Interesting Article

[Simon Peck]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-23137492

As an aside, does anyone know anyone, or anywhere I can get some lost wax castings made? I have the masters...

[Robert E Morey]

Hi Simon,
You might try Steve Winstone. I believe he follows this forum. He makes nice accessories in investment cast brass. If you pm him he may give you some sources or do some work for you possibly. If you are looking for tracks, Martin Schneider Modellbau in Germany makes 1/10, 1/8, and 1/6 scale WWII German track links of excellent quality. Not cheap but they are very good quality. He may do some prototype work for you as well (for payment of course). He made some M5 Stuart end connectors for me for a reasonable price. I sent him the CAD models and he made a 3D printed master and then 6-8 brass connectors for me.
Best regards,
Bob

[Bob Gould]

Interesting articulate. Thank you.

[Stephen White]

Simon

Thanks indeed for sharing. An interesting and generally well balanced article. I particularly liked the bit about the Canadian decision - quickly reversed - to get rid of their heavy armour. One Canadian general feeling a little silly I suggest.

The only bit I'd really disagree with is this sentence: "But tank offensives are usually limited to flat areas like desert, plain or steppe. In the jungles of Vietnam and the mountains of Afghanistan, the helicopter has proved itself to be a far more useful weapon."

The Australian Army was initially very sceptical about the value of tanks in Vietnam and decided they could do the job with light armour - M113s. They found to their cost that the infantry were severely challenged whenever the NVA chose to fight in large numbers or were defending prepared positions. The arrival of the first tanks coincided with two of the most savage battles in the wake of the Mini-Tet offensive, the defence of Fire Bases Coral and Balmoral. The tanks deployed in time to defend Balmoral and their firepower, mobility and protection were absolutely crucial to the successful defence of a position which was nearly overan by North Vietnamese regulars. Thereafter, the Australian Infantry wouldn't be without tank support and at Bihn Ba, Hammersley and a number of other actions, the tanks lead the way. There were justifiable howls of protest when the tanks were withdrawn prematurely, leaving the infantry exposed. The helicopter and tank were, as ever, complementary and when used well in all arms co-operation by well trained forces, jungle conditions were no obstacle to tanks. On their own, they were of course vulnerable. The same lessons apply today.

Despite the forthcoming new generation of light armoured vehicles attracting all the publicity, I expect tanks to be part of the British Army inventory for a long time to come. And I speak as the officer responsible for introducing the Apache attack helicopter into service.

Challenger 2 anybody?

Regards

Stephen

[Simon Peck]

Hello Gents.
Glad the article was of interest. Robert, thank you for the 'leads' I will see if I can convince one of them to help?
Kind regards,
Simon.

[simon fuller]

My understanding is that all tank numbers are pure propaganda/fiction and this was by no measure the largest tank battle in history.

Available 'documentation' wrote 'history' as it was deemed neccesary to portray at that time, and not as it actually occurred. Unfortunately, book writers/historians have fallen into this trap up until more recent years, when actual records and files from the period became available to those of us not in Government.

Sadly, i think there is probably a lot of 'history' written and taught in this manner.

As i recently read somewhere, ' there is your version of the truth, my version of the truth, and what actually happened'.

S.