A tank a day keeps Politicians at bay.

Discussion in 'The Lounge Bar' started by von Poop, Nov 1, 2019.

  1. KevinT

    KevinT Senior Member

    Hi Jim,

    Just come across these great photos of HEREWARD THE WAKE. Do you know who it belonged to?

    Cheers

    Kevin
     
  2. JimHerriot

    JimHerriot Ready for Anything

    Hello Kevin,

    From memory chaps and Sherman are from 1 RTR, the only name (surname) I have though is Parkes. I've highlighted said chap with a green circle (and also green arrow) in the clearer photos. Unfortunately the other photos of Hereward The Wake that I have are quite indistinct but I've included them here for you.

    The super ex-tankies and historians that frequent the site may hopefully be able to identify other chaps, and they may be able to tell you more about "Hereward The Wake".

    Kind regards, always,

    Jim.

    Hereward the Wake 1.jpg

    Hereward the Wake 2.jpg

    Hereward the Wake 3.jpg

    Hereward the Wake 4.jpg

    Hereward the Wake 5.jpg
     
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  3. Charley Fortnum

    Charley Fortnum Dreaming of Red Eagles

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  4. von Poop

    von Poop Adaministrator Admin

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  5. Dave55

    Dave55 Atlanta, USA

    I like the part about being "sufficiently armed (armored?) to resist any artillery of those days"

    I think the only thing moving under its own power on land that could have done that would have been on rails.
     
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  6. ltdan

    ltdan Nietenzähler

    https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.2050-411X.2000.tb00294.x page 11:
    LES TANKS: Le Petit Journal Illustré 1917
    translated text:
    "Moved by steam, he said, and built like the American monitors, that is to say armoured and artillery-proof, this fortress, of variable dimensions, pierced with crenellations for the firing of rifles and armed with either machine guns or cannons of different calibres, can, by bearing down on the enemy works, destroy them and clear, through their lines of investment, a passage for the defenders of Paris. Built in such a way as to be able, on the plains as well as on the coasts, to climb or descend inclined planes, it must, by the mere mass of its weight, rising to ten, fifteen thousand kilograms and more, overturn, crush and destroy all obstacles. It is, in a word, a real rolling fortress, invulnerable and whose action is terrible. On the slope of this fortress, in its essential parts, projectiles of all kinds can only deflect or ricochet. The artillery piece with which it must be armed cannot be dismantled. By a new arrangement, the scuttle, which opens only for the exit of the cannonball, the shell or the grapeshot, closes again as soon as the shot has been fired and reconstitutes, by the junction of the four triangular blades of which it is composed, the spur which ends, as in the maritime monitors, the front of the fortress.

    "Assailed by enemies who would, by impossibility, attempt an assault, the conical roof of the tower, armed at its base with solid, sharp and cutting blades, begins to turn with a speed that becomes vertiginous, and everything that approaches it is, in an instant, thrown away, mowed down, scattered, destroyed.
    Large wheels, adapted to broken axles, support the machine and enable it to advance, retreat, oblique, and move in all directions over the most uneven terrain, which it levels, so to speak, under its enormous weight, as on ordinary roads or railways. Apart from the artillerymen and the soldiers posted at the battlements, one man is enough to direct this enormous machine. And the cost of fuel is one and a half francs per hour, The price of each fortress is seventeen thousand francs. "

    forteresse-balbi.jpg

    Comment fut inventé le tank ?
     
    Last edited: Mar 25, 2021
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  7. ltdan

    ltdan Nietenzähler

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  8. JimHerriot

    JimHerriot Ready for Anything

    No mention of Balbi from "Ogo", yet he's pre-dated said Frenchman by around five hundred years with another European innovator, one "Guido da Vigevano". And has J Cowan's patent been seen on WW2 Talk previously? (if yes please point me in the right direction as I'd like to see that).

    Not sure about the claims inside Ogo's front cover; "His book is the first of its kind published in English or indeed any other language" (hopefully just publisher's hype and not from the author himself!)

    And, he does go straight in with some other historical heavyweight name dropping right from the off (please see extract from Chapter 1 below).

    Kind regards, always,

    Jim.

    P.S. 50 shillings in 1968! (Daren't quote what my grandmother on Irish side said about expenditure like that).

    OGO cover.jpg

    OGO opening.jpg
     
    Last edited: Mar 25, 2021
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  9. von Poop

    von Poop Adaministrator Admin

    Crikey!
    Mind you, compared to the prices his 'Technology of Tanks' books fetch now, not half bad.

    Only died recently. Quite thankful Osprey released his '100 years' book as an accessible summary of his work. (Though it is made with the ironically named 'perfect bound' method, so, obviously, was falling to pieces from day one.)
     
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  10. JimHerriot

    JimHerriot Ready for Anything

    As I get older everything seems smaller.

    Motor cars, radios, chocolate bars, my brain capacity.

    Kind regards, always,

    Jim.

    P.S. Interesting exhaust outlet.

     
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  11. Dave55

    Dave55 Atlanta, USA

    Very nice!

    Comments section says that it was a parade attraction for Armistice Day
     
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  12. von Poop

    von Poop Adaministrator Admin

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  13. von Poop

    von Poop Adaministrator Admin

    Looks like they might have finished it.
    https://www.facebook.com/museodelleforzearmate/photos/a.182496868477345/4267588553301469/
    205052982_4267588563301468_310018493803091702_n.jpg


    And then begun work on a Fiat 3000...
     
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  14. von Poop

    von Poop Adaministrator Admin

    Via the excellent Camille Harlé Vargas on Twatter. (Follow her, if you browse that hellsite. Seriously worthwhile.)

    E6AJX5_XIAAVvxM.jpg

    Not just our Cavalry that perhaps showed a certain resistance to mechanisation...


    AMR 33 at a 'Cavalry Festival' in 1938.
    Looks like I'm going to be googling French Cavalry Festivals for a while. :unsure:
     
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  15. ...or some brilliant mind's attempt at actualising the Trojan Horse ruse de guerre :rolleyes:
     
  16. gash hand

    gash hand Well-Known Member

    I saw this article in a free newspaper

    upload_2021-8-6_18-45-0.jpeg
     
  17. von Poop

    von Poop Adaministrator Admin

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  18. Dave55

    Dave55 Atlanta, USA

    upload_2021-9-24_6-26-32.png
     
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  19. ltdan

    ltdan Nietenzähler

    In 1944 it was proposed to modify a Panzer 38(t) Ausf.M chassis into a „Mörserträger“ (mortar carrier) One mockup was made but the project was rejected.
    Mörser 1.jpg

    65 years later: Rheinmetall offers the Bundeswehr a modern and innovative mortar carrier
    Mörser 2.png
     
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  20. Chris C

    Chris C Canadian

    Very sadly this article seems to have been taken down. You can see the text here NA75 by David Morrell Showcase but not the pictures...
     

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