Recently wargaming has unveiled four brand new tanks going into their supertest server. Usually
I wouldn’t cover a topic like this on my main channel but I figured given the tanks in question
it might be interesting to look into the origins of these tanks. So in today’s video we’ll be first
looking at the four tanks and asking if they really did exist. If they did we’ll take a look
at the history of the design, and if they didn’t we’ll consider if they were even possible to do.
Going in order we first are presented with their so-called M4A2 T-34 which is planned as a Soviet
tank. As far as I can tell from searching this tank is essentially made up, however,
there may be a sliver of truth to it. During 1944 two Russian engineers proposed a way to convert
foreign tanks to have more firepower. Chasovnikov and Kazarin supposedly claimed the foreign tanks
such as the Sherman, Churchill, Matilda, and Lee were too large without having enough firepower.
This led them to consider the idea of either mounting the turret of the T-34-85 to these tanks
or to convert them into self propelled guns. One drawing exists showing a sketch of this with a gun
mounted in the hull of the Sherman with the turrets said to be removed for another use.
However either due to the lack of readily available guns, potential political issues caused
by modifying foreign tanks, or a combination of the two this was never done. As for the
tank created by Wargaming I can only mark it as a fake although in theory this could have been done.
There was really just no reason to waste a T-34 turret on a Sherman though as it could just be
repurposed for another of its own kind. Next we move on to the Matilda LVT.
Although the Matilda was one of the most widely used tanks during the second world war
serving on every front this particular tank is not quite real. It does strike me as odd that they
chose this combination over some of the arguably more interesting variants but several do already
exist in-game so that may explain it. Could this tank have possibly been created from tank parts
during WW2 in theory? I would say that it was definitely possible considering the US had many
LVTs with the larger turret in the Pacific where the Matilda also served with commonwealth forces.
It’s reasonable to assume that someone could have had the bright idea of swapping the turret but as
with the previous tank there was really no reason to do this and there's no evidence it was done.
Before you go calling the tank completely fake though allow me to show you this photo. Here
we see almost the exact same tank wargaming is intending to sell to you created out of an LVT
turret and other tank components along with a fake gun and mantlet. There are also photos out
there showing what could be the same matilda or a different one using the turret from what I believe
to be a staghound. Although it doesn't necessarily make this vehicle a real battle tank it seems
possibly unintentionally that they created a slightly less fake tank in this case.
It also proves my previous point about it being theoretically possible during the war.
Interestingly there is another British tank with the LVT turret in existence.
In a museum called the House of Tank in Wichita, Kansas there is a strange Valentine tank with the
LVT turret. This is said to have been done by the tank's previous owner for use as a movie prop.
Now we move on to some slightly less fantastical designs starting with the Panzer Kpfw M15. This is
the first tank in today's video that is not just a real design but actually existed with photographs
of it still around today. The story of it is a little hazy but we do know that it was built late
in the war between 1944 and 1945. It's easy to think that this was done by the Germans and that's
most likely the case but one of the remaining photos throws a wrench into that somewhat. The
tank is shown to have markings of the Ustaše Croatian units on the front of the tank.
The fact that this tank was later photographed alongside other german armor after capture by
Yugoslav partisans makes this even more confusing. With the Croatian units never using either the
M15 or the Panzer 38 this makes it more likely that the Germans were the creators of the tank
although the conversion was not a complicated one so it could realistically have been done by either
party. I tend to think that given the markings this was used by the Ustaše due to the marking but
there is no information to confirm this. Finally we reach the last tank on our list,
the Panzer Kpfw 35 R. This tank is also completely real and was actually done on at least two
separate occasions by the Germans and Romanians. If you saw my recent video on the Romanian R35 you
probably remember me mentioning the prototype they created using the turret of a T-26 on the
hull of their R35. This same thing was also done by the Germans around the same point of the war.
These tanks are easily distinguished by their turret shape with the Germans utilizing the more
conical turret and the Romanians using the round one. Unlike with the Romanian tank the German R35
has no clear origin with it potentially being from multiple different units during the latter
half of the war. I personally tend to think it was more than likely done for use as an anti partisan
vehicle since a large number of R35s were used in that role. Likely the full story of this tank
will never be known until more photos or other information about it is uncovered. As far as
this video is concerned though the information is clear enough to say that this tank is very real.
With that we reach the end of our list. So what do you think of these wacky combinations? Let me
know in the comments below. In my opinion I have no issue with games choosing to add fantasy tanks
or using existing documents to create different versions of real tanks as long as it's made clear
that these are not real tanks. Whether these tanks will actually be good or not is a whole
different story and one that is more suited for my ConeOfArcade channel where I post gaming related
videos. If you’d like to see me cover these tanks in the future over there please let me know by
dropping a comment and subscribing to both my channels. I’m extremely close to 10,000 subs
over there which would be awesome to hit. That's more than enough self promotion though, I hope
you enjoyed this video and be sure to let me know if you’d like to see more like it. Huge thanks to
everyone who helped provide extra information for this video, especially Roshindow from the
tank encyclopedia Discord who sent me a photo of the Museum matilda. See you in the next video.