Earlier this week it was announced that German and American tanks are headed for Ukraine to support the country’s ongoing resistance to the Russian invasion.
Some analysts say this could be a game changer for the length and outcome of the war. And looking back on history, tanks certainly played a significant role on other European battlefields as well.
Beginning with World War I when they first appeared, tanks introduced the idea that an all-terrain armored vehicle could break the stalemate of trench warfare.
NPR’s Mary Louise Kelly spoke to historian and former British Army officer Antony Beevor to discuss the tank’s legacy and how it’s evolved to date.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity
Interview Highlights
What early WWI tanks were designed for
The massacre of soldiers pouring out of trenches and marching through no man’s land was so appalling that everyone considered an alternative. And so the idea of an armored tank came about – and because it looked almost like a water tank but bolted together – as a project.
And Churchill, then working in government, pushed as hard as he could to help develop it. And the British were probably pretty much the first to get the tank working [circa 1916]. And there they had these monsters with the marks on the outside instead of being protected under armor or something.
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British soldiers enjoy an excursion on a British Mark IV tank.
On the development of tanks for the Second World War
Stalin embarked on an enormous program. And of course the Red Army had the largest armored force in the world. But they were not nearly as well trained as the German tank crews.
And indeed, in 1940, German tanks were probably inferior to both British and French tanks. And yet, because of the speed and, above all, because of the will to break through, not bothering with the flanks and just pushing on, they were far more devastating in their tactics.
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April 1942: British Valentine and Matilda tanks are loaded onto a train bound for Russia.
About Russia’s recent use of tanks
It was very unassuming and quite amazing how they repeated the mistakes of WWII – all their worst mistakes – and also sent them straight down a road where you could block them – by shooting up one or two of them you could then basically stopping the whole column and then picking them up one by one.
The Ukrainians did that and massacred them, using these British NLAW anti-tank weapons very effectively.
How the newly pledged German and American tanks could affect the war in Ukraine
Well, the whole benefit of the Leopard (German Panzer) is that so many other countries in Europe have the Leopard. And because of that, there are fewer problems with spare parts, ammo replenishment and everything else. And of course it’s a very, very good tank. But I mean, frankly, there isn’t a number.
You need more quantity. Basically they’re talking about 300. With any luck they could get 200, which is about the same as a full armored division.
Many of them – and especially those coming from Germany – basically just sat around and in many cases waited for a proper repair. That’s really one of the problems. Europe in particular has placed itself under the American umbrella and simply allowed its military situation to deteriorate drastically over the years.
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Ukrainian tanks move on a road ahead of an attack in the Lugansk region on February 26, 2022.
It could be [a game changer]. It all depends on the timing. And even a certain number will certainly help, because what they expect and why Zelenskyy wants the tanks so badly is that they know full well that Putin will launch a major spring offensive as soon as the ground is dry.
And they have to be ready for that. But there’s a fundamental paradox here, and that comes back to the beginning of the war, when the killing – the destruction of all the Russian tanks as they advanced on Kyiv, right at the start made every – every military commentator at the time say, “Right, well, this proves that the era of the tank is over.” But we are all seeing, we should say, a slight reversal in attitudes towards tanks in warfare.
This story was adapted for the web by Manuela Lopez Restrepo. contributed to this story
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