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AFV Show & Tell


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Here's a thread to post pictures of your favourite IFVs, and explain why you like them! APCs, MBTs, IFVs, WW2, Cold War or current -- anything goes! This thread isn't necessarily about which vehicles are the best, but which ones you like -- and why you like them. Photos, videos, artwork, and models are all accepted!

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Matilda II:

220px-Matilda_Compass.jpg

The desert queen is that classic British infantry tank. 78mms at the front, 65mms on the sides and 55mm on the rear. Incredible protection for the time.

2RIkVKL.jpg

It served practically on every front in WW2. France, Afrika, Asian, Pacific and Eastern fronts. Not Italian front, however.

Matilda2-6pdr.jpg

Couldn't accommodate a large gun, despite various attempts. The Valentine (tank in the center) replaced it. Couldn't fire HE shells, which is curious for an infantry tank.

cruiser-mk-iia-valentine-matilda-ii-01.p

Valentine was lighter and faster. Interestingly enough, it did not serve in Italy either and was eventually replaced by the Churchill.

Edited by DerKommissar
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I think you may be confusing the LWS, which was basically a sort of tugboat on tracks (Built on a custom chassis using some Pz.II bits, total production was not less than seven examples and may have been as high as twenty-one, in several versions) with the Panzer IV based Gepanzerter Landwasserschlepper II and Panzerfahre combination which better matches your description (it was essentially an armoured ferry, only two were built):

2 hours ago, Vergeltungswaffe said:

for river crossing and bridging operations

but 3 prototypes were assigned to Sea Lion

LWS Early:

Land_Wasser_Schlepper_LWS_broadside.jpg

Note early Pz.II Idler.

 

LWS Late:

650_800_ice48.jpg

Note later Pz.IV style sprocket.

Other variants had different arrangements of the windows etc.

 

Gepanzerter Landwasserschlepper II and Panzerfahre combination:

panzerfahre2.jpg

ddf0be7c3ce5714b89273c2540858594.jpg95e89a8a74b6335b147aceda27b38231.jpg

Note full Pz.IV running gear.....I believe they used the whole chassis.

 

4 hours ago, DerKommissar said:

Couldn't accommodate a large gun, despite various attempts. The Valentine (tank in the center) replaced it. Couldn't fire HE shells, which is curious for an infantry tank.

The Matilda Mk.III CS could fire HE & Smoke from its 76mm gun:

dsc_0222.jpg


Leave it to mature for a while, in the presence of Australians, and it can even do this:

image20.jpg

Matilda Frog (I believe most were actually converted from 2pdr armed tanks TBH).

 

 

Edited by Sgt.Squarehead
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32 minutes ago, Sgt.Squarehead said:

I like the Panzer II Ausf L 'Luchs' a lot

I have to agree.  It's so... cute?

I'm also partial to the Leopard 1.  Comes from an age of transition so they made a fast tank with a great gun and sensors (for the time).  All in a beautiful profile.Bundesarchiv_B_145_Bild-F027417-0005,_Ka

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5 hours ago, Sgt.Squarehead said:

I think you may be confusing the LWS, which was basically a sort of tugboat on tracks (Built on a custom chassis using some Pz.II bits, total production was not less than seven examples and may have been as high as twenty-one, in several versions) with the Panzer IV based Gepanzerter Landwasserschlepper II and Panzerfahre combination which better matches your description (it was essentially an armoured ferry, only two were built):

 

Nope.  My picture is the early LWS version with 3 return rollers.

Edited by Vergeltungswaffe
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14 hours ago, Sgt.Squarehead said:

The Matilda Mk.III CS could fire HE & Smoke from its 76mm gun:

Much more useful for infantry support, I can imagine.

For the next one, I am going to group together 4 vehicles into one.

