Documentary Review: World War I in Color: Slaughter in the Trenches

For two years the two armies faced each other across the trenches, and although both sides would try, both sides would be fought back.  The machine gun and artillery fire would turn back every attack.  The Allies would advance only 6 miles in this time, and loss 600,000 men.  The winter of 1916 was especially cold; but the cold did not stop the killing.
The mail from home was a joy to the British soldiers.  The mail was able to arrive in just two days, both ways.  Cakes and other goodies would often cheer up the men.  The statement "We go over the top" was dreaded, and filled all the soldiers with fear.  Who knew how many would come back.
Towards the end of 2918, after two years of this trench warfare struggle, both French and British troops had a lack of morale.  At one point, the French soldiers held a sort of mutiny, where they would not go on.  British morale was also low.  However two new introductions started to make a change.  The British introduced un-targeted artillery barrages.  Usually a few shells were fired to home into the target.  Stopped this practice allowed for more surprise in attack.  The second advance was the introduction of the tank.  

Book Review: Main Battle Tanks

Main Battle tanks, Melissa Abramovitz, Capstone High-Interest Books, Mankato, MN, 2001.
I learned a couple new things about tanks.  The first is that tanks no longer have rifled shells.  For a time all tanks had rifled barrels because the spin on the shell lead to more accurate shooting.  However now accuracy is developed by having finned shells.  The are shot from smooth bored barrels which shoot the ammunition at a higher speed.
I also learned why tanks are called tanks.  During WWI tanks were developed as a way to defeat trench warfare.  When they were first built, the tank was a secret.  Those building them were told they were building water storage devices, and thus the were given the name tank.
I knew tanks had night vision.  However in the Gulf War night vision was used during the day because visibility was low due to oil well fires.
Tanks today are built so they can stay on target even when the tank is moving.
This book is lacking in describing advances in tanks outside of the United States.  It would have been fun to hear about nazi tanks during WWII because they were larger than American tanks.  That said the M1 Abrams model tank is a mean tank, and proved the superior weapon in the Gulf War.

Nazi Mega-Weapons: Super Tank

The Nazis blitzkrieg of Europe was so successful because of it fast tanks.  The Panzer I was incredibly successful as it was better than anything else out there.  Each successive generation became larger, Panzer II, Panzer III and then the Tiger.  The Porsche Company lost the bid to build this huge tank, with a mounted anti aircraft gun which could penetrate the armor of other tanks, particularly the Russian T-34.  This tank had stopped the German invasion or Russia, so the Nazis wanted something that could take care of this weapon.   The Tiger proved very effective, and could shoot much farther than other tanks.  It could destroy enemy tanks before they were even in range to fire back.  However their size created complexity in the motor, and many of them broke down, to be destroyed by the drivers so they would not fall into enemy hands.  The Russians overwhelmed them in the Battle of Kursk with the number of tanks they had built.  Although they were smaller, the were more maneuverable, and by shear numbers helped hold the line at Kursk, the last nazi push into Russia.  The Germans had initial success, but could not carry the day.
Hitler had an even brighter idea.  To build a super tank.  This tank would be the height of four men.  It would be able to act as a fortified wall if any of the Nazi wall were breached.  Again the Porsche company was called in to build this monstrosity.  A wood prototype was built.  However the war was turning too fast to allow production of this tank.  Again it was hampered by engineering difficulty, and lack of mobility due to its massive size.  The Super Tank never played a roll in the outcome of the war.