Battle Taxis | Evolution of the Armoured Personnel Carrier

Hi Tank Nuts! We hope you enjoyed this latest episode of Evolution, let us know what else you'd like to see from the series.

I think I left a comment suggesting this in another video, but I'd love to see a video on "Evolutionary Dead Ends". Things like the oscillating turret or tanks with multiple turrets. I think it'd be fun to hear about why the chose these designs, what problems they were trying to solve and ultimately why they failed or were dropped in favor of something else. Edit: Glad to see this getting thumbs up. Only a facility with as many obscure tanks could even consider doing a topic like this. Hopefully we get to see it in the future!

Maybe an extra Episode about Wheeld IFV/ Personal Carriers?

I recall reading a comment from a Military History Visualized video from a guy who trained to be a Panzergrenadier in the modern German army. He said they did a training where they assaulted a village and all the men were marked dead within 3 or 4 minutes of leaving the APC. The modern battlefield is a highly lethal environment

A funny thing about the open half-tracks being vulnerable to grenades is that it works both ways. In the German manuals, they specify frag and smoke grenades should be thrown from within the half-track to give cover or assault positions. In the familiarisation manuals, they describe the half-track as a "mobile foxhole" and clearly state it doesn't offer protection from direct or overhead hits. They wanted the open top to allow the riflemen to fight from within the vehicle and quickly dismount to assault, compared to the infantry being couped inside more modern fully closed APCs. The modern APCs were of course also meant to be sealed off from the expected nuclear battlefield. The manual is Merkblatt 18b/38 from 15th September 1944 called "Panzer hilfen Dir! Was der Grenadier vom gepanzerten Kampffahrzeug wissen muss". It has sections on tanks (Panzer), Sturmgeschütze, armoured cars (Panzerspähwagen), half-tracks (Schützenpanzerwagen), tank destroyers (Panzerjäger), and self-propelled artillery (Selbstfahr Lafetten). The following is the full section on half-tracks translated into English. Note that the manual explicitly uses "gepanzerte Grenadier" (armoured Grenadier) instead of Panzergrenadier (armour grenadier), since the latter does not necessarily use half-tracks. [Square brackets] are notes added by me: First of all: The half-track cannot fight like a tank. It’s not there to support you, but to protect and make the armoured grenadiers mobile. Because the armoured grenadier must be able to follow the tank-attack. It’s their task to exploit the success of the tank strike lightning fast and immediately secure it. Also, the tank cannot fight without grenadiers. So that the grenadiers can follow its pace and striking power, they’re accompanied by half-tracks. Also, the special vehicles (gun vehicle, mortar vehicle, flamethrower vehicle) have no other task but: Protecting the infantry weapons and their operations and make them mobile. Notice: The medium half-track [Sd.Kfz. 251] is the vehicle of the armoured grenadiers. Only the armoured reconnaissance have light half-tracks [Sd.Kfz. 250] for the lightning-fast exploitation of the reconnaissance. What does a foxhole serve? It protects against infantry weapons [the illustrations make it clear they strictly mean small arms, not mortars or infantry guns] and shrapnel. It contains the firepower of the grenadiers. But: It doesn’t protect against direct hits. It doesn’t protect against dangers from above. What does a vehicle serve? It provides mobility. It spares energy and quickly brings you to the target. But: it’s big and many people are crowded together in a confined space. What does a half-track serve? It’s both: A foxhole and a vehicle: a drivable foxhole. Thus: It protects against infantry weapons and shrapnel and many mines. But: It doesn’t protect against direct hits (especially AT gun hits). It doesn’t protect against dangers from above (most importantly ground-attackers). Thus: It brings the fire power of the squad quickly to the enemy. But: It’s a big and quite tall target, a whole squad is crowded together in its belly. Although it drives quickly on roads; But: In terrain it cannot drive everywhere the tanks go through. When you have to reinforce the attack of the tanks and half-tracks, remember a couple of rules: You must keep connection between the half-track and the dismounted grenadiers in infantry combat for smooth cooperation. You must not stick to the S.P.W. like glue, and expect mindless hurra-attacks from it. An AT gun, for example, must be attacked by the armoured grenadiers on foot. The armour of the half-track is not thicker than your thumb. In the vehicle, the grenadiers sit one meter above the ground. But you can crawl on your belly or lay down! It's a very nice and well illustrated manual, in the typical German comic style, and the sections on the other armoured vehicles are in many ways even more interesting.

