Weapons and Inventions

The Pershing M26 Tank (Yank Magazine, 1945)

Although the the Pershing M26 didn’t get into the fighting in Europe until very late in the game (March, 1945), it was long enough to prove itself. This new 43-toner is the Ordnance Department’s answer to the heavier German Tiger. It mounts a 90-mm high-velocity gun, equipped with a muzzle-brake, as opposed to the 88-mm on a Tiger.

The M26 Pershing tank was the one featured in the movie, Fury (2014).

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German Armor: Panzer III and IV (Yank Magazine, 1944)

The attached two articles report on what the U.S. Army came to understand following the close examination of two German tanks: the Panzer III and Panzer IV.


The Panzer III was first produced in 1934 and the Panzer IV two years later; both tanks were used with devastating effect during the opening days of the Blitzkrieg on Poland, France and later the invasion of Russia. The developed a close and personal relationship with both during the North African campaign in 1943.


Click here to read about the German King Tiger Tank.

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The P-47N (Collier’s Magazine, 1945)

A printable one page article that expounds on the evolution of the P-47 Thunderbolt through varying stages of development into the fuel-efficient juggernaut called the P-47N. Remembered in the World War II annals as the dependable escort of the B-29 Super fortresses that bedeviled the axis capitals during the closing months of the war.

No sacrifice was made in ammunition, guns or protective armor to provide the P-47N with this long range. It still carries eight 50.-caliber guns, four in each wing. It also can carry 10 five-inch rockets which pack the destructive power of five-inch artillery or naval shells.

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Buzz-Bombs Over London (Yank Magazine, 1944)

Launched by air or from catapults posted on the Northern coast of France, the German V-1 Buzz-Bomb was first deployed against the people of London on June 12, 1944. Before the V-1 campaign was over 1,280 would fall within the area of greater London and 1,241 were successfully destroyed in flight.

Accompanied by a diagram of the contraption, this is a brief article about London life during the Buzz-Bomb Blitz. Quoted at length are the Americans stationed in that city as well as the hardy Britons who had endured similar carnage during the Luftwaffe bombing campaigns earlier in the war.

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The Grumman Hellcat (Collier’s Magazine, 1943)

An enthusiastic piece that informed the folks on the home front that the days of the Japanese Zero were numbered:

Hellcat, daughter of battle, answers all the prayers of Navy pilots. She’s a low-winged Navy fighter; F6F, the Navy’s newest and the world’s best…F6F is a ship that can fight the Jap Zero on the Zero’s own terms, a plane that can stand up and slug, that can bore in with those terrible body blows.

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The Tiger Tank at the Aberdeen Proving Ground (Yank Magazine, 1944)

The American army’s Aberdeen Proving Ground rests on 72,962 acres in Aberdeen, Maryland. Since 1917 it has been the one spot where the U.S. Army puts to the test both American and foreign ordnance and in 1944 the gang at Aberdeen got a hold of a 61 1/2 ton German battle-wagon, popularly known as the Tiger Tank (PZKW-VI). This is a nicely illustrated single page article that explains what they learned.


For further reading about the Tiger Tank, click here.

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