title: Joseph E. Johnston

text: Johnston was prematurely discharged from hospital on November 24, 1862, and appointed to command the Department of the West, the principal command of the Western Theater, which gave him titular control of Gen. Braxton Bragg's Army of Tennessee and Lt. Gen. John C. Pemberton's Department of Mississippi and East Louisiana. (The other major force in this area was the Trans-Mississippi Department, commanded by Lt. Gen. Theophilus H. Holmes, stationed principally in Arkansas. Johnston argued throughout his tenure that Holmes's command should be combined with Pemberton's under Johnston's control, or at least to reinforce Pemberton with troops from Holmes's command, but he was unable to convince the government to take either of these steps.)


title: Joseph E. Johnston

text: The first issue facing Johnston in the West was the fate of Braxton Bragg. The Confederate government was displeased with Bragg's performance at the Battle of Stones River, as were many of Bragg's senior subordinates. Jefferson Davis ordered Johnston to visit Bragg and determine whether he should be replaced. Johnston realized that if he recommended Bragg's replacement, he would be the logical choice to succeed him, and he considered that a field army command was more desirable than his current, mostly administrative post, but his sense of honor prevented him from achieving this personal gain at Bragg's expense. After interviewing Bragg and a number of his subordinates, he produced a generally positive report and refused to relieve the army commander. Davis ordered Bragg to a meeting in Richmond and designated Johnston to take command in the field, but Bragg's wife was ill and he was unable to travel. Furthermore, in early April Johnston was forced to bed with lingering problems from his Peninsula wound, and the attention of the Confederates shifted from Tennessee to Mississippi, leaving Bragg in place.


title: Joseph E. Johnston

text: The major crisis facing Johnston was defending Confederate control of Vicksburg, Mississippi, which was threatened by Union Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant, first in a series of unsuccessful maneuvers during the winter of 1862–63 to the north of the fortress city, but followed in April 1863 with an ambitious campaign that began with Grant's Union army crossing the Mississippi River southwest of Vicksburg. Catching Lt. Gen. Pemberton by surprise, the Union army waged a series of successful battles as it moved northeast toward the state capital of Jackson. On May 9, the Confederate Secretary of War directed Johnston to "proceed at once to Mississippi and take chief command of the forces in the field." Johnston informed Richmond that he was still medically unfit, but would obey the order. When he arrived in Jackson on May 13 from Middle Tennessee, he learned that two Union army corps were advancing on the city and that there were only about 6,000 troops available to defend it. Johnston ordered a fighting evacuation (the Battle of Jackson, May 14) and retreated with his force to the north. Grant captured the city and then faced to the west to approach Vicksburg.


title: Joseph E. Johnston

text: Johnston began to move his force west to join Pemberton when he heard of that general's defeat at Champion Hill (May 16) and Big Black River Bridge (May 17). The survivors retreated to the fortifications of Vicksburg. Johnston urged Pemberton to avoid being surrounded by abandoning the city and to join forces with Johnston's troops, outnumbering Grant, but Davis had ordered Pemberton to defend the city as his highest priority. Grant launched two unsuccessful assaults against the fortifications and then settled in for a siege. The soldiers and civilians in the surrounded city waited in vain for Johnston's small force to come to their rescue. By late May Johnston had accumulated about 24,000 men but wanted additional reinforcements before moving forward. He considered ordering Bragg to send these reinforcements, but was concerned that this could result in the loss of Tennessee. He also bickered with President Davis about whether the order sending him to Mississippi could be construed as removing him from theater command; historian Steven E. Woodworth judges that Johnston "willfully misconstrued" his orders out of resentment of Davis's interference. Pemberton's army surrendered on July 4, 1863. Along with the capture of Port Hudson a week later, the loss of Vicksburg gave the Union complete control of the Mississippi River and cut the Confederacy in two. President Davis wryly ascribed the strategic defeat to a "want of provisions inside and a general outside [Johnston] who would not fight."


title: Joseph E. Johnston

text: The relationship between Johnston and Davis, difficult since the early days of the war, became bitter as recriminations were traded publicly about who was to blame for Vicksburg. That Johnston never wanted this theater command in the first place, difficulty in effectively moving troops due to lack of direct rail lines and the vast distances involved, lack of assistance from subordinate commanders, Pemberton's refusal to abandon Vicksburg as suggested, and President Davis' habit of communicating directly to Johnston's subordinates (which meant Johnston was often not aware of what was going on) all contributed to this defeat. Davis considered firing Johnston, but he remained a popular officer and had many political allies in Richmond, most notably Sen. Louis Wigfall. Instead, Bragg's army was removed from Johnston's command, leaving him in control of only Alabama and Mississippi.


