The Battle of the Colossus's or Battle of the Royale's.

The Battle of the Colossus's or Battle of the Royale's.

On the morning of Dec 16th 1942 began one of the worlds most horrific and terrifying battles that mankind has ever witness since the world started spinning.

January 1942 as two armies locked in mortal combat, could see no end to the war that started with no reason or thought. They look for help from their gathering armies of design engineers and scientists and come up with the madding plans of the Colossus's or Royale's tanks.

After days and months of pain staking hard labor the heavy industry's produce the monstrous behemoth's that laid in front of the dazzled and stunned audience. A cry went out in the air that was almost timed by both groups... who can stand before us and go up against this machine of war!

The war plans quickly followed within the two armies, with both striving to out do the other with their miracle machines of death. Plans formulated into action and the two behemoth's were now readied to meet upon the raging battlefields.

What took place would never be recreated again on this earth of ours and it shook the very soul of the world and of the men who witness the spectacle with trembling knees and legs.

The sun had not risen above the landscape yet and a heavy mist rolled across the countryside in waves that looked like the ocean. Both commander's checked and rechecked every aspect of their battle plans and the men doubled their watches over the heated equipment and gauges in front of them.

With the coming dawn there was no sound emanating from the field of battle except the constant mechanical grinding and clacking coming from the two Colossus's edging they way across the field of battle.

As the early rays of sun started lighting the horizon, a soldier emerged from his station near the upper part of the KV-VI tank and quickly fell down the hatch he was standing in. With a startled yell the flare gun in his hand let off a flare that quickly flew across the space into a ammo storage bin. Within seconds the ammo burst like fireworks during a peacetime celebration. A overpowering sense of doom by the crew was soon blotted out by a flash of light so bright it dropped the soldiers outside of the tanks to their knees and onto the damp ground where they fell.

Within the bowels of the P1000 Ratte the main turret spun to answer what was happening around them. But unbeknown to the crew a hydraulic line powering the massive turret sprung a leak of atomized hydraulic fluid, that fill the mechanical compartment with a mist that was like the fog that was rolling across the countryside at this very moment in time.

A second or so later sparks flew from the grinding of metal against metal as the main guns tried in vain to locate a target. But that was the last thoughts of the crew members who did not know that their doom was to follow as quickly as the flash of light they had seen from the other behemoth that laid burning in it's last death throes of life.

And from the survivor's of this hellish spectacle a great moan of agony was let out as mankind has never heard since or after as they the survivors stood bewildered by the sight before them of total desolate destruction of heaped molten and burning pile of metal that took no form of it past image.

The End!

Brought to you by Woofiedog Production.

This is nice tank! I like it! But I'd prefer THREE barrels instead two!

LoL... By all means this mobile target along with three barrels, needs a pair of headlights that those designers forgot to add in their wisdom and could be picked up at any auto parts store.

An article about the twin Crawler-Transporter used to carry the Saturn V rockets and later the Space Shuttle to the launch pad.

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/flyout/crawler.html



Crawler Stats

Height: 20-26 feet
Size: 31feet long, 113 feet wide
Weight: 5.5 million pounds
Fuel Capacity: 5,000 gallons
Fuel Consumption: 42 feet per gallon, 125.7 gallons per mile
Maximum speed: 2 mph
Tred-belt shoes: 456
Tred-belt shoe size: 7.5 ft long, 1.5 feet wide, 2,200 pounds each
Builder: Marion Power Shovel Company

The Germans always liked their weapons huge. They should have learned from the example of the Bismarck.

Like Americans tend to favour oversized cars and SUVs, huge shopping malls, oversized portions  of food servings despite ever shrinking natural and fossil resources and ever expanding waistlines. Every nation has their own myopic viewpoint.

frinik... now don't go and get all personal on us here. This thread is about a story I wrote after our dog Lucey decided to wake me up at 3 in the morning. And it is about some German & Soviet tanks that are, well,  bigger than most waistlines or hat sizes.

Now, could you explain how all of these negative American thoughts correlate in relation to the storyline concerning these armored tanks and not waistlines and belt buckles.

With your old age, you seem to anger more easily when confronted with your Germanic or Canadian heritage or past.  Must be those dry desert winds that are all filled up with little bits of sand and such.  

