Author: sp15 (US server)

Part I: http://ftr.wot-news.com/2014/03/07/swedish-tanks-part-i-strv-m21-29/
Part II: http://ftr.wot-news.com/2014/03/12/swedish-tanks-part-ii-strv-m31-strv-fm31/
Part III: http://ftr.wot-news.com/2014/03/15/swedish-tanks-part-iii-landsverk-l-100-and-l-120/
Part IV: http://ftr.wot-news.com/2014/03/21/swedish-tanks-part-iv-landsverk-l-60/
Part V: http://ftr.wot-news.com/2014/03/27/swedish-tanks-part-v-strv-m37-and-strv-m41/
Part VI: http://ftr.wot-news.com/2014/04/08/swedish-tanks-part-vi-sav-m43/
Part VII: http://ftr.wot-news.com/2014/04/18/swedish-tanks-part-vii-strv-m42/
Part VIII: http://ftr.wot-news.com/2014/05/08/swedish-tanks-part-viii-pvkv-m43/
Part IX: http://ftr.wot-news.com/2014/05/12/swedish-tanks-part-ix-tlp-46-and-strv-leo

After the rejection of the 30 ton tank projects, that were in development since WW2, Swedish tank development had to start over again from scratch. In 1949, discussions began regarding the next Swedish tank. Many of the ideas behind the project were outdated right from the start and the project would be completely revised in 1950, as it was realized that the project would be hopelessly obsolete on modern battlefield.

Our story begins in 1949, when discussions first began regarding the new Swedish tank, following the 1947 cancellation of the previous tank project. It was concluded that the new tank would be a 20-ton vehicle, mainly intended for infantry support and armed with a 75mm gun. The new project was based on the idea that large numbers of tanks have to be able to take losses, which in a country with limited resources means that armor needs to be sacrificed. It was thought that the protection of the vehicle could not be increased to a relevant degree without too high a cost per vehicle. Another idea was that Sweden did not have the resources or infrastructure for heavy vehicles and while there may have been some truth behind these ideas at the time, the times were changing and Swedish infrastructure and resources were rapidly improving as Sweden helped rebuild Europe after WW2.

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Hello everyone,

yesterday, I posted about Storm stating that the Soviets will get their LT8 along with the German LT8 (RU251). Well, last night (after I asked), Storm confirmed that the Soviet tier 8 light tank will indeed be Yuri Pasholok’s LTTB (a Soviet light tank proposal from late 1943-early 1944), as I predicted (yay me *Droopy’s “happy” face*)

Now that we know this, I can tell you with almost a certainty that this tank will be completely unhistorical, because the proposed original is way too weak for tier 8 (notably: 22 tons, 300hp engine, 90mm frontal armor under 60 degrees, 85mm S-53 gun – 120mm pen or so) – its only real strength would (according to the specifics) be the 200mm frontal turret. The turret was not even designed, the only thing that actually existed was the drawing of the hull (shown above) and a list of specifications, the development was discontinued in 1944, giving way to the T-34/85 production.

Obviously, in tier 8 light tank terms, the historical version is complete shit as it is now, so what I think they will do is this:

- uparmor it somewhat
- upgun it to either high power 85mm, or 100mm (D-10/LB-1) – that itself is not totally unhistorical, this vehicle’s (known) turret ring size would actually allow it, still a fake though, plus, as a downside, the size of the 100mm breech would mean terrible depression, (-3 or -4, depending on the design)
- give it a WG-designed fake turret
- give it a fake 600-700hp engine

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Source: http://world-of-ru.livejournal.com/3279553.html

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Source: wot-news.com (special thanks to Edrard himself for posting the videos)

Arctic Region

Windstorm

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Kharkov map, coming in 9.1

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New tier 2 Japanese light tank, Type 97 Te-Ke. Nothing is known about its parameters apart from the hitpoints and its tier from the screenies. Probably some sort of reward tank.

Historically, it had 4,7 tons, a 48hp engine, maximum speed of 42 km/h, a 37mm Type 94 gun (already in the game: 33 PEN, 0,46 ACC, 2,1 AIM), and maximum of 16mm of armor.