title: Joseph E. Johnston

text: While Vicksburg was falling, Union Maj. Gen. William S. Rosecrans was advancing against Bragg in Tennessee, forcing him to evacuate Chattanooga. Bragg achieved a significant victory against Rosecrans in the Battle of Chickamauga (September 19–20), but he was defeated by Ulysses S. Grant in the Battles for Chattanooga in November. Bragg resigned from his command of the Army of Tennessee and returned to Richmond in the role as military adviser to the president. Davis offered the position to William J. Hardee, the senior corps commander, who refused it. He considered P.G.T. Beauregard, another general with whom he had poor personal relations, and also Robert E. Lee. Lee, who was reluctant to leave Virginia, first recommended Beauregard, but sensing Davis's discomfort, changed his recommendation to Johnston. After much agonizing, Davis appointed Johnston to command the Army of Tennessee in Dalton, Georgia, on December 27, 1863.


title: Joseph E. Johnston

text: Faced with Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman's advance from Chattanooga to Atlanta in the spring of 1864, Johnston conducted a series of withdrawals that appeared similar to his Peninsula Campaign strategy. He repeatedly prepared strong defensive positions, only to see Sherman maneuver around them in expert turning movements, causing him to fall back in the general direction of Atlanta. Johnston saw the preservation of his army as the most important consideration, and hence conducted a very cautious campaign. He handled his army well, slowing the Union advance and inflicting heavier losses than he sustained.


title: Joseph E. Johnston

text: Sherman began his Atlanta Campaign on May 4. Johnston's Army of Tennessee fought defensive battles against the Federals at the approaches to Dalton, which was evacuated on May 13, then retreated 12 miles south to Resaca, and constructed defensive positions. However, after a brief battle, Johnston again yielded to Sherman, and retreated from Resaca on May 15. Johnston assembled the Confederate forces for an attack at Cassville. As his troops advanced, an enemy force of unknown strength appeared unexpectedly on his right flank. A skirmish ensued, forcing the corps commander, Lt. Gen. John Bell Hood, to halt his advance and reposition his troops to face the threat. Faced with this unexpected threat, Johnston abandoned his attack and renewed his retreat. On May 20 they again retreated 8 miles further south to Cartersville. The month of May 1864 ended with Sherman's forces attempting to move away from their railroad supply line with another turning movement, but became bogged down by the Confederates' fierce defenses at the Battle of New Hope Church on May 25, the Battle of Pickett's Mill on May 27, and the Battle of Dallas on May 28.


title: Joseph E. Johnston

text: In June Sherman's forces continued maneuvers around the northern approaches to Atlanta, and a battle ensued at Kolb's Farm on June 22, followed by Sherman's first (and only) attempt at a massive frontal assault in the Battle of Kennesaw Mountain on June 27, which Johnston strongly repulsed. However, by this time Federal forces were within 17 miles of Atlanta, threatening the city from the west and north. Johnston had yielded over 110 miles of mountainous, and thus more easily defensible, territory in just two months, while the Confederate government became increasingly frustrated and alarmed. When Johnston retreated across the Chattahoochee River, the final major barrier before Atlanta, President Davis lost his patience.


title: Joseph E. Johnston

text: In early July, Davis sent Gen. Braxton Bragg to Atlanta to assess the situation. After several meetings with local civilian leaders and Johnston's subordinates, Bragg returned to Richmond and urged President Davis to replace Johnston. Davis removed Johnston from command on July 17, 1864, just outside Atlanta. "The fate of Atlanta, from the Confederate standpoint, was all but decided by Johnston." His replacement, Lt. Gen. Hood, was left with the "virtually impossible situation" of defending Atlanta, which he was forced to abandon in September. Davis's decision to remove Johnston was one of the most controversial of the war.


title: Joseph E. Johnston

text: Johnston traveled to Columbia, South Carolina, to begin a virtual retirement. However, as the Confederacy became increasingly concerned about Sherman's March to the Sea across Georgia and then north through the Carolinas, the public clamored for Johnston's return. The general in charge of the Western Theater, P.G.T. Beauregard, was making little progress against the advancing Union force. Political opponents of Jefferson Davis, such as Sen. Louis Wigfall, added to the pressure in Congress. Diarist Mary Chesnut wrote, "We thought this was a struggle for independence. Now it seems it is only a fight between Joe Johnston and Jeff Davis." In January 1865, the Congress passed a law authorizing Robert E. Lee the powers of general in chief, and recommending that Johnston be reinstated as the commander of the Army of Tennessee. Davis immediately appointed Lee to the position, but refused to restore Johnston. In a lengthy unpublished memo, Davis wrote, "My opinion of General Johnston's unfitness for command has ripened slowly and against my inclinations into a conviction so settled that it would be impossible for me again to feel confidence in him as the commander of an army in the field." Vice President Alexander H. Stephens and 17 senators petitioned Lee to use his new authority to appoint Johnston, bypassing Davis, but the general in chief declined. Instead, he recommended the appointment to Davis.


