a Panzer IV captured in Syria by the Israeli Army in 1967.

https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=1578339884310687&set=a.677199514424733

This M4A3 Sherman from the 6th Tank Battalion on Okinawa ignored the bridge's max load limit sign... that was stupid. A 30-ton tank simply was not going to make it across a 5 ton bridge

https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=1565764312234911&set=a.677199514424733

wow and god damn! There is a Patton tank in the Yoop! You thought we were KIDDING about seceding from the lower peninsula? Nope!

Germfask may be a tiny town in Michigan's Upper Peninsula but they've got their own tank. Our first line of defense against a Canadian invasion.

Factually, it is a monument in honor of Edward James Doran who served in WWII during the invasion of Italy. (not the glider pilot POW)  The tank itself is a M47 Patton, which was designed for the Korean War.

The M47 Patton was the result of severe time pressure on the U.S. Army to develop a competitive armored vehicle. 

 Before the Korean War no tanks were in production, and the factories for World War II models had been converted back to civilan purposed long ago. In addition, the Army was in the process of converting 800 M26 Pershing tanks to M46 Pattons 

Not only did America not have tanks in production, but there was also a shortage of modern tanks available to the armed forces with the majority being M4 Shermans and M26 Pershings. 

Based on this, the War Department Equipment Board recommended that new tanks be developed in May 1946. This recommendation led to the start of development on several new tanks; however, progress was slow as the army was demobilizing in the years after WWII. 

 According to Cameron, “the outbreak of the Korean War in 1950 added urgency to the Advisory Panel’s recommendations. Not only did the war catch the Army unprepared, the fear that it might become a global conflict highlighted the U.S. tank fleet’s weaknesses, both in numbers and quality” 

read ALL about tanks from 1946 to 56 at  https://ss.sites.mtu.edu/mhugl/2016/10/16/germfask-mi-m47-patton/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/87134340@N00/1548241160

https://www.honorstates.org/profiles/63126/

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.222924574542781.1073741913.167187746783131&type=3

tank landing craft, were built in Wisconsin

when you have nothing else you can do to save your crew, ram the bastard..... because if that turret swings round and fires one off... you're done for

This is one of the more extraordinary tank encounters of the Normandy campaign — and the famous photograph really does show the two tanks involved.

On 18 July 1944, during the opening day of Operation Goodwood, Lieutenant John Gorman of the 2nd (Armored) Battalion, Irish Guards, Guards Armored Division, was advancing near Cagny, east of Caen, in his Sherman named Ballyragget. 

Gorman's Sherman suddenly encountered German armor at extremely close range, including a Tiger II (King Tiger) of schwere Panzer-Abteilung 503. 

This was particularly significant because the Tiger II was only just appearing on the Western Front. Its combination of extremely heavy frontal armor and the powerful 8.8cm KwK 43 gun made it a frightening opponent for a standard 75mm Sherman. 

Gorman's crew attempted to engage the Tiger II, but the situation rapidly deteriorated. Accounts differ slightly over the precise sequence — some state that a 75mm round bounced off or proved ineffective, while others describe the Sherman's gun jamming. What is consistent is that Gorman realiszd he was in an extremely vulnerable position while the Tiger II was bringing its 88mm gun around towards him.

So Gorman chose an extraordinary solution: He ordered his driver to ram it. 

Ballyragget charged into the much heavier Tiger II. The collision immobilized both vehicles and the crews abandoned their tanks. 

In the confusion, one member of Gorman's crew reportedly ran towards some men taking cover nearby — only to discover that they were members of the German tank crew. Most of the Tiger crew were subsequently captured. 

But Gorman wasn't finished. After getting clear, he obtained another Sherman — a Sherman Firefly, equipped with the much more powerful British 17-pounder anti-tank gun — and returned to the scene. Accounts credit him with firing on the immobilized Tiger II and completing its destruction. 

