M18 Hellcat of the 827th Tank Destroyer Battalion, 1944.
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The Only Successful Chernobyl Robot: The Toy Tank
Chernobyl is a notable example of the use of robots to clean up and scout out areas hazardous to human workers. The robots of Chernobyl are infamous amongst the Liquidators who worked with them for their unreliability and expense. Because of their cost and the way Soviet procurement worked, any robot that failed while being used had to be retrieved by the Liquidators. Since most of the robots died in high radiation areas, many men were 'burned' (met their radiation quotas) just to get them into relative safety where they could be repaired or scrapped. There is, however, one notable exception to this trend; the Toy Tank (seen in the photo above).
Purchased by a liquidator in Kiev for 12 rubles (~$5) in 1986 after the Chernobyl disaster, this plastic tank had a short cord attaching it to its remote controller. It could move forwards and backwards, turn, and rattle to imitate firing its gun. After being brought to the Chernobyl Zone, it was quickly retrofitted for use at the CHNPP. The controller wire was extended to ten meters, and the tank was retrofitted with a flashlight, thermometer, and dosimeter. Using these tools, the tank could be sent ahead of exploration teams in the warren of rooms and hallways of Unit 4 as a 'hunting dog' to do primitive dosimetric and temperature exploration. This allowed the Liquidators to move with far more safety and caution into the depths of Unit 4.
The tank was procured and used by the Chernobyl Sarcophagus Exploration Team, a group of scientists from the Kurchatov Institute tasked with locating and monitoring the uranium fuel of Reactor 4 within the Unit Block. Nuclear fuel gives off radiation and heat, and so the tank was used to keep the team out of any unexplored rooms that may have contained these hazards. The tank was by all accounts extremely effective, and as an added bonus was far easier to decontaminate than the complex robots provided by various science ministries.
The performed its task deftly and with great success until the spring of 1987, when it became impossible to decontaminate any further. It was entombed in the Sarcophagus which it so dutifully explored.
This may seem like an urban legend or a wacky story made up by a tour guide, but it is in fact corroborated by countless memoirs and interviews with Liquidators. Also, no discredit to the other robots that served admirably at Chernobyl. There were probably other, equally as effective robots used in the zone, but this is the one most people who worked at the CHNPP itself speak of with any form of reverence.
Borovoi, A. A. (2017). Chapter 5: Robots. In My Chernobyl: The human story of a scientist and the Nuclear Power Plant Catastrophe (pp. 68–69). essay, Piscataqua Press.
BONUS STORY!
The Toy Tank does have a big brother, three (some sources say four) ISU-152 self propelled gun that were used to demolish large buildings in the Chernobyl Zone.
Below: One of the ISU-152 'Demolition Tanks' used in the Chernobyl Zone. The New Safe Confinement covering Unit 4 can be seen in the background.
Click here for more info on the ISU-152s
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An M10 Wolverine which was damaged during the fighting near the beaches of Normandy, June 1944.
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The Elefant Tank Destroyer. Originally called the Ferdinand after its designer, Ferdinand Porsche. Only around 90 were built, of which 2 still survive as Museum pieces.
Most of the Ferdinands were deployed in Operation Citadel at the Battle of Kursk where many fell victim to mines (among other types of damage). This led to later upgrades such as the application of Zimmerit anti-magnetic paste (you can just about make out on the front of the vehicle above) and an MG34 machine gun.
Only around 50 Ferdinands survived Kursk and post-modification they were eventually renamed the Elefant. The name change wasn't down to the modifications but more that Hitler had a leaning toward using animal names for his armour.
I reckon the image above was likely a tracing as there are a few source photographs (below) of the Ferdinand/Elefant at a similar angle.
This was a back page feature from Battle No. 339, dated 31 October 1981. Treasury of British Comics.
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Panzerjäger I B mit 7.5cm StuK 40 L/48
Jason Wong Box art for Takom's 1018 1/16th scale Panzerjäger I B mit 7.5cm StuK 40 L/48
Via Twitter
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Italian Centauro wheeled tank destroyer in the square near the Freedom Monument, Riga, Latvia, March 28, 2024. Photo by D.P.
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After going inactive for 2 months (I logged out of every site by accident and I haven't thought about tumblr one since then) 1/4 post on my front page is about Ukraine, Marxism, liberalism, the worst political memes I've ever seen, and more boring commie shit. I hate this site.
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One Shot One Kill, the FV4005
from ConeOfArc
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Tank hunter concept, waffentrager auf Panzer VI (Tiger I).Based on the Tiger, removing the turret and moving the engine bay in the middle to free up the rear to accommodate the 15 CM PAK L/63 gun, but would only exist on blueprints.
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German Marder III tank destroyers advance along a road through an unknown Russian village - date unknown. The Marder III were PaK 40 7.5cm guns mounted on a Czech T-38 chassis
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Panzerjäger Nashorn (Rhino) tank destroyer, Italy, 1944
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