Special Sub-Topic: WWII Armor Click Here To Play: WWII Armor

Over 58,000 (including all the sub-types) of this tank were built during the war, more than any other one:

M4 (Sherman). Churchill: more than 5,600 built including all sub-types PzKpfw IV: about 9,000 (all sub-types) T-34: nearly 40,000 (all sub-types)

The Soviet KV tank series (KV-I, KV-II, KV-85) was named after the USSR pre-war defense minister, Klimenti Voroshilov. Who was the Soviet leader's name behind the IS (sometimes referred to as JS) tank series?

Iosif Stalin & Josef Stalin & Iosef Stalin & Joseph Stalin & Stalin. Possibly the most powerful A.F.V. to emerge from the war, with the exception of some German vehicles -but these were built in small numbers and, of course, production was stopped at the end of the war, leaving the supremacy to the Stalin family (IS-I to IS-IV).

After 1940, the light Panzerkampfwagen II was outdated as a battle tank, but its development was continued as a fast reconnaissance vehicle. Following the German practice of using animal names it was called what?

Luchs (Lynx). The Hummel was a lightly-armored, self-propelled 15-cm howitzer based on the PzKpfw IV chassis. The Maus was an absurd super-heavy tank, of which only two prototypes were built with a weight of 188 tons! The Puma was an eight-wheeled (not tracked) armored recon' vehicle.

The American concept for a 'tank-destroyer' during WWII was:

a lightly-armored vehicle with a powerful gun and a great speed. The M-10 and M-18 Gun Motor Carriages are examples of U.S. 'tank-destroyers', the latter having an amazing top speed of 55 mph! The German Jagdpanzer (hunting armored vehicle) and the Soviet SU-Samachodnya Ustanovka (self-propelled gun {mounting;} the SU-85 and SU-100, for instance) were similar 'tank-hunter' concepts evolved from existing tanks, but without the turret (of a lesser use in defensive warfare) and with a heavier gun. They were formidable weapons, sometimes even better than the tanks in which they were based.

This German tank ace destroyed nine Shermans and some other vehicles with his lonely damaged PzKpfw V Panther before making the way back to his lines.

SS-Unterscharfuhrer Ernst Barkmann. The Panther was damaged and some crewmen wounded by a tactical fighter air strike. Barkmann positioned the tank under surrounding oak trees near the French village of LeLorey, from where he defeated the column of fifteen Shermans and many other vehicles before safely escaping. This is known as 'the Barkmann's Corner'. (July 27th, 1944).

One of the oddest tanks of the war was the Soviet KT (Kyrliatyi Tank). What was it?

Airborne Winged Tank. It consisted of a T-60 light tank to which biplane wings, twin booms and a tail assembly, all made of wood, were attached. The project was cancelled because of a shortage of the four-engine towing aircraft needed to allow the tanks glide.

In April of 1941, the Germans captured three British wheeled vehicles, and liked them so much that began to use them (one by Erwin Rommel himself, other by his staff, and another one by the 21st Panzer Div. staff). Do you know which type these excellent British vehicles were?

A.E.C. Mark I Armoured Command Vehicle, 4 x 4. Rommel called his new vehicles 'Max' and 'Moritz'. The Germans gave the type the generic name of Mammoth.

A specialized type of A.F.V. was called 'Scorpion' or 'Crab' (Matilda Scorpion, Grant Scorpion, Sherman Crab, etc.) What were these 'funnies'?

Mine-sweeper flail tanks. The flamethrower tank with trailer was the Churchill Crocodile.

The British gave some of their self-propelled artillery 'clerical' nicknames: The S.P.25-pounder 'Bishop', the S.P.6-pr A.E.C. Mark I 'Deacon', the Canadian S.P.25-pr 'Sexton', etc. What did they call the U.S.105-mm. Howitzer Motor Carriage (M7)?

Priest & 'Priest'. Some say this nick was given due to the dustbin-shaped 'Pulpit' mounting for a 0.5-in. Browning machine gun, placed in front, at the right of the driver.

The first battle the U.S. armor fought on North Africa, in which a large number of inexperienced U.S. tanks were defeated by inferior numbers of hard veterans from the Afrika Korps.

Battle of Kasserine Pass. The Allies took their revenge soon after, at the Battle of Mededine, where the British used against the Afrika Korps, the ambush tactics the Germans themselves had been using so succesfully in previous engagements.