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Source: http://world-of-ru.livejournal.com/3277726.html

Hello everyone,

on the WoT Supertest, a new function apparently appeared – a launcher window, giving you the choice of either downloading HD content, or not.

It says “World of Tank HD Client version – we are pleased to announce that now there is a HD client available, that includes high quality vehicle models, new textures of game objects and other elements, reworked in high detail, significantly increasing the display quality. Installing the HD client can take significant amount of time and requires you to download further XX Gigabytes”

In the client the number is 52,45 Gb, but that’s just some arbitrary test number. The part below the buttons says that one installed, it’s possible to switch between HD and standard client at any time.

Hello everyone,

Storm confirmed before that along with the RU251 and American high tier LT’s will come together in one patch, but what I missed earlier was the tidbit of info that Soviet LT8 will come in the same patch as well.

(sorry for the watermark, I was lazy to look for the quote myself)

Either way, what does it mean actually: remember how Wargaming said they really want historical tanks? Well… I think I can honestly say after looking through the books I have on Soviet tanks (Russian books), through various Russian history forums and the Russian community itself:

There is absolutely no suitable candidate for Soviet tier 8 light tank.

Anything on that tier will be either completely unhistorically nerfed (as in “nothing left of the original tank but its general shape”) or an outright Wargaming fake á la WT E-100. If we let go of the “usual” limits for tanks (suitable gun/engine/armor), we get to two things – the Object 975 and the tank Yuri Pasholok found in 2012 or so.

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Hello everyone,

it’s been nearly a year, since I wrote the series on Romanian armor on the old For the Record – in case, you are interested, you can find them here:

Romanian Armor 1 – pre WW2
Romanian Armor 2 – Bucharest to Stalingrad
Romanian Armor 3 – Crimea to the end
Romanian Armor 4 – Bucharest museum photos

Player Yndy_ decided to add one more part ot the series, shortly describing the post-war fate of the Romanian armor. So here goes:

This article left the story about Romanian tanks at the end of Second World War.This is what happened next:

From February to May 1945, the second Tank regiment fought in Slovakia, Czech Republic and Austria. Besides the remaining obsolete R2s, R35s, TACAM R2s and even FT-17s (which were deemed unfit and retired to a Soviet warehouse), the main tanks were now captured Pz IVs and StuGs, which were constantly replenished from Soviet stocks. At the end of the war however, Romanians had to surrender the remaining tanks to the Soviets and the tank regiment was disbanded.

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Hello everyone,

earlier, I promised to let FTR readers know about two real life tank events that happen in May, so here goes! First (and very well known one) is the Militracks event in Overloon, Netherlands. It takes place between 17.5.2014 and 18.5.2014 (this weekend!) from 9AM to like 5PM – you can check for more on its webpage. Amongst the vehicles that will appear there are:

3x leichter Zugkraftwagen 1 t D7 (sd.Kfz.10)
1x 2-cm-Flak 38 (sf) auf leichtem Zugkraftwagen 1 t D7 (Sd.Kfz. 10/5)
1x leichter Zugkraftwagen 3 t Hkl (Sd.Kfz. 11)
2x mittlerer Zugkraftwagen 8 t KMm (Sd.Kfz. 7)
1x schwerer Zugkraftwagen 18 t F3 (Sd.Kfz. 9)
2x leichter Schützenpanzer-wagen D7p (Sd.Kfz. 250)
2x mittlerer Schützenpanzer-wagen Hkl6p (Sd.Kfz. 251)
1x Jagdpanzer 38 (t) “Hetzer” (Sd.Kfz. 138/2)

…. and many more (full list here). The program of the event can be found here.

Second event is the Military Festival in Hungary, organized by the World of Tanks community. It is taking place between 24.5.2014 and 25.5.2014 in Tapolca, Hungary. The program includes:

- Military display
- War reencantments
- WoT contests
- Tank driving and live weapons
- Exhibitions
- Presentations

Amongst the tanks present, there will be a Tiger replica, Hetzer replica, SU-76 replica, T-44, Katyusha rocket launcher and many more. Here is a trailer for the event:

And here is the Facebook page with details, along with last year’s photos.

To all of you going to the events – enjoy!