The famous photograph taken later in July shows the Tiger II and Gorman's Ballyragget still together following the collision. 

https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=1540960244715318&set=a.677199514424733

wouldn't it be cool to find a tank? Even better, one that everyone forgot about? Even better, a WW2 Panzer! Well, someone was digging and found one that a university had buried and had used for chemistry experiments

Construction workers at Kazan National Research Technological University in Russia have uncovered a German Panther tank buried beneath a university courtyard.

The tank was discovered while an old underground storage facility was being dismantled. Rather than simply being abandoned, the Panther had been deliberately installed inside a specially constructed brick-lined underground chamber, complete with steps leading towards its turret.

University historians say the captured German tank was given an unusual second life after WWII. Scientists at the former Kazan Chemical Technology Institute used its heavy armor as a protective chamber for experiments involving explosives, gunpowder and pyrotechnic compounds. Researchers entered through the turret hatch, placed experimental samples inside and then remotely detonated them from the university building.

https://www.heritagedaily.com/2026/08/captured-german-panther-tank-found-buried-beneath-russian-university/158989

https://www.reddit.com/r/TankPorn/comments/1vt34wz/panther_turret_found_buried_under_a_building_in/

at the Kentucky State Fair

https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=28307568142212075&set=pcb.28307673452201544

World War I Action Film 'Landship' Trailer About a British MKIV Tank

Set during the 1917 Battle of Passchendaele, a 9-man British MKIV tank crew embarks on a mission to destroy German bunkers. When they become trapped in a shell crater just yards from enemy lines, they must band together to survive against starvation, shellshock, and the enemy.

https://www.firstshowing.net/2026/world-war-i-action-movie-landship-trailer-about-a-british-mkiv-tank/

what's the point of an armored gun, or tank, when it has to have this much stuff on it to prevent it from being a target of drones?

 

By the way, in February, the Ukrainians liberated more territory in the theater than the Russians seized

https://www.businessinsider.com/ukraine-is-slowing-russia-down-and-making-gains-warfare-experts-2026-4

Thank you Joe! Here's the cool story he just shared in the comments on the Coffman Starter

Joe wrote:

I have a friend who salvaged an air-cooled rotary 9 cylinder diesel engine that was being used as power for a rural Wisconsin sawmill. 

He told me the engine had been started life in a WW2 Sherman M4 tank. After rebuilding the engine and the diesel injection system he looked at the handful of old "shotgun shells' for the starter but instead welded pipe fittings in place of the shell receiver and starts the engine with a surge of nitrogen gas from a high pressure bottle. 

The giant paperweight is mounted to a wheeled stand and he occasionally rolls it out and fires it up to rattle the neighborhood.

Thank you Joe! I wish there were photos!

This photo borrowed from https://airandspace.si.edu/collection-media/NASM-A19710893000-NASM2015-01753-000001 

The M4 Sherman tank featured five primary engine options during WWII to ensure production, including the

Continental R975 radial

Ford GAA V8

 General Motors Twin Diesel, 

Chrysler A57 Multibank, 

and a Caterpillar radial diesel. 

These powerplants generally produced between 350 and 500 hp, with the Ford GAA V8 widely considered the most efficient and preferred engine. 

https://www.theshermantank.com/sherman/the-motors-four-motors-made-it-into-production

Ha!

 another great one from the Daily Timewaster

https://dailytimewaster.blogspot.com/2026/02/my-nephew-was-once-attacked-by-cat-with.html

I don't think I ever learned about Christie making a tank until now... in 1930 a Christie tank was finally sent to the USSR. Christie failed to supply a turret or detailed blueprints as initially agreed, as a result of which the USSR withheld a sum of $25,000.

https://x.com/Tank_Archives/status/2003854769002287560

In the midst of the modernization and reorganization process of its armored cavalry, the Brazilian Army concluded Operation Patton 2025, to refurb M60A3 TTS Patton tanks to protect the west border of Brazil (how crazy, Sherman tanks in daily military use somewhere in the South American continent

https://www.zona-militar.com/en/2025/12/13/the-brazilian-army-has-recovered-a-total-of-17-m60a3-patton-tanks-for-their-operational-deployment-on-the-western-border/#google_vignette

Mariya Vasilyevna Oktyabrskaya was a Soviet tank driver and mechanic after her husband was killed fighting in 1941 She sold her possessions to donate a tank for the war effort, and requested that she be allowed to drive it.