7cd7cdec51dc2292b8596a64bd47be45.jpg

A1E1-Vickers-Independent.jpg

T-35_soviet_heavy_tank_5.jpgaaaf875f5a926d15f92c7899a4b9d845.jpg

Top to bottom: Neubaufahrzeug (1940), Vickers A1E1 Independent (1933, prototype), T-35 (1935), Char 2C (1921)

These are big, heavy, slow, lightly armoured and infamously unreliable -- which made them all but useless in WW2. Albeit, the British were forward-thinking enough to retire theirs to the museum. This was the first incarnation of the Heavy Tank, a concept that would become obsolete by the MBT. They say great minds think a-like. In this case, they were just plain wrong. I can imagine these super-tanks were useful for propaganda -- they look imposing even to this day.

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Presumably they were designed for a war which featured static front lines and required overcoming trench defenses.  One can see that if you could park one above a trench line it would be devastating.  Of course they were preparing for the previous war - kinda like what we are doing these days heh.

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I'm not sure it's an AFV as such, at least it's not a tank. But I've come to like the Stummel a lot:

Schtzenpanzerwagen7.5cmKwK37b600x302.jpg

Unfortunately, they rarely get to shine in CM, because as soon as even just light tanks appear on the battlefield, it's curtains for these little devils.

SdKfz_251-9_Ausf_D_mit_7_5_cm_KwK_37_L24

Edited by Bulletpoint
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I like Stummels and also Wespes etc.  But, you have to have long range LOS to targets just like with any other halftrack and that makes em hard to use in the relatively short LOS CM2 maps.  It's the challenge of using a vehicle with a pretty big HE gun but with paper armor that makes em fun.

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15 minutes ago, Erwin said:

I like Stummels and also Wespes etc.  But, you have to have long range LOS to targets just like with any other halftrack and that makes em hard to use in the relatively short LOS CM2 maps.  It's the challenge of using a vehicle with a pretty big HE gun but with paper armor that makes em fun.

I certainly agree with you. When you put them in the right place, and watch them taking out enemy infantry, and light AFVs it is a lot of fun. You just have to get your timing right and pull them back when when the Shermans and/or Churchills roll up.

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Quote

I'm not sure it's an AFV as such, at least it's not a tank. But I've come to like the Stummel a lot:

It has armor and a gun, so it is an Armored Fighting Vehicle. At least that's the way I learned it.

Quote

Unfortunately, they rarely get to shine in CM, because as soon as even just light tanks appear on the battlefield, it's curtains for these little devils.

I think the idea was that it was intended as an infantry support weapon to be used against enemy infantry, not intended to go up against tanks and suchlike. But we all know about "best laid plans" don't we?

It often happened in the war that for one reason or another not enough of the desired weapon—in this case tanks—could be produced to meet all desired requirements. So whatever guns available were mated with whatever vehicles were available to try to give at least some capability. These improvisations were often somewhat less than the doctor ordered. Some were downright disastrous, The M6 GMC "tank destroyer" for instance, which had no business appearing on any battlefield. Ah well, live and learn. Or as in this case, die and hope somebody else will learn.

Michael

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3 hours ago, Erwin said:

I like Stummels and also Wespes etc.  But, you have to have long range LOS to targets just like with any other halftrack and that makes em hard to use in the relatively short LOS CM2 maps.  It's the challenge of using a vehicle with a pretty big HE gun but with paper armor that makes em fun.

The problem is not so much that the maps are too small. It's more that it's rare to be able to target the ground at long range because of crops, etc. I just played Meijel Mayhem the other day, and it's a nearly perfectly flat map with 2km+ sight lines. But because of crops, there's hardly ever LOS.

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2 hours ago, Bulletpoint said:

The problem is not so much that the maps are too small. It's more that it's rare to be able to target the ground at long range because of crops, etc. I just played Meijel Mayhem the other day, and it's a nearly perfectly flat map with 2km+ sight lines. But because of crops, there's hardly ever LOS.

Vegetation and slopes that interfere with LOS is a solution that designers have used to enable maneuver so that not every place on a less that 2Km per side map can be seen and shot at.

Another example:  Have you noticed that every house that looks like it has a side that would have great LOS for one's FO or MG, somehow has absolutely no windows on that side?  ^_^

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