title: Joseph E. Johnston

text: Despite his serious misgivings, Davis restored Johnston to active duty on February 25, 1865. His new command comprised two military departments: the Department of South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida, and the Department of North Carolina and Southern Virginia; he assumed command of the latter department on March 6. These commands included three Confederate field armies, including the remnants of the once formidable Army of Tennessee, but they were armies in name only. The Tennessee army had been severely depleted at Franklin and Nashville, lacked sufficient supplies and ammunition, and the men had not been paid for months; only about 6,600 traveled to South Carolina. Johnston also had available 12,000 men under William J. Hardee, who had been unsuccessfully attempting to resist Sherman's advance, Braxton Bragg's force in Wilmington, North Carolina, and 6,000 cavalrymen under Wade Hampton.


title: Joseph E. Johnston

text: Johnston, severely outnumbered, hoped to combine his force with a detachment of Robert E. Lee's army from Virginia, jointly defeat Sherman, and then return to Virginia for an attack on Ulysses S. Grant. Lee initially refused to cooperate with this plan. (Following the fall of Richmond in April, Lee attempted to escape to North Carolina to join Johnston, but it was too late.) Recognizing that Sherman was moving quickly, Johnston then planned to consolidate his own small armies so that he could land a blow against an isolated portion of Sherman's army, which was advancing in two separated columns. On March 19, 1865, Johnston was able to catch the left wing of Sherman's army by surprise at the Battle of Bentonville and briefly gained some tactical successes before superior numbers forced him to retreat to Raleigh, North Carolina. Unable to secure the capital, Johnston's army withdrew to Greensboro.


title: Joseph E. Johnston

text: After learning of Lee's surrender at Appomattox Court House on April 9, Johnston agreed to meet with General Sherman between the lines at a small farm known as Bennett Place near present-day Durham, North Carolina. After three separate days (April 17, 18 and 26, 1865) of negotiations, Johnston surrendered the Army of Tennessee and all remaining Confederate forces still active in North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida. It was the largest surrender of the war, totaling 89,270 soldiers. President Davis considered that Johnston, surrendering so many troops that had not been explicitly defeated in battle, had committed an act of treachery. Johnston was paroled on May 2 at Greensboro.


title: Joseph E. Johnston

text: After the surrender, Sherman issued ten days' rations to the hungry Confederate soldiers, as well as horses and mules for them to "insure a crop." He also ordered distribution of corn meal and flour to civilians throughout the South. This was an act of generosity that Johnston would never forget; he wrote to Sherman that his attitude "reconciles me to what I have previously regarded as the misfortune of my life, that of having you to encounter in the field."


title: Joseph E. Johnston

text: Johnston began to make a living for himself and his wife, who was ailing. He became president of a small railroad, the Alabama and Tennessee River Rail Road Company, which during his tenure of May 1866 to November 1867, was renamed the Selma, Rome and Dalton Railroad. Johnston was bored with the position and the company failed for lack of capital. He established Joseph E. Johnston & Company, an insurance agency for New York Life Insurance Co. and a British insurance company, which Johnston operated out of Savannah (Ga.) from 1868-1877. The British company was Liverpool and London and Globe Insurance Company, and within four years had a network of more than 120 agents across the deep South.


title: Joseph E. Johnston

text: The income from this venture allowed him to devote time to his great post-war activity, writing his memoirs, as did several fellow officers. His "Narrative of Military Operations" (1874) was highly critical of Davis and many of his fellow generals. He repeated his grievance about his ranking as a general in the Confederate Army and attempted to justify his career as a cautious campaigner. The book sold poorly and its publisher failed to make a profit.


title: Joseph E. Johnston

text: Although many Confederate generals criticized Johnston, both Sherman and Grant portrayed him favorably in their memoirs. Sherman described him as a "dangerous and wily opponent" and criticized Johnston's nemeses, Hood and Davis. Grant supported his decisions in the Vicksburg Campaign: "Johnston evidently took in the situation, and wisely, I think, abstained from making an assault on us because it would simply have inflicted losses on both sides without accomplishing any result." Commenting on the Atlanta Campaign, Grant wrote,


title: Joseph E. Johnston

text: For my own part, I think that Johnston's tactics were right. Anything that could have prolonged the war a year beyond the time that it finally did close, would probably have exhausted the North to such an extent that they might then have abandoned the contest and agreed to a settlement.


title: Joseph E. Johnston

text: Johnston was a part owner of the Atlantic and Mexican Gulf Canal Company, a canal project approved in 1876. It was intended to construct a canal westward from the St. Marys River in Georgia to connect with the Gulf of Mexico on the coast of Florida.


