Item:
ONJR24NM019

Original U.S. WWII Government Printing Office Tank & Armored Vehicle Identification / Reference Wheel

Item Description

Original Item: Only One Available. Understanding your country’s own armor capabilities and armaments is one thing, to know about your enemy’s is a game changer. This chart was printed during WWII by the Government Printing Office to help civilians and the military in identifying the threat and capabilities of enemy vehicles. Homefront life during wars as big of a scale as both WW1 and WW2 was terrifying, it’s important to distinguish between friend and foe. For replacements being sent to Europe and the Pacific, this wheel would have been a great reference tool for them, to help them get “spun” up on the enemy armor and armament situation.

This wheel shows the main battle tanks and armored fighting vehicles for the United States, United Kingdom and Soviet Russia, all on the same side. On the other side of the wheel it shows NSDAP Germany, Fascist Italy and Imperial Japanese tanks and armored vehicles.

To operate the wheel, all you have to do is spin the inner wheel and line the open section up with a tank of your choice.

For example, if you were to position the open section towards the M4 Sherman tank you would find the following information:

NAME: MEDIUM TANK, M-4
ARMOR: T- ¾, F-2-6”
S-1 ½”, R-1 ½”
B- ½” -1”
ARMAMENT: 1- 75mm, 2- .30 Cal,
MG., 1-50 Cal,
MG, (AA), 1-45
Cal, sub, MG
SUSPENSION: 6 B.W.
DRIVE:
SPEED: R-25
CC
CREW: 5

The center wheel also gives the user “POINTS OF AIM” for taking a tank head on and “POINTS OF AIM” for “belly up” shots. There is also a KEY at the bottom to help identify all the abbreviations present on the chart.

This example is in excellent condition with all images and text very easily discernible. It measures 12 inches in diameter, and comes ready to display!

Tanks in World War II
Tanks were an important weapons system in World War II. Even though tanks in the inter-war years were the subject of widespread research, production was limited to relatively small numbers in a few countries. However, during World War II, most armies employed tanks, and production levels reached thousands each month. Tank usage, doctrine and production varied widely among the combatant nations. By war's end, a consensus was emerging regarding tank doctrine and design.

The tank was invented by the British in 1916 and first used during World War I, with nearly simultaneous development in France. Tanks of the First World War reflected the novelty of the idea and the primitive state of the automotive industry. World War I tanks moved at a walking pace, were relatively unreliable, and the best usage of them was still developing up to the war's end. A breakthrough in tank design was the Christie suspension: a suspension system developed by American engineer J. Walter Christie which allowed considerably longer movement of the suspension than conventional leaf-spring systems then in common use, and allowed the tanks to have considerably greater cross-country speed.

The doctrine of armored warfare changed radically in the inter-war years as armies sought ways to avoid the deadlock imposed by modern firepower and looked for the means to restore offensive power on the battlefield. Initially, tanks had been used for close support of infantry, but as modern mechanized doctrine was developed by several armies, tanks became an essential part of the combined-arms team. In addition to infantry support, tanks fulfilled traditional cavalry roles, provided mobile artillery support, and were adapted to combat engineering roles.

Tank design gradually improved in the inter-war period also. Reflecting the growth of the automotive industry, tank engines, transmissions, and track systems were improved. By the beginning of the war in September 1939, tanks were available that could travel hundreds of miles on their tracks with a limited number of breakdowns.

The war accelerated the pace of change in design. In particular, the gun-vs-armor race of the war led to rapid improvements in firepower and armor (both in thickness and design).

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