The armor of an M113 was meant to protect from small arms fire and was unable to stop even light anti-tank weapons from penetrating it. Since Northern Vietnam had access to RPG 2s and RPG 7s and captured M72 LAWs, a lot of the time American infantry preferred to ride sitting atop the hull rather than inside. That way they didn't have to worry about light AT weapons, and if they came under small arms fire, they'd just jump off and find cover on the ground around the vehicle. If you've ever seen a photo or film from Vietnam and seen US troops riding on the tops of their M113s, that's why. M113s were and are extremely versatile, which is why they are still in service around the world. They can be infantry carriers, battlefield ambulances, mortar carriers, NBC detection vehicles, anti-aircraft mounts and AT missile mounts. There are a lot of variations by different countries where the vehicle was rebuild or modified. The US had a lot. M58 Wolf Smoke Generator Carrier. M113A4 Armored Medical Evacuation Vehicle. M125 81mm Mortar Carrier. M132 Armored Flamethrower. M163 Vulcan Air Defense System (VADS). M548 – Unarmored 6 ton cargo carrier. M577 Command Vehicle. M579 Fitter Repair Vehicle. M667 MGM-52 Lance missile carrier. M688 Lance missile transport/loader vehicle. XM696 Recovery vehicle. M727 Unarmored carrier/launcher for MIM-23 Hawk surface-to-air missiles. M730 Unarmored carrier/launcher for MIM-72 Chaparral surface-to-air missiles. M741 – Carrier vehicle for the M163 Vulcan Air Defense System (VADS). M901 Improved TOW Vehicle (ITV). M981 Fire Support Team Vehicle (FISTV). M1015 Tracked Electronic Warfare Carrier. M1059 – Lynx Smoke Generator Carrier (SGC). M1064 120mm Mortar Carrier.

Warriors served us very well in Iraq. Especially in those places we couldn't get chally 2. Warrior will always get my vote for best battlefield taxi ever, but Spartan was also fun to drive.

Excellent overview, thank you! As an old Armored Cavalry trooper who served during the transition from the M113 series to the Bradley, I'd enjoy seeing more videos about how different countries approached the evolution of the battlefield and the vehicles that reflected their solutions.

Excellent video - absolutely loved it. Would love to see another detailing tank recovery through time - so plenty of Scammells, Thorneycrofts and Diamond T's possibly.

I like the Ram tank, you rarely see it. One of the few designs with a secondary turret that did not seem to interfere with the main armament.

Great video. Shame the British Army is getting ride of Warrior IFV to replace it with a wheeled vehicle that isn’t as protected. Maybe updating Warrior would have been the right thing to do!

Very interesting stuff about the BMP, I didn't realise it was so potent a weapon in its own right. The evolution of armoured engineering vehicles would be really interesting! The roles and capabilities they have on the battlefield, how the army chooses what they want, what solutions they come up with to provide it. Recovery vehicles would be interesting too, how they keep vehicles going in combat and even recover damages vehicles under fire. I'd also love to see something about moving tanks away from the battlefield. How and why tank transporters came about, and how they've changed over time. I suppose you'd have to start with trains and flatcars!

Warrior was an amazing upgrade to the FV432. I loved this vehicle loved learning how to drive and gun it back in the early 90’s. Pretty much saved a lot of our asses back in the Day. In OP Grapple 2 in Gornji Vakuf these vehicles were incredible. Pretty much the only reason we came back without loosing any guys.

Another excellent presentation Chris. So few presenters can speak English well enough these days but you go the extra mile and pronounce French and German very well also. Thank you, it's a pleasure to listen

"so we are not looking at wheeled vehicles for instance" looks inside Half-tracks! It is strange how Japanese with their meager tank forces developed and fielded the only fully tracked APC if we aren't counting modifications such as Kangaroo. The Type 1 Ho-Ki was very simplistic. It could be described as tracked lorry with minimal armor and seats at the back. At the very least it was light and had an adequate engine.

Thanks for mentioning Canadian kangaroos. I spent a significant amount of my time in the infantry in M113s.

Tjis is great timing for me personally, it dovetailed nicely with my obsession-of-the-moment. Also, as a Canuck, so happy to see the Ram Kangaroo! I'd love more videos on infantry transports, both super deep dives into specific vehicles, and also a midlevel thing going into detail on all or most of the vehicles used in a particular time and place.

one of the nices tricks I have heard of was a Armoured infantery company that should assult a positon. the APCs rewed their engines. they could be heard for miles. so the unit that should defend the position. staired at the woodline infront of them. it must have been totaly worth it for the infantery portion of the assult. to track a few miles in the woods. making a flanking movement.

Very good. Proud to be a Patreon member and get these early but I watch them again on You Tube anyway. Thank you!

In many ways, armoured battle taxis of all types act as a type of disposable personal armour for the infantry. They ride these vehicles into battle, firing their vehicle-mounted weapons, and if/when they get hit by a disabling shot the infantry can still dismount likely all still alive. Everything from Bradleys to the various Humvees used in Ukraine has fulfilled this role of taking the first hits, and leaving the crew alive to keep on fighting.