title: Joseph E. Johnston

text: Johnston moved from Savannah to Richmond in the winter of 1876–77. He served in the 46th Congress from 1879 to 1881 as a Democratic congressman, having been elected with 58.11% of the vote over Greenback William W. Newman. He did not run for reelection in 1880. He was appointed as a commissioner of railroads in the administration of President Grover Cleveland. After his wife died in 1887, Johnston frequently traveled to veterans' gatherings, where he was universally cheered. In September 1890, a few months before he died, he was elected as an honorary member of the District of Columbia Society of the Sons of the American Revolution, and was assigned national membership number 1963.


title: Joseph E. Johnston

text: Johnston, like Lee, never forgot the magnanimity of the man to whom he surrendered. He would not allow criticism of Sherman in his presence. Sherman and Johnston corresponded frequently, and they met for friendly dinners in Washington whenever Johnston traveled there. When Sherman died, Johnston served as an honorary pallbearer at his funeral. During the procession in New York City on February 19, 1891, he kept his hat off as a sign of respect, although the weather was cold and rainy. Someone concerned for his health asked him to put on his hat, to which Johnston replied, "If I were in his place, and he were standing here in mine, he would not put on his hat." He did catch a cold that day, which developed into pneumonia and Johnston died 10 days later in Washington, D.C. He was buried next to his wife in Green Mount Cemetery, Baltimore, Maryland.


title: Joseph E. Johnston

text: Johnston's personal papers are held by the Special Collections Research Center at the College of William & Mary.


title: Rose Tyler

text: Rose Tyler is a fictional character in the British science fiction television series "Doctor Who". She was created by series producer Russell T Davies and portrayed by Billie Piper. With the revival of "Doctor Who" in 2005, Rose was introduced as a new travelling companion of the series protagonist, the Doctor, in his ninth and tenth incarnations. The companion character, intended to act as an audience surrogate, was key in the first series to introduce new viewers to the mythos of "Doctor Who", which had not aired regularly since 1989. Rose became the viewers' eyes into the new world of the series, from the companion's perspective. Piper received top billing alongside Christopher Eccleston and David Tennant for the duration of her time as a regular cast member. A regular for all of series one (2005) and series two (2006), Piper later returned for three episodes of the programme's fourth series (2008) and appeared in feature-length specials in both 2010 and 2013. In the latter, Piper played a sentient weapon known as 'The Moment', which utilises Rose's image.


title: Rose Tyler

text: In the series' narrative, Rose is introduced in the eponymous series one premiere as a teenage working class shop assistant from London, alongside her own supporting cast in the form of her mother Jackie Tyler (Camille Coduri) and her boyfriend Mickey Smith (Noel Clarke). Over the course of the first series, Rose's human actions and responses contrast with the Doctor's alien perspectives. Rose grows increasingly trusting of the Doctor and comes to realise she has fallen in love with him. He comes to value and depend on her and sacrifices his Ninth incarnation for her. Rose forms a similar bond with the new Doctor, but the two appear to be forever separated in the series two finale, although Rose's temporary return in the fourth series gives her relationship with the Doctor a resolution.


title: Rose Tyler

text: In promoting the series, both Piper and Eccleston stressed Rose's heroic characteristics whilst Davies highlighted her down-to-earth qualities and quintessential "British-ness". Critical reaction noted that the character was more developed, independent and equal to the Doctor than previous companions had been, whilst the character's overall role in the narrative of the first two series was praised. However, the reaction to the character's 2008 return was more mixed. Piper won numerous awards for her portrayal of Rose —including two National Television Awards —and since her initial role in the series, the character has ranked highly in numerous 'best companion' polls. After leaving as a series regular, Piper experienced success in other high-profile roles as an actress which has been partly attributed to her performances in "Doctor Who".


title: Rose Tyler

text: Rose is introduced in the eponymous premiere episode, "Rose", of the 2005 series. She is saved from an Auton attack by the mysterious Time Lord the Doctor (Christopher Eccleston), and assists him in preventing an invasion of Earth. Subsequently, the Doctor invites Rose to be his travelling companion, taking her to the end of the world and tampering her mobile so she can remain in contact with her mother Jackie (Camille Coduri), and boyfriend Mickey Smith (Noel Clarke) while time-travelling in "The End of the World". In their travels through time and space, Rose learns the importance of not tampering with history, when in "Father's Day", she attempts to save the life of her father Pete Tyler (Shaun Dingwall), who had died when she was a baby. Throughout their journeys, she and the Doctor are haunted by two mysterious recurring words: "Bad Wolf". Rose, the Doctor, and new companion Captain Jack Harkness (John Barrowman) come to understand the meaning of this phrase in "Bad Wolf", when they encounter an unstoppable army of Daleks on the space station Satellite 5, which first appeared in "The Long Game". To return to the Doctor after he sends her home to Earth in series finale "The Parting of the Ways", Rose tears open the console of the Doctor's time machine, the TARDIS, and becomes suffused with the power of the time vortex. Returning, she uses her power over the infinity of time and space to spread the words "Bad Wolf" over its entirety, then saving the universe from the Dalek invasion. Rose resurrects Jack, who died from Dalek fire, and destroys the Dalek fleet before the Doctor drains the energy out of her to save her life from its harmful effects. Rose is horrified as the Doctor appears to die and regenerates into a new man (David Tennant), who proceeds to take the TARDIS and a terrified Rose to Earth, abandoning Jack on Satellite 5.


