BMP-3 Ammo Storage

[Damian90]

Am sure I saw one just like it in Georgian War imagery.

Oh there were some tanks with turrets blowed off + one turret landed in... building.

Appreciate your candor on Zaloga, but I recommend you read some of his stuff and let me know your thoughts afterward.

If only I have time and money, unfortunetly academic education here in Poland isn't cheap, this means mainly life costs, sometimes party's, eh You know, education itself is free.

That diagram is spectacular and makes me cringe. Exposed ammo all over the place. What a find!

Soviet philosophy of building tanks, they were designed to survive in battle max several hours, not to serve for country by decades as western tanks do... but, reality was different... still until US and West Germany fielded M1 and Leo2 and UK fielded FV4030, Soviet tanks were best.

[John Kettler]

Bolteg and Damian90,

Thanks, but that isn't it. Want to say the Georgian lollipop pic I saw was taken in Tshkinvali.

Damian90,

Wasn't suggesting you go buy his books, rather, that you borrow one from the public or university library--assuming you have such English language pubs in either. For all I know, everything may be in Polish. Speaking of that, there are some wonderful armor reference works being produced in Poland. Meanwhile, you can get a sense of his work from reading the following excerpt:

M1 Abrams vs T-72 Ural

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/reader/1855323389/ref=sib_dp_pt#reader-page

plus

Defending the Kremlin: Gen One Soviet SAMs (article)

http://bobrowen.com/nymas/defendingthekremlin.htm

Soviet Tank Ops in the Spanish Civil War (article)

http://bobrowen.com/nymas/soviet_tank_operations_in_the_sp.htm

In devouring a borrowed copy of Mosier's stunning The Blitzkrieg Myth, I was astounded to learn the Poles destroyed a Panzer Division equivalent and 40% of the Luftwaffe's front line strength during the invasion of Poland. The latter would've been much worse had the Polish Air Force, instead of dispersing, gone straight for the jugular on day one. Would've been wiped out, but it would've gutted the Luftwaffe.

As for Russian tank design philosophy, the figure I've seen was a service life reckoned as 24 hours in battle. In turn, this led to the sorts of practices so ably described by Suvorov in The Liberators and Inside the Soviet Army wherein tank units seldom get to use tanks at all during training, do a lot of it pretending to be in tanks, husbanding operational hours on the AFVs like a miser hoards gold. If you wish to debate tank goodness, we need to specify the exact models and ammo, a time frame and location, as well as operational environment. In terms of crew quality, I'd give NATO a huge edge. There's no substitute for thoroughly knowing your tank under all conditions, in a well-oiled team, and having put a considerable number of rounds down range. NATO would have an even bigger edge at night, commencing with the widespread introduction of thermal sights, but would be in big trouble in the face of broadband obscurants, which would turn the engagement into a knife fight favoring the Russians.

Regards,

John Kettler

[Bolteg]

Thanks, but that isn't it. Want to say the Georgian lollipop pic I saw was taken in Tshkinvali.

It's not it? Hmm. Then I can't think of other tanks that looked similar and were KOed in the city itself. Here are the photos of all known destroyed tanks.

http://sites.google.com/site/afivedaywar/Home/getanklosses

[John Kettler]

Bolteg,

It was T-72 No. 406, but shot from a different angle. I remember being blown away that the turret got flung into the air, crashed through that floor, then planted the gun barrel in the ground after all that.

Regards,

John Kettler