Your favourite failed tanks pre-1945

Hey guys

what are your favourite tanks that never quite made the mark
or that were obsolete come there day on the field?

For me it is the
M11-39
M13-40
Panzer 2
TKS
BT-7
and
A-13

a few listed I know...

 

The german Maus

 

The PzKpfw III, though arguably it wasn't obsolete when it was first used. This tank was outdated the moment Russia fielded its first T34.

 

my wwII time favorite must be the TOG


Aglooka

 

To be fair the TKS in my oppion was better than the tanks fielded by the Germans during the Polish campaign.
Also the TKS tanks fitted with the 20mm(24?) were able top destroy all german armour in 1939. They were good tank killers because they were small and hard to spot. The main problem was the numbers of the tanks were too few and that production had just started when war broek out. I do not see why you consider them failure. Ja jestem Polak.

 

It was still obsolete as the war began. It was way to lightly armed. Lacked a radio and like you said there were just to few of them.

I think the small, agile, quick firing 20mm armed tankette is an awesome machine. But I still feel that come 1939 it was drawing on being dated.

Kym

 

My favourite, the Char 2C.
Talk about a BIG failure:

 

Apropos BIG failure

The Jagdtiger




or the Sturmtiger




Regards,
Che.

 

The US M6 Heavy Tank and T14 Assault tanks are my favorite "what if" tanks.

M6 Heavy Tank (standardized spring 1942, entered production Nov 1942):
Crew = 6
63.25 tons (battle weight; 57.5 metric tons)
27' 8" (10.1m) long
10' 7" (3.2m) high
10' 2.5" (3.1m) wide
Armament:
main = 1 x 3" (76.2mm) M7 + 1 x 37mm M6 co-axial
(modified for 90mm trials in early 1944 and for 105mm in mid 1945)
secondary = 2 x .50 cal MG + 2 x .30 cal MG
AA = 1 x .50 cal MG
800 HP engine; 22 mph max speed; 100 mile road range; HVSS
100mm max armor

T14 Assault Tank (pilots completed in 1943; project scrapped in December 1944)
Crew = 5
42 tons (battle weight; 38.2 metric tons)
20' 4" (6.2m) long
9' 1" (2.8m) high
10' 3" (3.1m) wide
Arament:
main = 1 x 75mm M3 or 1 x 76mm or 1 x 105mm
secondary = 2 X .30 cal MG
AA = 1 x .50 cal MG
520 HP engine; 22 mph max speed; 100 mile road range; HVSS
133mm max armor

 

Or the T-35





Technical data of the T-35 Tank (5 Turret Model)
T-35
Weight in tons: 45
Frame length in meters: 9,72
Height in meters: 3,43
Width in meters: 3,20
Number of crew: 11
Top speed, in kilometers: 30
Caliber of the main gun: 76,2
Caliber of the secondary gun: 45
Caliber of the third gun: 45
Number of machine guns, 7,62 mm: 5 - 6
Manufactured between: 1933 - 1939
Number of manufactured: Some thirty or forty


Regards,
Che.

 

It was obsolete but not against other thanks that were obsolete (the tanks of the Germany army). Therefore over all they were obsolete but not againsts their enemy when war first broke out. Also the reason why there was so few of these tanks is because Poland only started production right before the war, and most that carried the 20mm were converted from twin mg.

 

I've seen a variant of the "Siege Tank" at the Patton Museum in Ft Knox, KY. (I can't recall if it was the T-14.)
It was akin to the JagdTiger with a HUGE main-gun and no traversing turret. Heavily armoured, and with what appeared to be 2 complete sets of track on each-side.
The concept was to use these to breach the Siegfried-Line, but the job was accomplished without them, and it never made it into production.
I believe it was the biggest US-made AFV of the Second-World War.

Tim

 

Thought I might post a picture of the M6 heavy tank.

 

Hoosier, do you mean T-95/ T-28?

 

Panzer man, IIRC hot linking pics form another page is called bandwidth theft. You should post a link to the pic or uload it to a picserver like http://www.imageshack.us/.

My favourite is the Australian Sentinel. Usually hulls were bolted, riveted or welded together from several parts. Not a perfect solution, because this weakened the structure, so everybody tried to make a tank with a one piece cast hull. The nation that succeeded was one that never made a single tank before. And as if this is not enough to deserve a Nobel Price for Tank construction, the Australians gave the AC-1 a turret big enough for a 2-pdr, a 25-pdr and even a 17-pdr. What a difference to a Matilda or a Valentine.

 

Just a small note, at each of the upgunnings the turret was enlarged to give the crew and piece more space, and the 17pdr armed AC4 design required a larger turret ring. Interestingly the 25pdr armed AC3 had the same turret ring as the Sentinel and so the Sentinel could carry a 25pdr if it were really needed.

 

No, it wasn't the T14. You're thinking of the Heavy Tank T28, later known as the 105mm Gun Motor Carriage T95.
Crew of 8
95 tons (86.4 metric tons)
36'6" (11.1m) long
9'4" (2.85m) high
14'5" (4.4m) wide
Arament = 1 x 105mm (main) + 1 x .50cal AAMG
300mm max armor
410hp, 8mph max speed, HVSS, 100 mile road radius

Proposed Sept 1943, development approved April 1944, first of two pilots completed Sept 1945, project cancelled Oct 1947.

 

I do not beleive that the tks failed. :angry: Polski pierfsie

 

Well, they did not fail in combat - they gave a good account of themselves.

The point is that they were pretty much obsolete - too little armour, too little gun, too small to upgrade. They had reached the end of their useful life.

Markus - I'm glad somebody else likes the Sentinel. The version used as a test rig for the 17-pdr had a turret with twin 25pdrs!

 

The point is they were not obsolete against their enemy, plus how can you upgrade somethign yuo do not have? Since the Polish army went into exile I do not beleive they had any TKS tankettes left. I do beleive but I'm not certian that the Germans captured two of these tanks.

This is my main point of defence; the tank was good against what it encountered, and after the Polish campaign I do not beleive they were used.