Why was the tank called the tank? The answer to this question can be found by reading this article. Tank battles in many respects predetermined the outcome of World War II, but even now, many years after its end, armored vehicles with caterpillars and a cannon on a tower are in service with the armies of almost all countries of the world. Read the article to the end, and you will understand why the tank was called the tank.
Origin of the word
Translated from English tank - a tank, a tank, a tank, a tank, a cylinder, a tank, a fuel tank and even a tub. It was in the UK during World War I, and more precisely in 1916, that the first model of the tank called the Mark 1 appeared, weighing 28 tons. In battle, they first visited in September of the same year in France, in the famous battle on the Somme River. And although almost a half of the dozens of vehicles participating in the battle broke down, the rest were able to break through the front and advance far behind the rear of the Germans, which thoroughly frightened the German command. And at the same time they proved their promise.
In parallel, the development of tanks was carried out in France and in Russia. Before the revolution, domestic developments, however, never got into industrial production. But the British allies sent the tsarist government several copies, and under the guise of railway tanks, which they, in fact, then resembled. That is why the tank was called a tank in Russia (although at first there was also the name "tub" in everyday life). In 1917, a Russian war correspondent described in an article from the front the English "tub" as "a fearless and invulnerable giant armored car."
A bit of history
The Battle of Cambrai, already held at the end of 1917, was the first in history where tanks were already used in large numbers (the British had a tank corps consisting of three brigades). Antitank defense was also born there, which the Germans were forced to use.
After the end of World War I, in which tanks were able to prove their effectiveness, they soon appeared in the armies of many European countries, including the USSR, as well as the USA and Japan. As a rule, they were equipped with powerful armor, several types of guns and a diesel engine. By mass, they were divided into light, medium and heavy. In World War II, the largest tank battle in history near Prokhorovka involved about 1,000 armored vehicles on both sides. In general, the tactics of using tanks on the battlefield reached unprecedented heights.
Post-war tanks are usually divided into three generations. With each of them, the machine improved more and more, now it has turned (in its best examples) into a real miracle of technology.
KV and T-34
The most popular Soviet heavy model of the time was the KV tank. Why is this armored giant weighing more than 47 tons so named? It's simple: in 1939, when the first such machine came off the assembly line, the name of the people's commissar of defense, Marshal of the Soviet Union Kliment Voroshilov, was incredibly popular in our country. By the first letters of his name and surname, the car was named.
Another legendary Soviet model T-34 was developed in Kharkov under the guidance of designer Mikhail Koshkin. This is a high-speed medium tank, equipped with powerful weapons (a combat weight of almost 30 tons, a 76 mm cannon), was considered almost the best at that time. Why the Tank-34 was so named, it is not entirely clear, just in one of the decisions of the Defense Committee the experimental model of the A-32 tank with thickened 45 mm armor was prescribed to name T-34.
What now?
Today, the world's leading armies are equipped with modern tanks of the third generation. In Russia, the main tank is the T-90 and its modifications, which has the second name "Vladimir", in honor of its developer Vladimir Potkin. It has a mass of 46.5 tons and is equipped with a 125 mm caliber gun.
We hope that we intelligibly told readers why the tank was called a tank. However, the names "tank" or "tub" could have taken root, right?