World War 2 Tanks
The Second World War was witness to some of the greatest land battles in modern history.

1 7TP The 7TP series was of a Polish design, based on the British Vickers-Armstrong 6-ton light tank (Mark E). When war with Germany was rolling about the horizon, the Polish government saw a need to replace their diminutive tanket... 1936

2 Cruiser Tank Comet (A34) The Comet Cruiser tank was arguably Britain's most powerful tank platform in the Second World War. Arriving in late (November) 1944, tank crews had to be retrained in the finer points of this exceptional weapons system, thus ... 1944

3 Cruiser Tank Mk VI Crusader The Crusader series of British cruiser tanks was an important contributor to the early war years, particularly in North Africa where it would take part in El Alamein and Tunisia. Dogged by reliability problems, overheating an... 1941

4 Cruiser Tank Mk VIII Centaur (A27L) The Centaur series of main battle tanks was a product of Leyland Motors and developed alongside the competing Cromwell series of tank and built to the same specifications. The Centaur grew into a very similar design when comp... 1942

5 Cruiser Tank Mk VIII Cromwell (A27M) The Cromwell (officially known as Tank, Cruiser, Mk VIII, Cromwell (A27M)) was one of two design proposals submitted to fulfill the British Army specification A27. The specification centered on a direct replacement for the ar... 1943

6 Cruiser Tank Ram Like most of the Allied nations at the start of World War 2, Canada saw itself with an outdated armor corps made up of mostly World War 1-era equipment passed on to them by the United States. With Britain firmly entrenched wi... 1941

7 Cruiser Tank Sentinel AC (Australian Cruiser) The Sentinel tank was an indigenous Australian design of World War 2, appearing at a time when Australia lacked the tank-design know-how, manufacturing facilities to produce a design en mass and Japanese expansion into the Pa... 1942

8 FCM Char 2C The Char 2C was being planned and designed in the final year of the First World War. The system would become the largest tank of its kind to ever see operational service in any capacity and was ordered for mass production in ... 1921

9 Fiat 3000 (L.5 Series) The Fiat 3000 was a highly-modified Italian version of the French FT-17. Modifications included (but were not limited to) side skirt armor and a redesigned turret. It became the first tank of note to be produced on Italian so... 1923

10 Fiat M.15/42 The Italian Fiat M.15/42 medium tank was nothing more than a further development of the M.14/41 series with one of the more distinguishable features being the exclusion of the left side-hull crew hatch in the M.15/42. Though ... 1943

11 Grizzly I Cruiser Like Australia, Canada also found itself without much of an armored corps (or facilities to produce such systems) at the start of hostilities in World War 2. And much like the Australians, the Canadians were forced to rely on... 1943

12 Infantry Tank Mk II Matilda (A12) The Matilda II was the definitive infantry tank for British armed forces in the early years of World War Two. With the Mark I series leading the way, the Mark II became the version produced in quantity. By war's end, however,... 1937

13 Infantry Tank Mk III Valentine Considered one of the more successful British tank designs of the early war years, the Valentine series served both British and Soviet forces effectively. British forces first fielded the system in Operation Crusader, in whic... 1940

14 Infantry Tank Mk IV Churchill (A22) The British Churchill series of tanks was the most important British tank of the Second World War. Built in numbers second only to the Valentine, the Churchill was designed to replace the aging Matildas. Reminiscent of tank d... 1941

15 IS-3/JS-3 (Josef Stalin) The IS-3 ("IS" for "Iosef Stalin" or "Josef Stalin") was an attempt to build upon the already formidable IS-2. Improvements over the IS-2 model included a redesigned rounded turret and a new heavily-sloped front armor configu... 1945

16 Krupp Landkreuzer P.1000 Ratte (Rat) The Landkreuzer P.1000 "Ratte" (translating to "Rat") was a proposed super-heavy tank designed by the German firm Krupp in 1942. Hitler gave the project his blessing and the program set about to create the most powerful tank ... 1942

17 KV-2 (Klimenti Voroshilov) The KV-2 series of heavy tank was a mammoth follow-up to the successful KV-I. The idea behind this successor was a utilization of the KV-1 chassis with a marriage to a more potent main gun in the form of the M1938 122mm calib... 1940

18 Light Tank, M24 (Chaffee) The Light Tank M24 Chaffee was the successor to the M5 Stuart light tank. Though appearing late into the Second World War, the Chaffee would nonetheless find its role in the Korean War soon after and become a common sight in ... 1944

19 Light Tank, M3 / M5 (Stuart) The M3 / M5 series (commonly known as the "General Stuart") was an Allied design classified as a light tank and appeared through the early and middle years of the Second World War. The system was under-gunned and lightly armo... 1941

20 LT vz 35 (PzKpfw 35(t)) The LT vz 35 was a light tank initially appearing with Czech Army forces in the mid-1930's. Two prototypes were drawn up, holding the designation of S-11-a (or T-11 in some sources) and produced to which they succeeded in arm... 1936

21 M22 Locust The M22 Locust was a Allied light tank appearing in World War 2 and designed to be air-dropped into battle alongside airborne elements. The general idea of a highly-mobile army continued to fascinate American warplanners as t... 1943

22 M26 Pershing The M-26 was developed near the end of World War II and named after World War One General John J Pershing of the American Expeditionary Force. The M26 Pershing had a slow and arduous beginning, when the need for a heavy tank ... 1945