You need an all paid for vacation, where there are people willing to take some time out of their meager and short lives to sit down and listen to all of this negativity concerning us Americans.  Sort of makes me wonder, we must be doing something correct to always be in the press!

They are not negative they are just a reflection of reality like the German taste for the Kolossal.Who says oversized SUVs are a bad thing????
Anyway I was just replying to Tanker's post about Germans loving oversized weapons( not always) .

Besides I wasn't angry when I wrote that just pointing out that clichés abound and apply to all... That wasn't personal Woofy!

As I said many times in the past I like Americans and the US. I love US films and series, American music, American books ( not the food though), American simplicity in human contacts and American practicality which I wish my Europeans brethrens would emulate more often. I have visited the US many times over and plan on doing so in the future.  I also like the Americans willingness to take action and kick ass instead of just preaching around and taking the moral high grounds like Canada and many EU countries do all the time. I am not saying that violence is the answer to all problems but it doesn't hurt to use it when warranted instead of trying to lull your enemies to sleep with endless UN resolutions and appeals to human decency when your opponents obviously have none. So Woofie you read me wrong, I can be critical of America because I love it but I don't lose sight that it's far from perfect. Likewise I love Europe but I'll be a harsh critic of it when I feel it's deserved( which these days happens often unfortunately)and it too is far from perfection. Hope I you read me right now?

Yes the US is a classic case of always being lambasted because too many countries or pseudo intellectuals out there are jealous, envious of it and what it represents and since they would love to emulate it but are afraid to admit it so they'll use sneer or disdain and refer to American culture or politics as not worthy of their overblown egos and self-importance.

I 'll only tell you my American friends my own take on it as Roman Emperor Vespasian once famously said:

' I don't care if they hate me as long as they fear me!'

Mind you that was said in the context of having imposed a rather impopular tax on public urinals....

You do kind of have a knee jerk reaction sometimes Frinik. There's plenty of examples of Germans building over sized weapons. From Big Bertha to colossal tanks. Perhaps I should have said German weapon designers and political leaders in the era of 1914 to 1945. That would have been more specific.

frink quote... Besides I wasn't angry when I wrote that just pointing out that clichés abound and apply to all... That wasn't personal Woofy!

Well, that just eases my mine and I feel a hec of a lot better now, knowing that you didn't... well as you stated yourself right here.  

I'll be a harsh critic

But then again, you have stated this many times also.

As I said many times in the past I like Americans and the US

Again this will erase any of these negative thoughts, that I might of had concerning this subject completely!  

Oh yeh, almost forgot where I was... just wanted to say, hope you enjoyed the story frink.

II'd like to note that first giant tank was built in France. So, France is a father of the tank-monster Char 2C (10m length)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Char_2C


Then there was Britain with tank Vickers A1E1 "Independent"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vickers_A1E1_Independent

Then Soviet stole it (as usually) and built T-35.


Suppose, German engineers were impressed by the oversized tanks of the enemy and decided to make smth. similar or even bigger!  
I.e. like Mouse

tanker quote...  There's plenty of examples of Germans building over sized weapons. From Big Bertha to colossal tanks

Hitler did have more than a few Grandiose ideas, that thankfully for the world drew away from the German war effort with the waste of precious metals and industrial output and overall time.

I read some where a while back that those French Char 2C did deploy in 1940, but did not see much action afterwards.

woofiedog wrote:French Char 2C did deploy in 1940, but did not see much action afterwards.

The same situation had place in case with T-35 and Mouse.

BTW
Did British "Independent" took part in battle?

I was wrong about the Char 2C, as the French were trying to save them by railroading the tanks south, but as told on wikipedia.

To the public, they obtained the reputation of invincible super tanks, the imagined dimensions of which far surpassed the actual particulars.
Of course, the French commanders knew perfectly well that this reputation was undeserved.

When the German Panzer division, in the execution of Operation Fall Rot, ripped apart the French lines after 10 June 1940, the decision was made to prevent the capture of the famous equipment. All were to be sent to the south by rail transport.

On 15 June the railway was blocked by a burning fuel train, so it became incumbent to destroy the tanks by detonating charges.

