NewCalamity

Welcome to the second installment of this... whatever this is. Hopefully you enjoyed the previous entry on "Der Panzerwaffe", which, if you haven't already I do recommend you check out! This entry focuses on the Allies of the West. For this entry includes armour of France, Britain, and the United States. I have more photos of various other Western machines but I've decided to hold off on those ones for the time being and focus on the more prolific examples in this entry here. Hope you enjoy! Matilda Mark II – British infantry tank famous for its actions in North Africa. Mounting a less-than-desirable 2-pounder gun (40mm), it was rather under-gunned for its weight. It also suffered from a lack of speed and mobility; however it made up for these faults with more than enough armour for the time with 78mm of frontal hull armour. It was largely removed from frontline services when the Valentine Mk II became available. M4A1 Sherman – World famous American medium tank manufactured in immense numbers totaling nearly 50,000 built. A prime example of the American mindset to create a tank that was a jack of all trades, master of none. The early model, was armed with the mediocre 75mm M3 L/40 gun, it was unable to penetrate the armour of the more advanced heavier models of German armour. Decently mobile, able to use its large numbers to encircle opponents and attack where their armour was thinnest. However, this tactic resulted in a large amount of casualties; as a single well placed penetrating round would knock a Sherman out. There has been a myth that M4’s were extremely vulnerable to catching fire due to their gasoline engines; this is false. The primary reasoning behind the M4 Sherman’s nicknames of “Tommycooker”, “Ronson”, and “Burning Grave” were due to its precarious ammunition storage placed in the sponsons, which are above the tracks. The Sherman was also famous for being modified for many uses such as; bridge layer, flamethrower, howitzer, rocket artillery, submersible, bulldozer and more. Churchill Mk IV – British heavy infantry tank famous for its appearance. Named after the British Prime Minister of the time, this Churchill mounted an Ordnance QF 75mm gun and thick frontal armour at ~100mm. The tracks jutting past the front and rear of the tank allowed for easier travel on rough-terrain, a good aspect for a heavy, slow infantry support tank. Having decent mobility despite its size and weight, it made for an excellent addition to the British armoured corps. Much like the M4 Sherman, the Churchill was converted into different roles to fit various purposes. 3-inch Gun Motor Carriage M10 – American tank destroyer based on the chassis of the M4 that had widespread use by the American military as well as the British. Reaching speeds of up to 50km/h, it was armed with a 76.2mm gun and could deliver its firepower wherever it was needed along the battlefield. Its turret was not enclosed and therefore the turret crew was exposed to enemy fire, the turret also lacked powered traverse and thus had to be hand-cranked to turn left or right, making this vehicle unsuitable for close engagements. It remained solely a support tank for eliminating enemy tanks and vehicles at a distance. It had relatively thin armour (57mm max) and therefore was vulnerable to any form of enemy AT fire as well as explosive and shrapnel from the open turret. M3 Grant – The American M3 medium, designed as a stop-gap when the US entered the war to buy time for a superior tank to be fielded. As the Americans were having difficulties mounting potent cannons on turrets, the M3 had a very unique design featuring a hull-mounted 75mm gun, and a 37mm on the un-centered turret. The rather odd looking machine had a very ineffective design, as it was 3 metres tall and its main gun was too low to be any use in a defensive hull-down position. It also suffered from relatively poor off-raod capabilities which proved to be an issue on the desert terrain of North Africa, where it was primarily fielded. Its huge profile, mediocre armour, and crew of 6 or 7 men earned it the nickname “Purple Heart Box” from its American crewmen. Char B1– This early-war French heavy tank saw service during the Battle of France and in other early theatres of war in German employ. Armed with a turreted 47mm gun and hull-mounted 75mm gun, the Char B1 was a large, slow and cumbersome machine, topping at 28km/h. However, for the constant defensive positions the disorganized French military had to take during the campaign, monstrous armour and firepower for the sake of speed was a decent enough trade-off against the early-war thinly armoured German tanks. The suspension was complex and the turret was a tight-fit for the crew. Despite its cumbersome drawbacks, it remained a feared opponent of early-war panzer crews due to its nigh impenetrable armour thickness. After the fall of France, many were pressed into German service (under the designation Panzerkampfwagen B-2 740 (f)) and some were even converted into artillery or flamethrowers. Char S35 Somua – This early-war French tank was arguably one of the best of its day. Being a classic example of what a “medium” tank is, with decent armour, armament, mobility and speed. However, it was expensive to produce and outdated French tactics limited this tank’s effectiveness during the Battle of France. Often being uncoordinated and confused, French tank crews found it difficult to utilize their machines under such conditions. Mounting a 47mm gun, reaching speeds of up to 40km/h and a maximum armour thickness of 47mm, it was a good all-rounder tank. Much like the Char B1, it was also pressed into German panzer divisions such as the 23rd Panzer Division for combat. I'm up for any suggestions as to what I should be writing about next. The only suggestion I've received thus far is from Starshine, requesting I write something about how Germany's Blitzkrieg was so effective. There is also a chance I will be re-visiting the Canadian Warplane Heritage museum nearby again this weekend and will be taking higher quality photographs there, including one of the only two Avro Lancasters that still fly. This being the case, my next entry may perhaps revolve around the Royal Air Force, but we shall see.