In 1925, she married a calvary school cadet, Ilya Fedotovich Ryadnenko. The pair adopted the name Oktyabrskaya—”October,” an allusion to the Oktyabrskaya Revolyutsiya or October Revolution. By all accounts Mariya enjoyed being the wife of a Soviet Army officer and got involved in the “Military Wives Council” and trained as a nurse in the army.

After her husband was killed on the Eastern Front, she refused to remain a passive witness to the war. She sold everything she owned, donated the money to the Soviet Army and asked not just to contribute but to fight. The request was extraordinary for the time, yet the Soviets agreed. 

The tank was built at the expense of the plant’s mostly female workers.

She trained hard as a driver-mechanic and treated her T-34, which she affectionately named “Fighting Girlfriend,” like a living extension of herself. Her skill surprised commanders, but what truly set her apart was how fearlessly she moved under fire, often jumping out to repair the tank while bullets snapped around her.

On the battlefield she developed a reputation for stubborn bravery. She pushed through anti-tank fire, destroyed enemy positions and inspired the soldiers fighting around her. In 1944, after another bold charge, she was seriously wounded while repairing her tank under heavy fire. She never recovered. Her death only deepened the legend: a woman who turned personal loss into fierce resistance, who insisted on fighting for her husband’s memory and her country’s survival. The Soviet Union later honored her with the title Hero of the Soviet Union, a recognition that still carries

https://www.instagram.com/p/DRGo1M9jukk/

https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=1326538889507667&set=a.640285754799654

https://warfarehistorynetwork.com/article/mariya-vasilyevna-oktyabrskaya-and-the-t-34-medium-tank-fighting-girlfriend/

these look like they are extremely effective at maintaining traction in muddy turf

 https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=1354651266697397&set=a.637760145053183

https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=1340938948068629&set=a.637760145053183

WACs from the Hampton Roads Port of Embarkation (HRPE) working with tanks. They worked there from 10 April, 1943 until the beginning of 1946.

https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=1152109210289707&set=a.640290741471559

I bet the crew of the Madam Schlitz VII were not fortunate enough to get some beer sponsorship from the Schlitz beer company

https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth392102/

 Just after the start of 1945, the division saw its bloodiest fight. While the more famous Battle of the Bulge was going on in the Ardennes Forest, German troops launched counteroffensives in other parts of the Allied line. On the French and German border, some of these attacks focused on tanks of the 12th Armored near Herrlisheim, France.

The Nazis took note of the 12th Armored Division’s stubborn refusal to retreat. German prisoners of war said that the 12th became a feared unit and was dubbed the “Suicide Division.” 

 The 12th Armored lasted long enough to be relieved by other U.S. units and was pulled back from the front. During the fighting around Herrlisheim, the division lost approximately 1,250 men and 70 combat vehicles.

the division was sent for a short rest and refit before being transferred to Patton’s Third Army. 

https://www.wearethemighty.com/articles/forget-suicide-squad-this-was-americas-suicide-division

The Schlitz brewery, once America's leading beer producer, started in Milwaukee in 1849 and grew into a national giant, famous for its "Beer That Made Milwaukee Famous" slogan.

Like other major Milwaukee brewers, Schlitz benefited immensely from the nearby Chicago market, opening an agency there in 1868. The Great Chicago Fire of 1871 temporarily destroyed the local brewing industry, and Schlitz more than doubled sales over the next year.