title: Rose Tyler

text: The new Doctor and Rose arrive on Earth on Christmas Day, where he passes out from the strain of regeneration in the midst of a Sycorax invasion in the 2005 Christmas special "The Christmas Invasion". Having woken up and saved Earth, the Doctor enjoys Christmas dinner with Rose before they travel to parts unknown. Over the second series (2006), Rose and the Doctor grow increasingly close to one another. After defeating a werewolf in "Tooth and Claw", they are knighted by Queen Victoria (Pauline Collins), who banishes them as potential threats to the Empire whilst setting up the Torchwood Institute, which aims to track alien activity on Earth, including the Doctor's. Their relationship proves a source of tension once Mickey joins the pair in their travels, at the suggestion of the Doctor's former companion Sarah Jane Smith (Elisabeth Sladen) in "School Reunion". Whilst stranded in a parallel universe in "Rise of the Cybermen", Rose meets a rich, entrepreneur version of her father Pete who never died. Mickey decides to stay behind on this world to battle Cybermen as he no longer wants to feel like a spare part at the end of "The Age of Steel". Alone with the Doctor again, Rose faces the Beast (Gabriel Woolf) in the two-part story "The Impossible Planet" and "The Satan Pit", who prophesies that Rose will soon die in battle. This day comes when, in "Army of Ghosts", the Torchwood Institute's director Yvonne Hartman (Tracy-Ann Oberman) unintentionally allows the Cybermen army and Dalek Cult of Skaro into Rose's reality, where they begin a war. In the series finale "Doomsday", when sealing the Cybermen and Daleks back into the void through which they came, Rose is transported to the parallel universe by Pete, to save her from also being pulled into the void. Rose becomes trapped in the parallel universe with Jackie and the alternate universe Pete as the walls between universes seal; she is later declared dead in her own universe. Months later, the Doctor is able to transmit Rose a goodbye message. She reveals she now works for that universe's Torchwood, and confesses her love for him. Before he can reply, their connection is lost.


title: Rose Tyler

text: In spin-off series "Torchwood" (2006–2011), the audience learns that Rose's act of resurrecting Jack cursed him with being unable to die. Her absence and the Doctor's pained estrangement from her proves a point of contention for the Doctor's series 3 (2007) companion Martha Jones (Freema Agyeman); when Martha protects the Doctor, living as a human without his memories, it is still Rose that he dreams of. When the Doctor is reunited with Donna Noble (Catherine Tate) in the show's fourth series (2008) during "Partners in Crime", Rose mysteriously begins to appear in the Doctor's life—first seen only by Donna, and later in silent video messages which the Doctor is oblivious to. In "Turn Left", when a "Time Beetle" creates an alternate universe in which Donna never meets the Doctor and the Doctor dies, Rose travels from her parallel world to this world, working alongside the organisation UNIT to send Donna back in time, and make Donna's younger self turn left at a junction and not right. Rose tells Donna to say two words to the Doctor; "Bad Wolf". The Doctor concludes this is a sign that the universe, and reality itself is under threat. Later, in the midst of Davros' (Julian Bleach) plot to obliterate existence, Rose unites with the Doctor and his companions Donna, Martha, Jack and Sarah Jane to make a stand against him and his army of Daleks. In the midst of the battle, a part-human Doctor is created and destroys the Daleks. The Doctor returns Rose to the parallel universe along with Jackie, and his part-human counterpart. Rose challenges the Doctor to say the words he did not say to her during their previous farewell. The Doctor does not answer, but his part-human counterpart whispers in her ear and Rose kisses him. The Doctor retreats, leaving Rose behind with his part-human counterpart. In the closing scenes of "The End of Time" (2010), just prior to his regeneration, the Doctor travels to Rose's housing estate in the first minutes of 2005. He speaks to her from the shadows, asking her what year it is. She tells him it is 1 January 2005. The Doctor promises her that she will have a really great year.


title: Rose Tyler

text: Piper returned for the show's 50th-anniversary episode "The Day of the Doctor" (2013) as the interface of a sentient weapon of mass destruction known as 'the Moment'. The War Doctor (John Hurt) intends to end the raging Time War by using the Moment to destroy both the Daleks and the Time Lords. Using Rose's image, chosen for her future significance to the Doctor, the Moment attempts to persuade him to seek an alternative course of action by showing him how the decision will affect his future.


