherwise, for the last 60-70 years, design has not changed much?2-3 generations of people are so used to the stereotype that when mention tank World War, it destroys all notions about the war and distorts reality.This article aims to bring back the facts to their seats and to show the public the difference between MBT and modern fighting machine the beginning of XX century.
The first thing worth noting is that the massive use of armored vehicles on the speech and could not be, since the total number of combat-ready machines, even at the end of the war was barely a hundred in the whole of Europe.Trench warfare and constant shelling - this is everyday life of wartime.But back to technology.The role assigned to her rather modest - support the attacking infantry, according to what they were designed.
appearance of these steel monsters was able to scare only people have never seen anything like it.For modern man show is funny: something resembling a box of riveted sheets of armor, bristling with machine guns in all directions (rarely, guns in turrets on board) - that they are typical of tanks World War.Photos of these machines is not a bit like the pictures even armored 40s.Under
meant bulletproof armor plates thickness of 10-15 mm.That was enough to ignore the enemy guns.Keep the gap even explosive projectile such protection could not.It was the first use of heavy machinery, which is desperately needed in the test range, Kojima and found the First World War.The tanks of the time, no matter how modest their characteristics were not laid the groundwork for a fundamental change of the shape of the war in the next half century.
armament mainly consisted of several machine guns, later appeared and light weapons.You have to understand that it was a small-caliber gun with a short barrel.Tank World War was designed designers destroy infantry, break light fortifications and machine-gun nests to suppress the enemy.Army if needed mobile gun platform, and not an independent branch of service.
about any "blitzkrieg" strategy of the time did not think, and therefore the speed of the combat vehicle has been disappointingly low.Horse copes with its tasks and did not hand over their positions until the early '40s.Tank World War could not affect the outcome of the conflict, too late to start development.A bad review, the constant gassed the crew compartment, inadequate design and the lack of long-term advantages over field artillery of the time - these are the reasons of low combat effectiveness of the technology of the last century.
Therefore, meeting in textbooks or literature references about the tank of the First World War, imagine yourself moving firing platform formless, then you will be able to avoid any mistakes in the assessment of military operations at that time, when 3-5 tanks on the front is not meant absolutely nothing inCompared to widely used cavalry or artillery howitzer.
