Ted Posted April 2, 2003 Share Posted April 2, 2003 We know the Allies called it a "Tank", named after war heroes, Grant, Sherman, Stuart, Pershing etc And the Germans a "Panzer", most named after animals, Tiger, Panther, Lynx, etc. But what was the Russian word for “tank” and other than their model number did they have names for them? Wasn’t the KV2 called the Stalin? How about other nationalities? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moe Posted April 2, 2003 Share Posted April 2, 2003 Don't know about the other languages, but in Dutch a "tank" is called a "tank". Or a "pantser" (pronounced the same way as Panzer). 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gen. Longstreet Posted April 2, 2003 Share Posted April 2, 2003 The Dutch MBT is the German Leopard, I don't know for sure but I believe the "T" in T-34 or T-80 is short for the russian word "tank", they don't have any "nicknames" 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larsen Posted April 2, 2003 Share Posted April 2, 2003 KV stands for Klim Voroshilov and IS stnds for Iosif Stalin. Klim Voroshilov was one of the high ranked generals and hero of the Russian civil war. T stands for tank and the number is the two digit year when the prototype of the tank was first made. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ted Posted April 2, 2003 Author Share Posted April 2, 2003 This may sound dumb but the Russian word for tank sounds like “Tank”? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Panzertruppe Posted April 2, 2003 Share Posted April 2, 2003 Well, kind of an odd question........in 1928 the Soviets obtained a license to produce an American designed supension system on a new Soviet medium tank known as the first "Bistrokhodny Tankoi"(BT) or "fast tank". So the BT'S were just labled "fast tanks". Also the KV-1's( the "S" stood for "Skorostnoy" or "fast" tank.The "upgunned'KV-1 ( KV-85) was designated as the IS-85. IS stood for Iosef Stalin, although keeping with western notions of transliteration is was rendered as the JS( Josef Stalin). So tanks in the Soviet Union did carry known names, or infamous names. [ April 02, 2003, 09:48 AM: Message edited by: Panzertruppe ] 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
White Phosphorus Posted April 3, 2003 Share Posted April 3, 2003 What's Tankoi? It's TANK. The A is pronounced as u in cup. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Holman Posted April 3, 2003 Share Posted April 3, 2003 I asked this question once before with regard to German armor, and I don't think I got a definitive answer. Did the Pz III, Pz IV and StuG crews (for example) have nicknames for the models they commanded? Of course the Pz V was a Panther and the Pz VI a Tiger, but what about the others? Did they just say, "We'll be receiving some Panzer 4's to replace our losses tomorrow"? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wisbech_lad Posted April 3, 2003 Share Posted April 3, 2003 I always thought the names of US tanks originated with the British? I.e. US army called tanks M1, M2, M3, M4. However lend lease tanks were given names by UK army (Lee/ Grant/ Stuart/ Sherman/ Honey/ Priest etc) which then caught on with the US. By the time it came to the Pershing, the US moved to this system of naming themselves Someone please enlighten me? PS Indonesian for tank is tank 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cpt. Cook Posted April 3, 2003 Share Posted April 3, 2003 What did the Sov.s call the Sherman? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikko H. Posted April 3, 2003 Share Posted April 3, 2003 T stands for tank and the number is the two digit year when the prototype of the tank was first made. Not always, at least during & before the WWII. For example the first prototypes of the T-34 were manufactured in late 1939 or early 1940. IIRC the tank got its number after the year a certain degree affecting the tank industry was passed. And the T-50, T-60 and T-70 were light tanks which were used during the WWII. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mies Posted April 3, 2003 Share Posted April 3, 2003 I read an article a couple of weeks back explaining where the word “tank” came from. It appears that during WWI British construction workers were told they were working on water tanks (strangely shaped I would think) to keep the manufacturing of the newly invented armoured vehicles as secret as possible. This term stuck with it which caused it to (nick-)name the things “tanks”. ...Don’t ask me whether this story is true or not and don’t ask me where the term “water tank” came from..... ! Mies 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flamingknives Posted April 3, 2003 Share Posted April 3, 2003 The "water tank" cover was used in logistics documents, as, covered with tarpaulins they resembled just that. After that, they're large metal boxes and the name stuck. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
White Phosphorus Posted April 3, 2003 Share Posted April 3, 2003 Originally posted by Cpt. Cook: What did the Sov.s call the Sherman? MCha. If you write the 4 with the angled part sticking strait up it looks like a russian letter Ch. So M4 became MCha. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
demoss Posted April 3, 2003 Share Posted April 3, 2003 MCha. If you write the 4 with the angled part sticking strait up it looks like a russian letter Ch. So M4 became MCha. I was told that Emcha was just a shortened version of Em Chetiri = M4. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sergei Posted April 4, 2003 Share Posted April 4, 2003 In Russian there's another word for armour, bronya. In Finnish, you can say "tankki" or "panssarivaunu". 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeyD Posted April 4, 2003 Share Posted April 4, 2003 I heard 'Emcha' was a fond nickname based on the 'M' in M4 and the '-cha' being a feminine ending. I didn't realise it had been pr0mpted by the 4 - cha similarity. As for Russian for 'tank', they constructed them in 'Tankograd' tank plans so it sounds like the English 'tank' has been internationalized, in the same way 'guerilla' has been internationalized (from Spain during the Napoleonic wars?) [ April 04, 2003, 10:12 AM: Message edited by: MikeyD ] 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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