I'm very glad you enjoyed what you read! I'll be sure to come up with a sequel in the very near future. Ahah, yes. Despite how loved it is in-game, the crews were rather upset with the tight space they had to work in. xD I'm very happy to hear that you enjoyed it so much to the point of needing a favourite! ^^

Plenty of it! Bovington Tank Museum, being the largest single collection of armour in the world has all sorts of examples from the dawn of the tank to late-Cold War era. My main field of knowledge comes from the German Panzerwaffe, which would be why this entry is the first. I may make an entry focusing on American or British/Commonwealth armour in the near future!

Finally getting around to showing a few photographs from my adventures in the UK. These photos are primarily from Bovington, but there are a few from the Imperial War Museum as well. Each photo will come with a blurb on a little about that particular machine, I'll keep it relatively brief to hopefully ensnare some interest. Jagdpanther - A rather powerful panzerjäger ("Tank-hunter", typically a turret-less tracked vehicle specifically designed to knock out enemy tanks) based on the chassis of the Panther. This late-war machine saw most of its action on the Eastern Front and also when the Western Allies landed upon Normandy. It sported the deadly 88mm PaK 43, a gun that could pierce any Allied armour with ease and at extreme ranges while the Jagdpanther would remain concealed behind foliage and brush. Pzkpfw II - A light tank developed early in the war that was one of the machines involved in the Blitzkrieg of Western Europe. Armed with a 20mm cannon and sporting very little armour, just enough to survive Allied small-arms fire. Its advantage over the superior French armour of the early days were fast-paced and coordinated wolfpack attacks, flanking and encircling the enemy. Pzkpfw VI 'Tiger I' - The legendary machine often known as the 'Tiger' was a heavy tank that was first fielded on the Eastern Front at the Battle of Leningrad, 1941. The morale-crushing machine wielded the famous KwK 36 L/56 88mm gun and was extremely effective against any Allied armour from ranges of over 1 kilometer. There were a large number of tank commanders that wielded this machine and ended the war with kills in excess of 100. (Otto Carius is a good example, with approximately 150 enemy tanks) Pzkpfw V Panther - Mid-war medium tank based off of what the Wehrmacht learned from the Soviet medium tank T-34. Sloped armour at 80mm of thickness, decent mobility and the elongated 75mm cannon allowed for successful hits at extreme ranges. Sturmgeschutz III - Tank destroyer based on the chassis of the Pzkpfw III, carrying a 75mm gun designed for knocking out enemy tanks. It was the most numerous type of vehicle ever fielded by the Panzerwaffe due to the relative ease of configuring the already decently numerous Panzer III medium tank. Pzkpfw IV - Medium tank that formed the backbone of the Panzerwaffe. Very balanced, having good armour, a good 75mm cannon and mobile - the definition of a medium tank. It began the war as an infantry support tank, with a stubby 75mm gun designed to fire HE (High-explosive) shells at enemy emplacements and infantry. As the war developed, so did the Panzer IV and it was given longer and longer 75mm weapons and thus it was transformed into a tank-on-tank fighter. Pzkpfw VI Ausf. B 'Tiger II' - This monster is more commonly known as the "King Tiger" or "Royal Tiger" due to its German nickname "Königstiger". (The English interpretation however is a mistranslation as the German word refers to the Bengal Tiger) The Tiger II weighs in at around 75 tons and carries the same PaK 43 88mm as the Jagdpanther, only due to its immense size, can be mounted on a turret. The armour is legendary and is sloped frontally at 150mm thick. The frontal armour was recorded to have never been penetrated during the war. In fact, the worst enemy of this machine was itself; due to the immense weight and strain on the engine and suspension, break-downs were common and most Tiger IIs were lost because of mechanical failure, rather than defeated by enemy fire. Jagdpanzer 38(t) - A relatively small-sized tank destroyer based on the chassis of the Pzkpfw 38(t), a Czechoslovakian tank. (the (t) standing for "Tschechoslowakei", "Czechoslovakia" in German) Mid-war, it was decided to convert the outdated Panzer 38(t)'s into tank destroyers and putting their chassis to use by mounting a proper weapon on them, the PaK 39 L/48 75mm gun. (The same weapon as the final gun of the Panzer IV) This machine was effective due to its low cost, low-profile making it easy to conceal, and mechanical reliability. Though it had poor gun-traverse and was a very tight fit for the crew inside. Pzkpfw II Ausf. L 'Luchs' - The Luchs (Lynx) was a late variation of the Panzer II, designed specifically for reconnaisance purposes. Having six forward-gears, it could reach speeds of 60km/h and still carried the 20mm cannon and 7.92mm machine guns. Jagdpanzer VI 'Jagdtiger' Ausf. B - The 'Hunting Tiger' was the largest and most powerful tank destroyer in service of the Panzerwaffe. It was based on the Tiger II's chassis and was armed with the PaK 44 L/55 128mm gun, which was originally intended to be mounted on the failed prototype, Maus. It shared the same problems as the Tiger II due to its immense weight and size. Only 85 were ever produced and they were used for defensive roles in 1944-45. I hope you enjoy the descriptions I've written and photographs I've snapped. If you have any questions at all, don't hesitate to leave a comment below! Thanks!

