Hunter
Jul 03, 2003, 03:34 PM
By the time the US entered WW1 they realized that they had no practical tank designs (the US had produced the French Renault FT17 with changes and named it the M1917) however their own designs were FAR behind and the power of the tank had been proven to be a necessity. An Anglo-American tank committee was set up in France to develop a tank for the needs of the western front with emphasis on crossing the widened German trenches. The result was the Mk8 tank or Liberty in America and International in England. The only difference between the “Liberty” and the “International” was the engine brand yet both engines produced the same power.
The Mk8 was completed in time for the end of 1918 however saw no action and was in fact planed for the 1919 campaigns, which never happened. This tank was considered to be one of if not the most powerful in the world however America (having the largest fleet of them) quickly found that medium tanks were the way to go and eventually abandoned these giants to Aberdeen. There final service to the Western Allies was in WW2 as a training tank for Canada although by then it was sadly out dated.
Counterparts for this giant were the French Char2C (the only WW1 tank to see combat in WW2), the German Kwagon (never completed as it was planed to help with the German 1919 campaign)
Dimensions/stats:
Armament: Two 6pdr (57mm/2.24in) guns one on each side and SEVEN machine guns.
Armor: 16mm (0.63in)
Crew: 8
Length: 10.41m (34ft 2in) Height: 3.12m (10ft 3in) Width: 3.76m (12ft 4in)
Weight: 37,593kg (37tons)
Speed: 9.65km/h (6mph)
In other words big mean and slow.
To my knowledge this tank was the first one in the world to be built with standardized parts for a group of allies. Even the French Renault FT17, an extremely successful and widely copied tank, did not have this.
Without further delay I present the Mk8 (liberty/international):
Mk8 International/Liberty (http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads4/MK8.zip)
The Mk8 was completed in time for the end of 1918 however saw no action and was in fact planed for the 1919 campaigns, which never happened. This tank was considered to be one of if not the most powerful in the world however America (having the largest fleet of them) quickly found that medium tanks were the way to go and eventually abandoned these giants to Aberdeen. There final service to the Western Allies was in WW2 as a training tank for Canada although by then it was sadly out dated.
Counterparts for this giant were the French Char2C (the only WW1 tank to see combat in WW2), the German Kwagon (never completed as it was planed to help with the German 1919 campaign)
Dimensions/stats:
Armament: Two 6pdr (57mm/2.24in) guns one on each side and SEVEN machine guns.
Armor: 16mm (0.63in)
Crew: 8
Length: 10.41m (34ft 2in) Height: 3.12m (10ft 3in) Width: 3.76m (12ft 4in)
Weight: 37,593kg (37tons)
Speed: 9.65km/h (6mph)
In other words big mean and slow.
To my knowledge this tank was the first one in the world to be built with standardized parts for a group of allies. Even the French Renault FT17, an extremely successful and widely copied tank, did not have this.
Without further delay I present the Mk8 (liberty/international):
Mk8 International/Liberty (http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads4/MK8.zip)