Are you an EPFL student looking for a semester project?
Work with us on data science and visualisation projects, and deploy your project as an app on top of Graph Search.
Concept
Medium tank
Summary
A medium tank is a classification of tanks, particularly prevalent during World War II which represented a compromise between the mobility oriented light tanks and the armour and armament oriented heavy tanks. A medium tank's classification is not actually based on weight, but off of tactical usage and intended purpose; for instance the German Panzerkampfwagen V Panther medium tank has a mass similar to contemporary Allied heavy tanks. The most widely produced, cost effective and successful tanks of World War II (the German Panzer IV, the Soviet T-34, and the American M4 Sherman) were all medium tank designs. Many of the medium tank lines became what are called main battle tanks in most countries.
The first tanks to carry the name "Medium" appeared in the First World War with the British Medium Mark A Whippet. It was smaller, lighter and faster than the British heavy tanks of the time and only carried machine guns.
The medium tank doctrine came into use in the interwar period. Its existence outlasted the super-heavy tank and the heavy tank and gradually transitioned into the main battle tank.
Medium tanks of the interwar period included the British Vickers Medium Mark II and the Soviet multi-turreted T-28.
In the period leading up to World War II, the British stopped using the term Medium for their tanks as the new philosophy of 'Cruiser tank' and 'Infantry tank' which defined tanks by role rather than size came into use.
There were medium tanks that focused on anti-infantry capabilities (such as in World War II: the initial short-barrel gun Panzer IV , and the initial 75 mm gun M4 Sherman), and medium tanks which were more focused on the anti-tank role, mounting high-velocity tank guns. The French cavalry tanks (Chars de Cavalerie) such as the SOMUA S35 focused on speed in addition to power and protection of the other designs. They were similar to what other countries called medium tanks.
When Soviet tank designers were preparing a successor to the BT tank series, they combined its excellent mobility with thick, sloped armour and the unprecedented firepower of a 76.
Official source
About this result
This page is automatically generated and may contain information that is not correct, complete, up-to-date, or relevant to your search query. The same applies to every other page on this website. Please make sure to verify the information with EPFL's official sources.