Thanks to Vvothan for this one.

Hello everyone,

an interesting post appeared on one pro-Russian blog regarding Ukraine. The blog itself is the usual Russian crap about “junta”, “fascists” and all that, but what is interesting is the part, where it claims that the Ukrainian armed forces started seizing and using tanks, meant, paid for and built for export to foreing customers.

Please note that commandeering tanks meant for export is not something shocking or new. During the 1938 crisis and mobilization connected with the nazi terror in Czech borderlands, Czechoslovak army commandeered numerous tanks meant for export (they were released after the crisis was over).

But is the article really correct?

One of these tanks is allegedly the T64-B1M, a modernized T-64 tank with improved armor, designed to fight in city areas. Since late July, these tanks were transferred to the National Guard of Ukraine. It is not known, whether it’s actually an export tank at all, but it was presented as the tank for the guard. The blog claims it was intended for export, but I haven’t found any mention of anything like that or where it was supposed to be sold (such things are usually not secret anyway).

Continue reading →

Hello everyone,

in the last part, we talked about the Škoda T-12, an improved version of the original LT Vz.35. Today, we are going to have a look at the ultimate evolution of the Vz.35 series (and possibly the best descendant of the original Vickers ever designed), Škoda T-13M.

As noted above, Škoda T-13 was derived from the original Š-IIa (LT Vz.35) and was the most advanced version of the tank ever built. Its advantages were its stability, relatively smooth running, track durability and the fact the tank was very resistant to throwing a track and – last but not least – large, roomy and comfortable fighting compartment. Relatively, of course.

Continue reading →

Hello everyone,

ever wondered how the hangar looks with bigger zoom, or – in this case – from the outside? Check this out.

It’s a bug, that happens occasionally to all players. It is not the fault of mods – I know that for a fact simply because it happened to me too not so long ago and I do not use any mods. Interesting to see the stuff untextured from the other side and all that (it’s done intentionally to increase the performance of the hangar).

Hello everyone,

we all know the Panzer 35t – its original name being LT Vz.35 (light tank, 1935 pattern), but what fewer people know is that not only the Vz.38, but also the Vz.35 were developed during the war. In the beginning of the war, the older LT Vz.35 was clearly inferior to the Vz.38 (often cited as the best light tank in the world during the early stage of the war), but that does not mean no development was going on.

In fact, there were numerous versions of the original Š-IIa (LT Vz.35), mostly for export markets (specifically for Yugoslavia, where Czechoslovakia tried to export the tank with a diesel engine, an attempt that ended in failure). One of the first developments was the Škoda T-11, a well-documented tank, that actually fought in the war in Bulgarian service. It is described well-enough in the Bulgarian armor article, if you are interested, check it out.

The T-12 tank that came next already used the wartime Škoda designation system (the first number meant first the category (1 – light tank), the second number meant the project number in the category) and came to be as an attempt to correct the failure of the original Škoda Š-IIa-j tank, intended for export to Yugoslavia. The original attempt to sell the vehicle to Yugoslavia failed, as written above, due to the fact that the diesel engine broke down completely during trials and the Yugoslavian officers were less than amused, let alone impressed.

Continue reading →

Thanks to achtungbitte for this one.

Hello everyone,

you probably have already heard of the infamous Bob Semple, possibly the worst tank ever built (with serious intentions at least). If you haven’t, I suggest you look it up, because the story behind it is hilarious. Here’s how it looked (and yes, this was a completely serious tank project, designed to protect New Zealand from Japanese invasion – how well that went, you can probably imagine).

What you might not know however is that recently, the spirit of Bob Semple haunts the sandy areas of the Kurdish part of Iraq, where the infamous tank was reincarnated… into this:

The Kurdish security forces (YPG), not having access to either lawfully obtained (like the Iraq army) or looted (IS) modern arms, resorted to the good old human resourcefulness and built some of these weird improvised armored vehicles, based usually on the chassis of tracked tractors or bulldozers. They are planning to use these vehicles to fight the Islamic State fanatics – one must admire their bravery – riding into battle in such contraptions surely is a heroic act.

Continue reading →

Meanwhile in War Thunder…

I really hope you are up for the challenge, Wargaming, because this looks pretty good (and I am not even talking about Armored Warfare).

Hello everyone,

the well-known Italian kit producer, Italeri, launched a special edition of its models in cooperation with World of Tanks. On its website, you can check them out – so far, it’s four vehicles: Ferdinand, Tiger, Sherman and Chaffee. These 1:35 kits come with a WoT-themed box, WoT-themed decals, some brochure and a bonus code.

The bonus code is for the LeFH arty. According to the info from the webshop linked above, these four special edition models will be available from… today (18.8.2014).

Source: Wotleaks VK community

Nevermind the weird Jagdpanther tracks, it’s prolly just a viewer bug.

Hello everyone,

one of the most common questions on various forums is: “will we ever get to buy Type 59 again?” – the answer is no so far, because the Type 59 is (when it comes to premium tanks) blatantly OP and Wargaming does not want to promote pay to win. And be grateful for that – because now, I will show you, what happens when a WoT producer DOES promote pay to win.

Player Nishang from Chinese server was kind enough to send me some of the pictures of normal tier 8 battles. Also notice the nicknames of the left platoon 1st platoon (that nick wouldn’t last long here) and the platoon balance – MM rules are clearly different on Chinese server.

Continue reading →