title: Rose Tyler

text: Rose is featured in the first twelve "Doctor Who" New Series Adventures novels, which expand on her characterisation. The first three of these novels—"The Clockwise Man", "The Monsters Inside" and "Winner Takes All"—were published in May 2005 and feature solely the Ninth Doctor and Rose. "The Monsters Inside" depicts Rose's first visit to an alien planet, her travels previously having been confined to earth and orbiting space stations. Rose mentions this visit to the planet Justicia in the first series television episode "Boom Town" which aired 4 June 2005. The second batch of Ninth Doctor novels —comprising "The Deviant Strain", "Only Human" and "The Stealers of Dreams"—were released in September 2005 and expand on the Doctor and Rose's travels with Jack Harkness. The novel "Only Human" mentions that Rose was engaged to a previous love interest before becoming involved with Mickey. The events of "Boom Town" are addressed in "The Stealers of Dreams" in which Jackie complains that Rose did not alert her to her recent visit to modern day Cardiff. The first three novels to feature Rose and the Tenth Doctor—"The Stone Rose", "The Feast of the Drowned" and "The Resurrection Casket"—were released in April 2006 to coincide with the broadcast of the second television series. "The Feast of the Drowned" explores the context of Rose's shifting relationship with Jackie and Mickey in light of her frequent absences from earth. Her relationship with a school friend, Keisha, is also explored; Rose is irritated to find out she and Mickey have become involved in her absence. The last three New Series Adventures novels to feature Rose —"The Nightmare of Black Island", "The Art of Destruction" and "The Price of Paradise"—were published in September 2006. In addition to the regular range of novels, Rose is featured in the first "Doctor Who" Quick Reads Initiative novella, "I am a Dalek" in which she and the Doctor must deal with a human-Dalek hybrid.


title: Rose Tyler

text: The "Doctor Who Annual 2006", published in August 2005, gives further biographical information on Rose in an article written by the programme's chief writer and executive producer Russell T Davies, including the middle name "Marion", and information about her mother, school life and ex-boyfriends. The character also appears in short stories featured in the "Doctor Who" annuals for 2006 and 2007, in addition to an issue of the series' sanctioned companion magazine, "Doctor Who Magazine". She has additionally been featured in comic book sequences which feature in the annuals, "Doctor Who Magazine", and children's magazines "Doctor Who Adventures" and "Doctor Who – Battles in Time". In one "Doctor Who Magazine" comic strip, "The Green-Eyed Monster", Rose is possessed by a creature that feeds on jealousy. In order to arouse enough jealousy to defeat this creature the Tenth Doctor feigns a romance with Rose's mother and sets up Mickey with a group of actors who pose as beautiful amazonian girlfriends. The character also appears in a panel of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight'"s second story, "No Future for You".


title: Rose Tyler

text: Following the folding of AudioGO and Big Finish's acquisition of the new series license, Piper reprised her role as Rose in "" released in November 2017, with David Tennant reprising his role as the Tenth Doctor. The stories include "Infamy of the Zaross", "Sword of the Chevalier" and "Cold Vengeance". Piper returned again for "Rose Tyler: The Dimension Cannon", a series featuring Rose as the main character travelling through parallel worlds in search of the Doctor.


title: Rose Tyler

text: Lead writer and executive producer Russell T Davies chose the name Rose because he considered it a "good luck charm" after he used it for Lesley Sharp's character in "Bob & Rose". His desire to make the show "essentially British" was another justification: he considered Rose to be "the most British name in the world" and feminine enough to subvert a recent trend of female companions having "boyish" names, such as Peri, Benny, Charley, and Ace. Davies also frequently uses the surname "Tyler" in his work —previous characters he created with the surname include Ruth Tyler in "Revelations" (1994), Vince Tyler in "Queer as Folk" (1999), and Johnny Tyler in "The Second Coming" (2003) —due to his affection for how the surname is spelled and pronounced. Davies also used the surname "Tyler" in his "Doctor Who New Adventures" book "Damaged Goods". The casting of Piper as Rose was announced on by the BBC on 24 May 2004. Head of Drama for BBC Wales Julie Gardner commented that the former pop star "fits the bill perfectly" as a "unique, dynamic partner for Christopher Eccleston". Whilst some fans —including a representative of the Doctor Who Appreciation Society —were enthusiastic about the announcement, others felt it was "publicity stunt" casting and questioned Piper's acting credentials. One of the factors that influenced Piper's acceptance of the role was that she was able to relate the character of Rose to her own experiences as a teenager.