23 Medium Tank, M3 (Lee / Grant) The M3 medium tank series appeared at a time when Allied armor (in respects to both armor protection and armament) was generally inferior to their German counterparts in Europe and North Africa. The M3 evolved from the M2 med... 1942

24 Medium Tank, M4 / M4 (Sherman) The M4 Sherman series of medium tanks proved an invaluable asset to Allied operations North Africa, Europe and the Pacific theaters of war in World War 2. The Sherman proved a relatively inexpensive, easy-to-maintain and - pe... 1942

25 Medium Tank, M4A3E2 (Sherman Jumbo) The M4A3E2 or (76) Sherman Jumbo was designated an assault tank and not a tank destroyer as commonly reported in other sources. It provided applique armor to front and sides of the hull, a standard 75mm main gun and HE (High ... 1944

26 Sd.Kfz 121 Panzerkampfwagen II (Pz.Kpf.W II) / Panzer 2 While development of the of the Pz.Kpf.W. I (Panzer I) light tank (Sd.Kfz. 121) was still ongoing, the Pz.Kpf.W. II (Panzer II) light tank was already being devised as an interim tank model series to bridge the gap between th... 1936

27 Sd.Kfz. 101 Panzerkampfwagen I (Pz.Kpf.W I) / Panzer 1 Few could have known what the inception of the Panzer I into the German Army inventory during the middle portion of the 1930s had in store for the future of Europe. Though something of a failure as a combat vehicle, the Panze... 1935

28 Sd.Kfz. 141 Panzerkampfwagen III (Pz.Kpf.W III) / Panzer 3 Development of Hitler's Panzers was key to his early overwhelming victories in the East and West. The Panzer I light tank became Germany's first tank development after World War 1 and, though it was limited as a "true" tank i... 1939

29 SdKfz 140 (LT vz 38(t)) This light tank system initially began as a Czechoslovakian creation in the form of the LT vz 38. The system was drawn up to a new Czech Army specification intended to right the wrongs inherent in the earlier LT vz 35 light t... 1939

30 SdKfz 161 Panzerkampfwagen IV (PzKpfw IV) The PzKpfw IV was a German Army Medium Tank that would go on to see production last throughout the entire span of World War Two. More than a handful for the Allies that faced it, the system appeared in a variety of forms thro... 1936

31 SdKfz 171 Panzerkampfwagen V Panther (PzKpfw V) The Panzerkampfwagen V "Panther" series of heavy tanks formed the backbone of the German Army through much of the pivotal war years. The system offered up decent performance but, more importantly, was armed with a powerful ma... 1942

32 SdKfz 181 Panzerkampfwagen VI Tiger (PzKpfw VI) The PzKpfw VI Tiger began as a Henschel design of several other heavy tanks meeting specified German requirements based on speed, armor protection and a powerful main gun. Pitted against a Porsche offering, both prototype tan... 1942

33 SdKfz 182 Panzerkampfwagen VIB Tiger II (PzKpfw VIB) Even with the formidable Tiger I heavy tank series already hitting the production lines, it was envisioned that the system could be made into a more powerful class of tank. This decision leaned heavily on counteracting any ne... 1944

34 T-26 As was the norm after World War 1 in all industrialized nations around the globe, Soviet warplanners set about to upgrade their armed forces to meet the demands of the everchanging battlefield. In particular demand was the im... 1931

35 T-34 The Soviet-produced T-34 was a medium tank that attained legendary status in the Second World War. Itself a product of much engineering and design of earlier models - the BT-IS, A-20, A-30 and the T-32 all coming before it - ... 1940

36 T-34/76 The T-34/76 was nothing more than the German designation used for the base T-34 medium tank in use by the Soviet Union during World War 2. For a full history of the T-34, visit the T-34 entry.... 1940

37 T-34/85 The T-34/85 is designated as an 'up-gunned' version of the familiar and successful base T-34 tank build by the Soviet Union and fielded during the Second World War. The T-34/85 featured a more powerful main gun - of 85mm cali... 1944

38 Tank Mark VIII (International Tank / Liberty) The Mark VIII "International Tank" (also "Liberty" when powered by the Liberty engine) would become the first tank in history to be produced via an international collaborative effort - this made possible through an agreement ... 1919

39 Type 2 Ka-Mi Development of the Type 2 began in 1928 and was the Army’s attempt to turn the Type 95 Kyu-Go light tank into an amphibious vehicle by adding flotation tanks. This concept failed so the designers switched to pontoons to prov... 1942

40 Type 97 Chi-Ha The Type 97 Chi-Ha was a production of the Mitsubishi company and designed to replace the aging Type 89B series for the Imperial Japanese Army. The design of the Type 97 Chi-Ha system was practical - if not down right fundame... 1937

41 Type 97 Te-Ke Developed from an early Imperial Japanese Army request for a light tank in 1937, the Type 97 Te-Ke was simply outmatched against Allied armor. The system suffered from an undergunned main armament and light protection for the... 1937

42 Vickers 6-Ton (Mark E) The Vickers 6-Ton (Mark E) was a light tank evaluated by the British Army but ultimately rejected. When the British Army passed on the system, the tank was marketed (with success) to operators around the globe. The system wen... 1928