這篇文章是我為了課上的交流準(zhǔn)備的，希望大家對我不才的英語進(jìn)行批評指正。如果有任何錯誤，請大家在評論區(qū)指正。

算是測試吧！

Sometimes the hardest question is the easiest ones. We can easily figure out one question which gives a lot of description. But once the question become“what is an apple?”. All of a sudden things become hard to explain. As a fan of military art and equipment, this is still hard to explain.

Weeks ago, some one ask me about what a tank is by definition. So I go on Wikipedia and got something like: a tank is an armored fighting vehicle on land. You may found this definition very loose. For many things can be put into this category.

Since there is no ready answer, we have to figure it out by ourselves. You are what you do. You build, you are a builder. You fly, you are a pilot. Therefore let’s figure out what is a tank through the 100 years’?history.

It is a long history since the first armored fighting vehicle appeared. Some historians point out the Greeks were the first to use them. We can even think of blueprints drawn by Leonardo Da Vinci. The familiar design started to take shape in the early 20th?century. These project has little information so we will have to skip them. But for the military, they didn’t need tank, or to say, they didn’t think they need one either in theory or in practice.

But soon, WWI broke out. After short period of movement, the two sides started to digging trenches with heavy machine guns and defenses. Even the enemy defense was broken through, the enormous casualties are not acceptable for any side of the war. When standard method didn’t work, generals and commanders at scene felt they need something different to break through. In 1914, a British officer presented his design of armed and armored tractor coded “machine gun destroyer”. But British military took no interest in that. The first man who saw potential in the project was Sir Winston Churchill. He distributed money and and established “l(fā)and-battleship”?committee in 20th?Feb1915. within a year the first tank Mk.I was produced. We can see many navy elements in this creature. Its engine was adapted from the pulling car for ships and its main 57mm gun was also adapted from those of cruisers.

Interestingly, this project was named “tank”?because British told others this is a water supply car ordered by Russians.

Mk.I completed their battle in 5th?Sep.1916. 32 tank were put into battlefield hoping for miracle. 5 were stuck. 9 broke down. But others made it across.

But one year later, German introduced their moving fortress”A7V”, An steel monster carrying 22 people and 8 machine guns.

It seems like tanks are just heavy monsters. At the end of WWI, British had their Mk family. German had A7V. French have Renault FTs. Even Russian have their “Tachanka”?projects.

Then the definition started to vary. British put their tanks to infantry tanks and cruiser tanks. Most of countries, treat tanks as reinforcement. But German treat it as the key to the Blitz theory. Therefore they built Pz. Kpfw. III and Pz. Kpfw. IV. Enabled their forces smashing France within months.

But all of a sudden the things went wrong. After Barbarossa Operation, German found their tank bump into a bear. The Russian.

Russian put their tanks into 5 categories. Later it became 7. and all of them are maneuverable and also heavy protected by advanced theory.

In order to deal with these kinds of enemy. German’s tank became bigger and bigger. In 1942 they introduced Pz. Kpfw. IV Tiger and Pz. Kpfw. V Panther. But Fuhrer said “Nein, I want a bigger one.”?then they have the King tiger. But Fuhrer said “Nein, I want a bigger one”again. Then they have Maus the 188 tons freak. Then they built the Ratte whose weight is 1000 tons but only in theory.

After WWII, the tank finally falls into four categories. LT MT HT and TD(AG). (explanation) military wanted them to be in one type.

But things turned again. When British introduced their 105mm L7A1 refiled gun it seems like armor was no use at all. They can make the penetration to USSR tanks even from a long distance. USSR also introduced their massive 122mm M62T2 gun which can at least blow front armor of the NATO’s tank off.

Then the American invented computers. Soon the technology become a built-in device. It make tanks shoot faster and more accurate. At the same time, MTB was born.

So after all these history stories were told. The answer for “what is a tank”?become united again. A tank is a fighting vehicle which have strong armor and great maneuverability and high IT. Therefore the tank is somehow a work of art of human technology.

Thanks!?