Schlitz employed a wide array of scientific, technological, and marketing innovations to standardize their product and compete for leadership of the national market. In 1883 William J. Uihlein brought the first pure culture yeast strain to the United States from Copenhagen, which allowed Schlitz to produce a higher quality beer more consistently. Schlitz helped establish the Union Refrigerator Transit Company in the 1890s, with Joseph Uihlein, Sr. as president, to develop and operate a more cost-effective refrigerated freight line for the brewery. Schlitz was the first to introduce the brown bottle to industrial brewing in 1911, which protected the beer from the harmful effects of light during shipping.

Its decline began in the 1970s after recipe changes, leading to its sale to Stroh's (1982) and later Pabst (1999), with the original Milwaukee brewery closing in 1981 and becoming Schlitz Park, while the brand is now owned by Pabst Brewing Company and produced in other locations

https://emke.uwm.edu/entry/schlitz-brewing-company/

Schlitz produced non-reflective, olive drab (camo) beer cans specifically for military use, with some intended for overseas and others for stateside bases.

Beer companies were required to allocate 15% of their production to the military but they were paid for it.

Beer brewing during World War II saved the beer industry. During World War I, anti-alcohol crusaders launched a campaign to label beer makers in America, many of whom were German immigrants, as anti-American and wasters of U.S. resources. It helped the passage of the 18th Amendment, which banned the manufacture and import of alcoholic beverages.

After Prohibition was repealed, breweries went right back to doing what they knew best, but the industry was still on shaky ground. Then World War II broke out, and the U.S. government saw beer as what we would today call a "force multiplier." It declared beer production an essential wartime industry, with 15% of its output reserved for the military.

When the Korean War started, some of the old "dry" politicians and activists were still around, fighting against the evils of alcohol. The teetotalers somehow managed to convince the Department of Defense that troops could do without the two-beer ration. When the news hit headlines, it sparked a nationwide debate.

A U.S. representative, Democrat Andrew J. Biemiller, who represented Milwaukee, demanded on the House floor that the Army explain its rationale for cutting off its soldiers' taps. He argued that beer could be used in place of water when necessary and had "as much alcohol as a good pudding."

While the war raged in Korea, the war at home between beer lovers and anti-alcohol groups like the Woman's Christian Temperance Union was fought to keep beer out of the hands of the GIs. Then, a couple of brewing heavyweights escalated the conflict.

Milwaukee's own Jos. Schlitz Brewing Company and Blatz Brewing Company offered to buy the troops a round and see what might happen. The companies volunteered 600,000 cans or bottles (apiece) of their products to be sent to the Korean Peninsula and handed out to the Americans fighting there.

Army Secretary Frank Pace agreed to the donation, so long as the beer was less than 3.2% alcohol by volume.

The first cans of Schlitz, which was America's top beer at the time, rolled away from Milwaukee on Sept. 28, 1950. Blatz wasn't far behind, shipping theirs out on Oct. 4, 1950. The beer made it to the troops in time for Christmas.

https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/how-world-war-ii-saved-american-beer-brewing

WW2 Tank Battalion patch art from Disney, the 710th, 714th, 751st, and 68th

https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth618304

https://www.wearethemighty.com/articles/forget-suicide-squad-this-was-americas-suicide-division/

https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth391665/

68th Tank Battalion

https://www.usmilitariaforum.com/forums/index.php?/topic/39012-68th-tank-battalion/

 68th Tank Battalion - 6th Armored

https://2719hyperion.blogspot.com/p/service-with-character-disney-world-war.html

In the game of desert tank tag, there are no true winners

https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=1257569389736734&set=a.624107283082951

history leaves a mark, even when no one remembers what happened, when, or why

20 October 1944, a M4 Sherman tank fitted with a 'dozer blade' (possibly with the 745th Tank Battalion), driving through the underpass of the station in Aachen - Rothe Erde railroad station.

Today you can see the damage on the sides of the entrance, where the tanks destroyed the walls and where they were repaired.

https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=1328199556009235&set=a.637760145053183