Difference between revisions of "Glossary"

South - The bottom side on the in-game mini-map.

East - The right side on the in-game mini-map.

Ammo Rack - ammunition storage, the function is clear: To store and to protect ammunition. However many compromises have to be made with regards to the amount of ammunition, thus ammo rack is always a weak part of any tank.

Armor - Basic attribute of tank, armor provides protection against the enemy fire. Armor has usually varying thickness and slopes and is usually divided into front armor (incl. Glacis), side armor (often split between upper and lower sections with different thicknesses/slopes) and rear armor.

Armor Skirts - Additional armor designed to protect weaker-protected parts of tanks, usually hull sides. Introduced by German designers to protect primarily against 14.5-mm antitank rifle projectiles and 76-mm HE shells, it was discovered that this additional armor is able, under proper conditions, to damage capped AP projectiles and to degrade penetration of HEAT weapons (though at angles around 90°, it actually augmented the penetration in some cases).

Chassis - General term used for all parts of hull connected to engine/transmission/suspension. Often vehicles use the same chassis, even though they serve completely different purposes.

Engine - The core of the tank, providing power and source of devastating fires. In WWII, usually rear-mounted. Petrol engines were considered more flammable than diesel engines, but when a shell hit the tank, the difference usually was not all that important.

Fuel Tank - Storage of the fuel for the engine. Always source of trouble, as it is storage of highly flammable material - usually found wherever there is enough free space and still not enough, some tanks mounted also external fuel tanks. Diesel fuel is somewhat harder to catch fire than petrol, but in turn, such fire is also harder to put. Damaged fuel tank increases the risk of fire on subsequent hits.

Idler Wheel - Part of the running gear of a tank, the idler wheel serves to propel the tracks. Damage to it can immobilize a tank. Especially important for changes in tracking mechanics in 6.4.

Periscope - Periscopic devices were used to provide visibility with closed hatches without the need to have a vision slit in a tank's glacis/walls, thus removing said weak spots.

Sponson - Part of tank hull located above tracks. Often used to store ammunition, in some cases also to mount the tank's armament. This is most prominent on M3 Lee, where the main tank's armament is sponson-mounted.

Suspension - Means of suppressing vehicle shaking with various bumps on the road. In WWII, spring suspension or torsion bar suspension were usually used, though many tanks used also Christie suspension (most prominently BT series and T-34). Suspension limits how much weight can the tank carry without serious penalties to mobility.

Ammo Rack - ammunition storage, the function is clear: To store and to protect ammunition. However many compromises have to be made with regards to the amount of ammunition, thus ammo rack is always a weak part of any tank. Ready ammo rack, usually found in turret, was in most tanks totally unprotected and thus very vulnerable.

Armor - Basic attribute of tank, armor grants it protection from enemy fire. Armor has usually varying thickness and slopes and is usually split into front armor (incl. mantlet), side armor and rear armor. Turret armor is always more exposed than hull armor, especially if vehicle is fighting from hull-down positions. In case of rotating turret it also presents even more compromises than hull armor, as it influences the balance and thus turning of the turret - for example this is the reason PzKpfw IV ended war with just 50mm front turret armor.

Cupola - Additional small "turret" on top of superstructure/tank turret, usually reserved for commander, providing him with 360° vision. However the downside is that cupolas usually present a rather vulnerable target and their damage means incapacitation of the vehicle's commander.

Gun - Main armament of AFV. For more detailed description see the Armament section. May mount a Muzzle Brake.

Mantlet - Moving part of armor, attached to the gun, protecting the gap in front armor through which the gun passes. Mantlets came in different sizes and shapes - and also functions. Mantlets usually partially overlap front armor, though in case of Tiger I, gun shield/mantlet is THE turret front armor, same as with Sherman (76). The second extreme is Sherman (75), where originally narrow gun shield expanded to cover a weaker part of front turret armor with additional layer.

Typical examples: 20mm KwK 38, 20mm TNSh

Gun - Generally a shot or shell-firing weapon using lower register (below 45°) for direct fire, most often falls into following categories:

Gun, Conical - Usually referred to as taper-bore or squeezebore gun, it was a special category of anti-tank guns designed to provide high penetration without the use of special (and expensive) materials such as tungsten carbide, as well as to remove range limitations of APCR projectiles. Taper-bore guns used barrel with changing diameter, from original caliber to significantly smaller one, thus reducing the cross-section and drag of the projectile to extend its effective range.

Howitzer - Artillery weapon, with short barrel and low muzzle velocity, usually using separate charges. It was designed for high-register fires (above 45°) and thus to fire over hills and other obstacles. Howitzers are relatively light and share carriages with smaller guns - for example the carriages for US 155mm Field Gun and 8" Howitzer were the same. Many countries thus used howitzers as a relatively simple way to increase tank firepower against soft target, to be used in assault guns and close support tanks. Because such vehicles had only a limited use against tanks, they were usually attached to tank units as support only, or concentrated in specialized units. Typical examples: 105mm M4 Howitzer, 10.5cm Sturmhaubitze, 122mm M-30S.

KwK - Kampfwagen Kanone, German for Tank Gun.

PaK - Panzerabwehr Kanone, German for Anti-tank Gun.

StuH - SturmHaubitze, German for "Assault Howitzer", Close support gun created by mounting a howitzer in an armored vehicle.

APCR - Armor Piercing, Composite, Rigid, basic subcaliber armor-piercing ammunition. APCR body consisted of a penetrator, with significantly smaller diameter than the bore, and of light metal casing around it, to fill up the bore. The light metal part was non-detacheable. Lighter mass gave the projectile higher muzzle velocity and higher penetration, however small sectional density gave by light weight, but full bore diameter, caused high drag and APCR lost velocity rapidly. APCR was used by all major players in WWII.

HE - High Explosive, generally used term for any shell whose primary damage mechanism comes from an explosion of its charge, as opposed to kinetic damage done by AP shells. There are multiple kinds of HE projectile, the most often used is probably HE-Frag. In its basic sense, pure HE shell would have only thin walls and would create little fragmentation, relying on blast to do the damage - thus, HE shells were often designed against hardened positions etc. However, practice showed that HE-Frag can be almost as effective as pure HE, while having more effect against soft targets, and as He-Frag took over the role, it took over the designation as well.

HEAT - High Explosive, Anti-Tank, armor-piercign projectiles using hollow charge effect. Cup-shaped charge forms a thin jet of gases or of HEAT liner material, that travels at very high velocity. Contrary to kinetic energy AP, HEAT maintains the same penetration regardless of the shell velocity, so it was a popular choice for low-velocity guns and howitzers. However, WWII HEAT was often prone to failure and had usually short range. On the other hand it was cheap to produce - by the war's end, German tanks often carried a significant portion of their ammunition load in HEAT, replaing both AP and HE shells.

Pzgr - Panzergranate, German designation of kinetic energy (AP) projectiles. Usual designation for most frequently used shells was Pzgr.39 (APCBC) and Pzgr.40 (APCR).