, ah, another person to drive Scoots farther down the slope into utter insanity, good. You'd do fine.

As those who have posted have mentioned, implementing such a feature would completely annihilate any meaning behind the words "post count". As your post count is exactly that; how many times you have posted in discussion topics. If one is motivated to write walls of text for the sake of increasing their post-count, I would highly doubt their ability to make consistent coherent posts that are contributing to the discussion at hand. In the end, it would simply be more work and yet another thing to add onto the tecchies' to-do lists, and it would be an entirely superficial feature that we see no benefit in adding. This thread has largely run its course, thus it shall be locked now. Thank you for your suggestion, as all ideas to help improve user experience here is greatly appreciated.

Praise the sun! o/ Ouch, hate those. He's doing well I suppose. Well considering I've not yet gotten off my ass and write out his story :z and thank you x) A very nice high quality gif I found of the trailer.

Good morning and such! *finishes morning tea* How is everyone lately?

This setup will be around for the forseeably future, for sure. Damn, you're right! Back to the drawing board, we can't do without rainbows. The badges will indeed be remaining as they were. Moderators possess the Royal Guard emblem, whereas Administrators possess the Alicorn emblem.

Staff Title Updates As you all may or may not have noticed, the staff groups’ names and colours have been changed, and some classifications have disappeared entirely. This is to make way for the future, and to let the staff’s titles accurately represent their intended focuses and jobs. Here is a list of all of the changes made to the way the staff groups are now classified: Poniverse Staff: The former “community stewards” now have a new name to more encompass their position and job as a staff member dealing with non-moderation issues such as EqTV and the Q&A board. Moderator: One who moderates the forum. “Global moderator” and “Sectional moderator” are no longer discernible titles, to dispel the illusion that Global moderators were of “higher rank” than their Sectional counterparts. Administrator: A merging of the titles “Community admin” and “Tech admin”, both of the merges serve to make things more simple for the userbase as well as make it look much cleaner and less cluttered. After all, if a user was to look for tech support, they would not contact the admin directly, but instead create a support ticket dedicated to their issue. No jobs have changed, however and everyone is still comfortably milling about attending to their duties. As these changes have been made to reflect what the future has in store for our fine community!

