Author: Daigensui (US server)

Today, we have another guest article, this time by Daigensui, who worked previously on getting info for the Japanese branch. She named the article…

Daigensui’s Rescript: Late Coming Early Days Japanese TD

This is Part 1 of the Japanese Tank Destroyer Series, dealing with the origins of tank destroyer development and the first results. Before we look into the beginnings of the pretty meager collection of Japanese tank destroyers, we need to first understand how tank destroyers came about.

The first tank destroyers were basically stopgap solutions, mounting an anti-tank gun on a tracked vehicle and calling it a dedicated anti-tank weapon. The German Panzerjägers, anti-tank guns in an open-topped superstructure on a light tank chassis, were the major starting point for this idea. The existence of heavy French tanks like the Char B1, which were beyond the capabilities of the major anti-tank guns in service, meant that the Germans needed larger guns on mobile platforms. That is how Panzerjäger I and the Marder series came about: putting larger anti-tank guns on tank chassis to give them the mobility to keep up with the rest of the armored forces. It was only as the war went on that with more powerful tanks coming to the battlefield that we have the appearances of casemates on medium/heavy tank chassis armed with powerful guns.

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Please note that all the quotes in this post have been modified by me to make the identification of the source impossible. The meaning is kept.

Hello everyone,

recently, one of the official Wargaming translators wrote me an interesting mail about the way Wargaming translation works and where do the various stronk translatink cases come from. Needless to say, I was surprised and pleased, that someone decided to talk about it openly, but also a bit suspicious. He predicted my suspicions however and provided a proof that is impeccable (some of it I cannot publish, some of it you will see in the future posts).

Here is an excerpt of the quite long e-mail I recieved from this person. It’s rather interesting. For starters, most translators apparently work from home, with their capabilities being examined via a test, that comes directly from Minsk. Apparently, some of the notorious translation fails appear as such (quoting from the mail):

Perhaps I should clarify you a bit of these fails I’ve been seeing, it’s usually because the text files come directly from Minsk and it takes up to 7 translators and proofreaders to verify, the problem lies that not all translators agree on the kind of words to use and the result can be a PR nightmare to solve, which requires several proofreadings – in time, people slip up as you have seen in the portals, or sometimes the webmasters screw up.

Sometimes, according to the translator, things also get “interesting” when stuff that gets sent from Minsk has issues. A typical example would be the T2 Light Tank, which is a full name of the vehicle, so what in Russian sounds perfectly fine (“T2 Light Tank легкий танк второго уровня”) gets translated into something retarded (“T2 Light Tank light tank”) because the “T2 Light Tank” is a full name of the vehicle and the contracts the translators have binds them to use it in each case.

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Hello everyone,

considering the fact that the 9.2 open test could come relatively soon, this might be the “final” version, that will appear in the open test. That is not yet confirmed however. It was leaked from the supertest.

- DPM decreased from 2985 to 2903
- clip reload time reduced by 9 seconds (60 to 51)
- 128mm gun now has only 5 shells (earlier 6)
- ROF dropped from 5,331 to 5,185
- accuracy on the move and accuracy when the vehicle turns decreased by cca 25 percent (SS: this number is effective, takes crew and bonuses into account, accuracy after turning the turret or shooting was not touched)

Tomorrow, 19.6.2014, a special public test of the Stronkhold mode is scheduled to start, there is a (estimated 20 percent) chance it will be postponed a bit, but that’s the schedule. The source wishes to remain anonymous, but it’s a completely reliable source (thank you at least this way :P)

Please note this is NOT a 9.2 test.

Hello everyone,

as it is customary, the LT-54 was changed, based on the supertest data. Here is the new characteristics table:

Changes from the first leaked version:

- DPM increased from 1818 to 1907
- reload time from 8,347 to 7,863
- Aimtime buffed from 2,7s to 2,3s
- ground resistance buffed a lot from 0,959/1,151/1,918 to 0,767/0,959/1,534
- accuracy on the move and while turning turret nerfed
- maximum speed 58,7 km/h confirmed, 20 km/h reverse speed
- elevation: +17 (depression -5)
- vehicle still has regular MM for now

Sounds like the vehicle will be competitive after all :)

Hello everyone,

following info appeared regarding the 9.2 supertest on one of the Russian sites (cannot be confirmed, but I trust it due to other matters):

Waffenträger E-100 will be changed as such: stock gun (128mm) will lose one shell in its autoloader, but the clip reload time will be buffed from 60s to 51s, the accuracy on the move will be nerfed.

Hello everyone,

remember that KV-1, that was recovered from river Don in cooperation between the museum of Kubinka, local authorities and Wargaming? They call it the “Spectre” (“Prizrak”) and here’s a video from RU portal on how it was recovered:

From the video:

- they found and detected it using a “magnetometer”
- the tank was from 1942, it drowned in the river apparetnly after it slipped from a barge that was carrying it (SS: if I understand it correctly)
- the tank is ripped to pieces because they used explosives to damage it (SS: so the Germans wouldn’t recover it? Not sure)
- the tank is “stuck” to the bottom of the water and it took considerable force to rip it out of the mud
- the special winch they used to pull it out used a force of 300 tons in pull
- the tow cable was attached to the towing frame on the tank, that remained intact
- there was a huge oak trunk blocking the tank recovery, that couldn’t be cut, in the end they dug under the trunk so that the river carried the trunk away

Warning, this post contains stronk drama, if you are here for news/serious info, you might want to skip it.

You’ve been warned.

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Author: Károly “Karika” Németh

The 38M. Toldi I light tanks, produced from 1939 to 1940, became completely obsolete and lost most of their combat value by 1944 with their 20mm Solothurn heavy rifle and only 13mm thin frontal armour. But, because of their relatively weak suspension, it was not possible to upgrade them with thicker armour and to mount an enlarged turret with a stronger 40mm gun on them like on the Toldi IIA light tanks, because their weak torsion bars just could not bear the additional weight.

The first series of the Toldi light tank, the Toldi I (80 vehicles in total) was assembled with imported, German-made torsion bars, which were unfortunately designed as a bit weak, and they tended to break during extensive usage. Furthermore, German shipments were always delayed at that time, because of the outbreak of WWII.

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