Later Goebbels and Göring claimed the tanks were hit by German dive bombers. This propaganda lie was to be repeated by many sources.

One tank, the Champagne, was nevertheless captured more or less intact and brought to Berlin to be exhibited as a war trophy until disappearing in 1948.

But a Char 2C bis tank "Lorraine" weighed perhaps 74 tons, did deploy as a company command tank and was the heaviest operational tank ever.

lockie quote... Did British "Independent" took part in battle?

Have and did read many books years ago, concerning the Battle of France, at the time I was playing the board game "France, 1940 German Blitzkrieg in the West" which I still have. Matter of fact, a great winter snow storm game, as it takes a day to setup and play out one scenario.

But is seems that the British 1st Army Tank Brigade which was composed of the 4th and 7th Royal Tank Regiments. Took part in only one major battle, the Battle of Arras, 21 May 1940.

Why the French and British never coordinated their larger tank forces on the battlefield, is a mystery in my opinion. But than again, they were still fight WWI, instead of WWII.

They should have read Heinz Guderian book which would have told them ahead of time what the British & French forces would be facing, never mind the battles just fought in Poland during 1939.

Guess you can really call it, "the blind leading the blind".

lockie quote... Did British "Independent" took part in battle?

Totally missed the mark on that question.

No, never read or saw anything written about the British heavy tank Vickers A1E1 Independent. Seems the Vickers A1E1 generated more controversy off the field than it did on the field. With a traitorous British officer selling off the tank's plans and becoming the last prisoner held in the Tower of London.

Sounds like a good movie plot.

I see that tanks Char 2C, Independent, Mouse didn't take part in any battles.
But T-35 had much longer action story. It had last battle in April 1945.

20th April 1945 a Kampfgruppe Ritter began to form. It consisted of the HQ 2nd Tank Battalion of the 36th Tank Regiment, the 4th Company of the 11th Tank Regiment, Company armored vehicles and 614 jagdpanzer battery. The last division had four 88-mm SPG "Elephant» (Sd.Kfz.184). The remaining machines were fighting at Berlin suburbs near "training ground" of the city Zossen. Additionally, in the company structure there was included a captured Soviet T-35 tank, which soon was hit.
"Wehrmacht tank divisions, part II" Moschansky, Kolomietz, 2006.



Kummersdorf, 1941
Digits does the armor thickness.

Seems that out of the early heavy tanks, the T-35 and the German Neubaufahrzeuge V Heavy Tank were the only ones to see any combat during the war.

How ever there was a heavy [I guess you can call it that] German self-propelled anti-tank gun of which two were made, the 12.8 cm Selbstfahrlafette auf VK30.01(H) "Sturer Emil"  and saw service with 521st schwere Panzerjaeger Abteilung and second one with 2nd Panzer Division as late as July of 1942. Vehicles were named "Max" and "Moritz" after characters in Busch's classic children's story.

One of these survives today.



Another heavy tank was the German Neubaufahrzeuge V Heavy Tank which went to Norway saw any action. When it was sent to Norway it's weight caused problems. It was armed with a 75mm gun, a 37mm gun, and 3 7.92 mgs.



Screens from the first video clip below, notice the hole in the armor on the side of the T-35, looks like a small, maybe a small caliber round that penetrated it. Could not get a clearer screenshot though.

       

And one can not leave out the Karl-Gerät German self-propelled siege mortars, of which 7 were made and 6 saw combat 41-45. One of these still survives.

Karl-Gerät Nr. I as “ADAM” and “BALDUR”
Karl-Gerät Nr. II as “EVE”
Karl-Gerät Nr. III as “ODIN”
Karl-Gerät Nr. IV as “THOR”
Karl-Gerät Nr. V as “LOKI”
Karl-Gerät Nr. VI as “ZIU”



A fairly decent video clip from the early Eastern front battles.



A clip of a restored T-35a with good sound, seems to be a handful when turning, even with a lite coating of snow on the ground.



Vickers A1E1 Independent

You do kind of have a knee jerk reaction sometimes Frinik

Thanks for the input Tanker. In the future I'll try to keep my legs straight when I react to comments made by others.

Actually I am grateful because normally when people refer to me they drop the knee part and just keep the other word.....