Hello, just informing you that I have gone ahead and merged your thread with the already existing thread on WoT. Do ensure that a thread does not already exist by using the search function on the site, thank you.

This thread appears to be some manner of random (but strangely enjoyable) nonsense, or something spammy of the sort. Thus, it has been sentenced to the Forum Lounge section of Cloudsdale Colosseum. This is an automatically generated message, by the way.

Nighty night, Bari. My my, that tournament is getting rather heated lately, isn't it? hoho

Twilight Sparkle and her ascension truly shows that her destiny is to become the all-encompassing goddess of the six elements that dominate the land. She has even been bestowed a regal pair of sacred wings to represent her dominance over all. If we were to deny the goddess her rightful seat at the throne, who can tell what form of mighty wrath the goddesses may sunder our mere mortal forms with? It is our sworn duty to see to it that her holy figure be secured to the throne as the laws of time and nature itself have foretold. Hang on one moment, this is show discussion, what on Earth am I doing here?

Lately I've been in an absolute spree of Zelda games. Namely, I've been replaying Twilight Princess and Wind Waker, playing Skyward Sword for my first playthrough, and trudging through Ocarina of Time: Master Quest on the 3DS. Progress in Wind Waker, I've just gotten past the Earth Temple once again, no real difficulties thus far other than getting ahead of myself and perhaps forgetting one or two things when my mind gets ahead of itself. Fiddling with the controls quite often when trying to get Medli to cooperate with me was a bit of a task though. Nevertheless, next stop; Wind Temple, a temple I recall having a couple difficulties in navigation with during my first playthrough many years ago. After the Wind Temple is likely when I will begin collecting every item and sidequest and such, something of a tradition I have for Zelda games are to make sure I complete everything before moving on to finish the story. In Twilight Princess, things are also going smoothly with minimal delays in completing temples, I've just completed Arbiter's Grounds once again, having got lost for a good 10 minutes because I overlooked something very simple. Next stop; Snowpeak Temple which I recall being the more difficult of all the Twilight Princess dungeons. Mainly due to the gauntlet of enemies and confusing layout, easy for me to get lost in. My progress in sidequests for Twilight Princess this time is rather lagged to be honest, been too excited about the juicy temples and such to bother with pieces of heart and sidequests. I picked up my 3DS and have been giving Master Quest another go, this being my first time attempting the Master Quest version of Ocarina of Time. It's definitely been pretty tricky, but as I've progressed I've begun to get used to all the curve-balls MQ throws at you and recognizing its patterns. Its most common tactic seems to be clipping switches and torches into walls, ceilings and floors so that they're nigh impossible to see. The Fire Temple, Bottom of the Well, and the Shadow Temple have so far been my biggest headaches. I'm still currently on the Shadow Temple and more recently turned around and went to get the Ice Arrows from the Gerudo Fortress to take a break from failing miserably in the shadows. Then I notice they made the Gerudo trials for the Ice Arrows infinitely more difficult in MQ so I've taken a break there too For Skyward Sword, I'm at the endgame, I'm at the period in which I run about, collecting everything before completing the story, 19 hearts so far and only 2-3 more pieces of heart left. It's been a lot of fun and I can safely call the Ancient Cistern one of my favourites along with the Lanayru Mining Facility. I won't go into too much detail because of how spoiler-ific the story is for the lore of LoZ. What I can say, is that SS has been a blast. I lent my copy of Majora's Mask to a friend a little while ago and ever since I've regretted it because I of course have been having the strongest of urges to play it. I'm very very hyped to play it again because I barely used it when I was younger due to the time constraint of three days, darker themes, higher difficulty and simply me not being interested at the time. Suddenly I'm extremely excited to get started with it after I get it back tomorrow when I go out for lunch~ I also would like to give Minish Cap another playthrough, but I can't seem to find it for the life of me. It'll turn up eventually.

Ah, the "tank man", rather bold as he stops in front of the tank column and climbs atop of one of China's numerous Type 59s with his groceries and speaks with the crew inside in a protest to the Chinese governing power of the time. Pretty amusing incident. x) It starts.