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 Originally written By Phillip Ewing and Michael Hoffman – Marine Corps Times / 2007
When the Marines took Iwo Jima in 1945, they used more than bullets and resolve to clear the enemy from his warrens of caves and defensive positions – they also used flame tanks, horrific but effective weapons born of ingenuity and grim necessity. “To the Marines on the ground, the Sherman M4A3 medium tank, equipped with the Navy Mark I flamethrower, seemed to be the most ..read more  HEAT -- High Explosive Anti-Tank round. Used for lighter armored targets. A shaped inverted explosive charge with a copper lining that once detonated forces a molten copper jet into the tank at up to 25 times the speed of sound, liquifying the armor and penetrating the crew compartment. Despite producing only a small hole in the armor, the fire and copper can have devastating consequences inside the vehicle.
APFSDS (Armoured Piercing Fin-Stabilised Discarding Sabot). Used for Tank targets, this is ..read more  The Library of Congress has digitized many great photos of the US Tank manufacturing capabilities during WWII. The Chrysler Tank Arsenal in Detroit manufactured the M-3 and M-4 tanks in its facilities.
To the left is a 28 ton Press with a working power of 450 tons to stamp out quarter inch steel floor plates for the M-3 Tank. These photos are in the public domain, and prints can be ordered from the Library of Congress. If you would like to ..read more  The Renault FT-17 tank used in the MCTA logo is a French Light Tank created in 1917 and one of the most revolutionaary and influential tank designs in history. It was the first tank with a fully rotational turret, engine in the rear and driver in the front which would become the conventional configuration of Modern Tanks today.
The US built 1200 of the FT-17 tanks as the 6 1/2 ton M1917 light tank with a maximum speed of 5.5 miles per hour, ..read more
A restored Jagdpanther firing it’s main gun. The Jagdpanther was a tank destroyer built by Nazi Germany during WWII and based on the Panther Tank. Considered by many to be one of the best tank destroyers of the Second World War, the Jagdpanther wielded a 88 mm Pak 43 gun. More information on this tank can be found here.
More video of the tank above.
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