h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Entry: Tank Glossary - A88036022
Author: Bluebottle - U43530

Flea Market rescue attempt for:
A1047124 The Influence of Tanks in World War II by U227486 Yataghan
A4345599 The Influence of Tanks in World War II by U538194 AgProv2

And it includes Dogs of War.

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Well rescued "Do you know the difference between being Armed and Armoured? Here is a glossary of some very necessary vocabulary terms used when describing tanks and their role and influence on the battlefield." - excellent paragraph

I struggled with the opening paragraph, though, sorry. Could you start by saying something along the lines of: 'First invented during the Great War, a tank is ... ' ?

"A tank that can swim through water as well as drive on land, either sea crossings or rivers." - the tank can swim through water (either rivers or seas)?

Armoured Car - would be helpful to put A/C in brackets there, too.

"design to transport infantry to the battlefield where they are dropped off to fight on their own while the APC retreats to a safe distance." - infantry is in the glossary as a type of tank, but I see in this case infantry means a troop of people. Would 'infantry soldiers' clarify?

Would it be good to highlight in bold words that are defined later in the glossary? I didn't know what a soft-skin was, but then I found it. Is something missing from the end of the BARV sentence?

Breachers push *mines* out of the way?

What is the Pacific Theatre?

"the start of the Cold War" - would it be correct to say "the start of the Cold War (1959)?

The Medium section has already been covered by the Cruiser section?

" ie a standard lorry." - " eg a standard lorry."

"trousers worn by grouse" -

"smoke frenades" - "smoke grenades"?

RPG isn't in the glossary.

What's an A/A tank?

Some words perhaps need a few more words in bold - eg "KE – Kinetic Energy Ammunition" to distinguish it from pure energy, and "Chobham Armour" to clarify Chobham isn't ammunition or a type of tank.

The Glacis Plate and Sloped Armour sections could be merged together?

The sections about Anti-Tank Weapons are a separate Entry? Anti-Tank weapons are already in the glossary.

The Logistics section could perhaps be tweaked to match the format of the resto of the glossary:

* Everything you need to do to keep your tank in the field and in a fit condition to fight. For a typical tank, let's say a five-man crew, you would need support from:
- a field-kitchen to service the crew's food needs.
- A field workshop to do those overhauls and service jobs the crew could not do.
- etc

Very educational, thank you

Thanks for your thorough read-through.

I've made most of the changes as you suggested, including putting the anti-tank weapons into a separate entry. It mentions s of war.

To avoid confusion, the only times when 'Infantry' refers to a tank type it now always is written 'Infantry Tank'. If the word 'Infantry' is used without being followed by 'tank', it refers to armed soldiers.

I am keeping the glacis plate and sloped sections separate, as while the glacis plate is perhaps the likeliest part of the tank to be sloped, it isn't the only part of the tank that might be.

The Cold War and MBT is a trickier proposition. The Cold War really started with the Berlin Airlift (so long before 1959) and the Chieftain was indeed the first MBT - but the development of the MBT was a gradual evolution not lightbulb. A lightbulb either lights or doesn't, you can't have a bulb that almost emits light but doesn't, but that's not the case for MBTs.
While the Chieftain is universally recognised as the first 100% MBT, its predecessor, the Centurion (a 1946 production tank whose prototypes were on the European continent for trial in war-time conditions just before the Second World War ended, but didn't participate in the Second World War) was a definite step in that direction, but not quite there. A strong 90-95% of the way towards being a MBT. So I would say that the concept has indeed marked tank development since the Cold War and the Centurion was indeed a huge step on that journey, but it wasn't until 1959 that the goal was reached.

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Thank you - the opening section is now excellent - sets the scene very clearly

The main confusion I have with "transport infantry to the battlefield where they are dropped off to fight on their own" is that infantry is a category, so 'they' doesn't sound right (at first I thought it was Battle Taxis that were dropped off). The British Army website mentions Infantry being made up of Infanteers or Infantry Soldiers, so maybe 'the soldiers are dropped off' or something like that.

Ah - I misread the Glacis Plate section - "sloped armoured" is referring to another item in the glossary, I see now. The Glacis Plate is the front part of the tank that is armoured with sloped armour

That's interesting about the Centurion and the Chieftain "[MBTs] have dominated tank development since the start of the Cold War." - I thought that was saying MBTs had been in production since the start of the Cold War. Something like "since the start of the Cold War (approximate year) the aim was to develop an MBT or Universal Tank that combined the best elements of all previous types of tank..."?

Looking good to me - the new format of the ending fits in much better with the rest of the Entry

Let's tweak again, like we did last summer.
Let's tweak again, like we did last year.

I slightly tweaked the MBT section, but I don't think it would be entirely true to say that that 'the aim was to develop an MBT'. During the Cold War there were competing doctrines and different theories on how to best guide tank development. At first one dominant doctrine supported continuing the development of heavy tanks, however the Conqueror proved itself surplus to requirements when the Centurion got a better gun, which was a huge stepping-stone towards the concept of the MBT. So it began as one potential aim out of a various range of possibilities, but proved itself to be the worthiest.

'at first I thought it was Battle Taxis that were dropped off' � sorry, that made me chuckle.
An APC is called a 'Battle Taxi' as like a taxi it takes its passengers (in this case infantry soldiers) to their destination (such as near the front line) and then go off elsewhere. I dread to think what taxi experiences you've had if you've asked a taxi to take you somewhere, like the station, only for the taxi to stay there while you return home� The first time I phoned for a taxi was when my wife was in labour � she would not have been impressed if the taxi had gone in the maternity hospital and she'd had to walk home while in labour. Especially as it was an icy night.

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