title: Rose Tyler

text: The British media regularly released conflicting reports about how long Piper would be staying with the programme. In March 2006, it was suggested that she would continue on "Doctor Who" into its third series in 2007. However, the BBC announced on 15 June 2006 that Piper was to depart in the final episode of the second series, "Doomsday". Her decision to leave had been taken a year previously. Following "Doomsday", Piper as Rose was greenlit to be the star of the spin-off series "", set in her parallel universe and to air as a bank holiday special, but Davies deemed the concept "a spin-off too far" after "Torchwood" and "The Sarah Jane Adventures". Piper's eventual return during series four was planned during filming of the second series; in January 2006, she made a pact promising to return to film several more episodes. Davies and Piper cited her commitment to other projects—specifically, her roles as Belle de Jour in "Secret Diary of a Call Girl", the lead character in the BBC adaptations of Philip Pullman's Sally Lockhart quartet, and Fanny Price in the ITV adaptation of "Mansfield Park"—as explanations behind her departure appearing permanent. Davies' successor as executive producer, Steven Moffat praised the creation and casting of the character in advance of the series' 50th anniversary in 2013. He stated that the character of Rose helped secure the return of the show by allowing "an audience who would not naturally have watched "Doctor Who"" to become invested in the show. Moffat suggested that during the first two years of the revival "Doctor Who" "was Billie Piper’s show" and that this has given her an "iconic status" above other "Doctor Who" companions.


title: Rose Tyler

text: Rose is used by Davies as an introduction to the show's mythos and fantasy elements. He later underlined similarities between Rose and Gwen Cooper —the lead for "Torchwood" — describing both as "the ordinary person who stumbles into something extraordinary and finds herself their equal." Like her successor Martha, Rose is from London; Brett Mills from the University of East Anglia makes the assumption that this is because characters from the capital of the country are "relatable to all British people" because they are seen as "neutral". Rose is introduced alongside a supporting cast in the form of her boyfriend Mickey and mother Jackie which James Chapman cites as "evidence of Davies' attempt to create a social context for the companion". Davies states that the inclusion of these two characters was part of his desire to "make her real" and to "give her a life". He later stated that in giving Rose a mother, a boyfriend and a "sad story with her father" the character has "her own mythology, to match the Doctor." Lindy A. Orthia observes that Rose, like the other companions in Davies's era of "Doctor Who", is "drawn from a cosmopolitan vision" in her case because of her class background. Orthia contends that whilst working-class companions had featured previously in the show "none were unskilled workers nor chronically under- or unemployed like Rose, Jackie and Donna". Looking back at the two characters, Davies felt Jackie to be someone who is "holding Rose back" right from the first episode due to her suggestions her daughter be content with menial employment. Piper states that this causes Rose to resent her mum somewhat, although she loves her.


title: Rose Tyler

text: Kay McFadden of "The Seattle Times" felt Rose to resemble "the Bridget Jones type of Englishwoman, albeit a few pegs down the socioeconomic scale" waiting to be awakened "not by some Mark Darcy ...  but by adventure incarnate." Piper stated that at the start of the series Rose is "looking for something to happen" and that once the Doctor arrives she becomes "ruthless" in her decision to "completely drop her life as she knows it." At a media preview of the series she characterised Rose as being "positive, ambitious and full of conviction and confidence." She felt additionally that Rose is "a good character to relate to or aspire to." In a 2013 retrospective on her time on "Doctor Who" Piper stated Rose's feminine characteristics contributed to her being a balanced representation of a female character. She felt that Rose as a character could be both "strong-willed and vulnerable" and ventured that her emotional response made her more interesting than "a female character endlessly striving towards perfection". Eccleston, who played the Ninth Doctor described the character as a "heroine" who "teaches [the Doctor] huge emotional lessons". In an episode of "Doctor Who Confidential" he expanded on this, describing her as "the Doctor's equal in every way" except for the fact she lacks his scientific knowledge. He felt that the relationship between the two characters was "love at first sight" although in a more mysterious fashion than a conventional love affair. Davies summarised the relationship between the two characters as "soul mates" who "understand and complement each other".


title: Rose Tyler

text: Lynette Porter, in her book "Tarnished Heroes, Charming Villains and Modern Monsters: Science Fiction in Shades of Gray on 21st Century Television" observed that Rose's role "humanizes the Doctor and makes him less alien, not only to other characters, but to the audience". In the first series finale, Rose takes on deadly energies to save the Doctor and planet Earth. Script editor Helen Raynor felt the episode gave Rose a chance to "again be the Doctor’s equal" and "to finally match him with a gesture that is so noble, and strong, and heroic, and clever". Davies describes Rose in the context of this scene, and the whole of the first series, as being "braver than brave and more loyal than anyone else in the universe". The Doctor repays her loyalty by sacrificing his ninth incarnation in turn to save her; Davies states unequivocally that "he gives his life for her". Elements of Rose's characterisation in the first series were originally different. Paul Abbott was scheduled to write an episode which would have revealed that Rose's entire life had been manipulated by the Doctor in order to mould her into an ideal companion. Davies wrote the episode "Boom Town" to replace it when Abbott realised he was too busy to work on the script.