So I guess The US has become the new Germany since they can deploy:

the largest Aircraft carrier ever, the largest bomber( B52),largest unconventional gun the rail gun, the largest military transport helicopter, the second largest military transport aircraft. the largest nuclear attack submarine, the largest attack helicopter, the largest military truck....

Today the largest(heavy) tank is Merkava IV.


It reminds me to some kind an alien battleship

frinik wrote:You do kind of have a knee jerk reaction sometimes Frinik

Thanks for the input Tanker. In the future I'll try to keep my legs straight when I react to comments made by others.

Actually I am grateful because normally when people refer to me they drop the knee part and just keep the other word.....

So I guess The US has become the new Germany since they can deploy:

the largest Aircraft carrier ever, the largest bomber( B52),largest unconventional gun the rail gun, the largest military transport helicopter, the second largest military transport aircraft. the largest nuclear attack submarine, the largest attack helicopter, the largest military truck....

Glad to help, you seemed to need it.
The bad thing about jerky knees is sometimes they give black eyes.

Your examples are interesting but you miss the point that in some cases larger makes sense.  In some cases it does not.  In some cases, in the era I was referring to, some of the German weapons seemed to have been designed from the view point that just an increase in size equaled overwhelming performance.

Only the second largest transport? We can't have that. I'll speak to my congressman right away.

lockie wrote:Today the largest(heavy) tank is Merkava IV.


It reminds me to some kind an alien battleship

I guess it also functions as a troop carrier, which explains it's size.

A prime asset of the Merkava IV is the ability to carry 6 soldiers that can provide protection or go on the offense and attack.

Other heavy weight tanks that were developed during WWII and post war that did make production and some that were prototype only.

Post-War Heavy Tanks.

Soviet... IS-3 heavy tank [1945] 2,311 produced and the T-10 [1952] 1966 produced. Total of 6,000 Soviet heavy tanks were built after the end of World War II.

British... FV 214 Conqueror [1955] 185 produced. Black Prince (A43) 6 prototypes only.

USA... M103 heavy tank [1957] 300 produced. T29 Heavy Tank 2 prototypes only.

France... ARL 44 [1950] 60 produced. AMX-50 5 prototypes only.

The E-100 series of tanks and a "big question of the day" would be... why spend so much time, material and effort into something that was pretty much a big target?

Quote... The E-series designs were simpler, cheaper to produce and more efficient than their predecessors; however, their design offered only modest improvements in armor and firepower over the designs they were intended to replace, such as the Jagdpanzer 38(t), Panther Ausf.G or Tiger II; and would have represented the final standardization of German armored vehicle design.



Quote...  The 12.8 cm Pak 44 ended up becoming the standard main armament for the Jagdtiger heavy tank destroyer, as well as being the planned main armament for most of the future heavy tank designs in development during the dying months of World War II, including the Maus and E-100.

And another question comes to mind would be...  who or what would their future opponents be on the battlefield?

Quote... The American M26 Pershing, the British Centurion Mk 3, and the Soviet T-44 tanks would have been the Entwicklung series' E-50 and E-75 contemporaries and likely opponents.

American M26 Pershing...  Production finally began in November 1944. Ten T26E3 tanks were produced that month at the Fisher Tank Arsenal, 30 in December, 70 in January 1945, and 132 in February. The Detroit Tank Arsenal also started production in March 1945, and the combined output was 194 tanks for that month. Production continued through the end of the war, and over 2,000 were produced by the end of 1945.

British Centurion Mk 3... Full production began in November 1945 with an order for 800. The tank entered service in December 1946 with the 5th Royal Tank Regiment

Soviet T-44...  The T-44 was issued to three tank brigades mustered on 15 September 1944 for training purposes, but these formations (6th Guards, 33rd Guards, and 63rd Guards Tank Brigades) were re-equipped with T-34-85 tanks prior to entering the Battle of Berlin and Prague Offensive.

The T-44A was not used operationally during World War II in Europe for several reasons, including the fact that the Red Army was not ready to accept a new tank because of lack of sufficient spares and technical specialists who could repair and maintain the new tanks as well as the fact that many of the tank crews would have to be retrained.

However, three tanks were sent to the 100th Special Tank Company which tested them on the Eastern Front.