Lyon’s Electric Gyro-Cruiser

United States of America (1916) Landship – None Built “Suppose Great Britain’s giant navy could now come up out of the sea into the plains of northern France and, mounting itself upon wheels, dash in single line formation at express train speed upon one single, unsuspecting and strategic point of Germany’s hundreds of miles of …

General Jackson’s Pedrail

United Kingdom (1915-1918) Prototype – 1 Partially Completed Colonel Rookes Evelyn Bell Crompton had been there right at the birth of the British plan for the machines which were to become known as tanks. In 1915, this veteran of Victorian campaigns in India and acknowledged expert in both electrical equipment and road traction was brought …

M113 / M901 GLH-H ‘Ground Launched Hellfire – Heavy’

United States of America (1990-1991) Missile Tank Destroyer – 1 Built The AGM-114 ‘Hellfire’ missile was developed by the US Army specifically to counter modern Soviet main battle tanks in a potential clash of superpowers. Thankfully for all concerned, such a conflict did not erupt, the Cold War ending with the collapse of the Soviet …

A.11E1, Infantry Tank, Matilda Prototype

United Kingdom (1934) Infantry Tank – 1 Prototype Built Of all the tanks in WW2 which may be derided or even mocked for being ‘ugly’ or useless, one which invariably makes the list is the British A.11 Matilda. This is partially the result of the overall poor showing of the British Expeditionary Force (B.E.F.) in …

Roy / Lzarnopyski Infantry Fort

United States of America/Austro-Hungarian Empire (1919) Infantry Fort – None Built World War One was, by 1918, the largest and most costly war in terms of lives in the history of mankind. Starting in 1914, the war finally ended officially in June 1919, with the signing of the Treaty of Versailles, although, with the signing …

Straussler Main Battle Tank

United Kingdom (1960) Main Battle Tank – None Built Nicholas Peter Sorrell Straussler (1891* – 1966) is perhaps most famous for designing the inflatable floatation screen for tanks such as the M4 Sherman, commonly referred to as a ‘Duplex Drive’ or DD tanks. Born in Hungary in 1891*, at a time when it was still …

TOG Citadel

United Kingdom (1939) Heavy Tank – Concept Only Background The battlefields of the Western Front during WW1 were characterized by thick belts of barbed wire covered by machine-gun fire often from concrete bunkers, creating an area which was all but impassable to infantry. The ground, shattered by years of war and millions of rounds of …

Ford 3-ton Special Tractor M1918 (Ford 3-ton)

United States of America (1918) Light Tank – 15 Built The First World War broke out in 1914, dragging into the maelstrom the major powers of Europe and beyond. As early as 1915, faced with the carnage wrought by the industrialization of war exemplified by the use of the machine gun, armed men were being …

Projekt P.1000

German Reich (1942) Superheavy Tank – None Built In tank terms, few tanks evoke more awe from the reader in terms of size and the specifications than the Maus, a 200 tonne behemoth from the tank-stable of the even more famous Dr. Porsche. It is also no secret that there is a certain following, especially …

A.11, Infantry Tank Mk.I, Matilda

United Kingdom (1934-1940) Infantry Tank – 139 Built In September 1939, the United Kingdom and her Empire embarked on yet another war with Germany over the future of Europe. Despite a rearmament program started at the end of the 1930s, Britain had entered the war ill-prepared for the conflict to come. The Army was professional …

Ford 3-man Light Tank

United States of America (1918) Light Tank – 1 Built The USA was a mess in WW1. War had broken out in Europe between the major world powers, killing hundreds of thousands and spreading to a front from the North Sea to Switzerland, also covering Northern Italy, the Balkans, Africa, and beyond. Yet, in the …

Jacquet Assault Train

France (1944) Articulated Vehicle – Design Only Victor-Barthelemy Jacquet is not a French designer with golden name recognition, like Louis Renault or Colonel Jean Estienne, the fathers of the Renault FT and French tanks respectively. Indeed, virtually nothing is known of him outside of a few patent applications submitted between 1922 and 1944. It is …

Grote’s 1,000 tonne Festungs Panzer ‘Fortress Tank’

Soviet Union/German Reich (1932) Superheavy Tank – None Built In armored terms, few tanks evoke more awe in terms of size and specifications than the Maus, a 200-tonne behemoth from the tank-stable of the even more famous Dr. Porsche. It is also no secret that there is a certain following, especially online and in the …

1982 Argentinian Invasion of the Falkland Islands

Argentina vs United Kingdom “We must find an element that brings cohesion to society and the country. That element is Malvinas [Falklands]” Admiral Jorge Anaya, Chief of the Argentinian Navy via Joffre 1982 Lying about 500 km off from Argentina and 13,000 km from the UK, the Falkland Islands, known in Spanish as Las Malvinas …

Tracklayer Best 75

United States of America (1916) Mock-up Training Tank – 1 Built America was not involved in the bloody slaughter on the first years of war on the Western Front not arriving until the summer of 1917. Political pressure in the United States had very much sought to avoid becoming embroiled in the war which most …

VK45.02(H) ‘Tiger II’ Henschel Improved Tiger

German Reich (1942) Heavy Tank – Blueprint Only It is hard to imagine anyone with even a passing knowledge of armored warfare that is not able to recognize and differentiate between a Tiger and a King Tiger. They are very different-looking tanks from the stable of Henschel und Sohn G.m.b.H of Kassel, Germany. The Tiger …

Pomilio Monocycle Tank

Kingdom of Italy (1917) Monocycle Tank – None Built If someone is to consider the means of propulsion for an armored fighting vehicle, there are the common options: tracks or wheels, the less common options: track and wheels, air-cushion, and there are the rare options: legs, or rails. Probably the least likely method ever considered …

VXO Amphibious Half-track

Republic of Finland/Principality of Liechtenstein (1998) Amphibious Half-track – None Built The common perception of a half-track is simply a vehicle combining the best elements of a tracked vehicle off-road with the utility of a road-going wheeled vehicle. Seen in substantial numbers in WW2 by both the Allies and Axis alike, half-tracks are perhaps forever …

William Foster’s Flotilla Leader

United Kingdom (1916) Tank – Design Only Prior to World War One, the Lincolnshire-based firm of William Foster and Co. Ltd. had been a manufacturer of primarily agricultural equipment and heavy tractors. It was the frightful slaughter of that war that brought ideas of using modern mechanical traction machines based on wheels, tracks, or both, …

William Foster’s Battletank

United Kingdom (1916) Tank – Design Only Prior to World War One, the Lincolnshire-based firm of William Foster and Co. Ltd. had primarily been a manufacturer of agricultural equipment and heavy tractors. It was the frightful slaughter of that war which brought ideas of using modern mechanical traction machines based on wheels, tracks, or both …