The first tankette - Ford 3-Ton M1918

As the United States tooled up for production of the licensed version of the Renault FT, they also decided they wanted a lighter, cheaper vehicle as well.

The Medium Mark B

The Medium Mark B was the result of Sir William Tritton, one of the designers of the Mark I, not including the other lead designer, Lt. Walter Wilson, in the development of the Medium Mark A. When it was felt that the Mark A was underpowered, Wilson, now a Major, began developing a replacement, the Medium Mark B. Unfortunately, due to the fact that the prototype wasn't completed until September 1918, it never had serious production - only 102 were built, and only 45 of those entered service.

War Truckin' - the Putilov-Garford Armored Truck

While the most enduring image of the Western Front is trench warfare, the Eastern Front was more open. Armored cars delivered valuable service. One of the more eye-catching ones is the Russian Putilov-Garford, built by the Russian Putilov factory on an American Garford truck body.

The Vespers War goes on a field trip

This weekend, I took a little trip to the Virginia War Museum, since I had seen on Surviving Panzers that they had some World War I era vehicles. So, here's a bit of a photo gallery post for everyone.

Adventures in joint ventures - the Tank Mark VIII

Known as the Liberty or the International, the Tank Mark VIII was intended to be a pan-Entente joint venture, primarily designed by England, built in France using machinery and parts supplied by the United States. The plan was to build at least 1,500 tanks during 1918 in preparation for the 1919 offensive, with production starting in April and building up to a rate of 300 per month, with the factory being capable of expanding to 1,200 per month. This was a very ambitious plan, given that Britain's total tank production was around 150 per month.

A digression about armor penetration

Over on the boards at Juhlin, I've been involved in a discussion of armor penetration, since I was encountering some odd effects when trying to emulate modern body armor. I figured I'd repost some of the information here.

Fighting armor with armor - Sturmpanzerwagen A7V

After the deployment of the Tank Mark I, Germany engaged in a crash development program of their own tread-laying armored vehicle. What they ended up building was a large, boxy vehicle with a crew of 18(!), armed with captured Cockerill-Nordenfelt 57mm cannon and MG08 machineguns.