title: Rose Tyler

text: In an interview with "SFX" producer Phil Collinson stated that after the Doctor regenerates the "initial dynamic changes because [Rose] has to learn to trust him again". Piper added that as the Doctor is incapacitated Rose consequently feels "unloved", "isolated" and "like she's lost her best friend". In the Doctor's absence Rose relies on her observations of him and tries to mimic his actions. Collinson felt it was important to resolve any mistrust between the pair by the end of the Christmas Special, as the public had responded well to Rose and the Doctor's friendship previously. Davies had scripted dialogue in "The Christmas Invasion" explaining the newly regenerated Doctor's estuary English accent by stating he had imprinted on Rose and adopted her way of speaking. However, due to time constraints this sequence was not filmed. Discussing how Rose had developed by the second series, Piper described her as having "come on in leaps and bounds" and stated she is now "a lot more proactive." She felt that there is a "different kind of energy" between Rose and the Tenth Doctor, whilst Tennant remarked that the audience would get to see the Doctor-companion relationship "developing and becoming something that it maybe hasn't before." Piper stated that with the Tenth Doctor, Rose is "more tetchy and more possessive" over him as "she feels like she's lost him once and doesn't want to lose him again". She cited Rose's "catfight" with former companion Sarah Jane Smith in "School Reunion" as evidence of this. Discussing the possibility of Rose and the Tenth Doctor becoming more romantically involved Piper stated "You want it to happen, but at the same time you don't want it to happen". Tennant likened the dynamic between the pair to that of Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) and Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) in "The X-Files". Both Tennant and Piper agreed that the expectation of the relationship is more exciting than having it realised. To add to the tragedy of their separation, Davies scripted the series two story arc so that Rose and the Doctor would be indirectly responsible for their separation. "It's deliberate when that happens [the Doctor and Rose's arrogance]", said Davies, "and they do pay the price. In "Tooth and Claw", they set up the very thing — Torchwood — that separates them in the end. It's sort of their own fault." Though Davies left the Doctor's response to Rose's declaration of love in "Doomsday" unstated, Gardner felt strongly that the character reciprocated her feelings. On the commentary for the episode she stated that she would "confirm to the world" that he was going to "say it back."


title: Rose Tyler

text: Davies created the expectation of Rose's return in the fourth series by mentioning her in dialogue and featuring Piper in cameo appearances in "Partners in Crime", "The Poison Sky", and "Midnight". Speaking on how Rose's character had changed between her appearances, Davies described the fourth series Rose as "tougher, more independent, and [she] might, at times, seem a little harder". Piper stated she rewatched her earlier episodes to remember how the character spoke and acted as she felt she had "been playing posh birds" since she left the programme and by contrast "Rose is a bit of a chav". Rose is re-united with the Doctor near the climax of "The Stolen Earth". Director Graeme Harper insisted that the scene appear "mystical" because the characters' reunion was "the most magical moment" in the entire episode and Ernie Vincze, the Director of Photography for the show, compared the scene's feeling to the 1980s science-fiction film "Blade Runner". Davies characterised the reunion between Rose and the Doctor as "the biggest romance [the viewer] has ever seen" and joked that seminal films such as "Gone with the Wind" should have ended with a Dalek shooting the male lead. He had difficulty splitting up the characters for a second time for the necessity of the plot. He felt that "Rose has to be stupid to fall in love with Doctor #2" because "she's doing what the plot demands, not what she'd demand". At one stage he considered giving an explanation that Rose's dimension hopping and the Dalek's meddling with reality had contaminated her with "voidstuff" and that she would die if she stayed in her original universe. In the final episode it is enough for her to stay that the human Doctor needs her and is able to reciprocate her love. Porter felt that the climax of "Journey's End" indicated that "Rose's role as a sidekick has been completed" as she has a second Doctor to humanise, one who she can be equals with.


title: Rose Tyler

text: Though Davies had intended the serial to end with the Tenth Doctor visiting his former companions, he struggled with how to include Rose. An initial idea was for Rose to appear with her part-human Doctor in the parallel universe, where both would sense the original Tenth Doctor regenerating. However, Davies felt this would raise too many questions about their lives in the parallel universe. Davies's successor as executive producer, Steven Moffat, felt that Davies ended Rose's story in the perfect way by choosing to take it back to the beginning of her acquaintance with the Doctor. Piper's return for "Doctor Who"s 50th anniversary episode was confirmed in March 2013. Moffat wished to include Piper in the episode because he felt that she symbolised the rebirth of "Doctor Who". As he did not feel comfortable adding to Davies's story arc, he chose instead to re-introduce her Bad Wolf persona. During the episode Piper's character has dialogue solely with John Hurt's War Doctor, and is unseen by the other characters, including the Tenth Doctor. Reviewers noted similarities between the characterisation of Bad Wolf Rose and that of a plot device used by Charles Dickens in his 1843 novella "A Christmas Carol". Ted B. Kissell, a journalist for "The Atlantic" likened the War Doctor to Ebenezer Scrooge and dubbed Rose the "Ghost of Doctors Yet to Come".


title: Rose Tyler

text: After a preview of the first series, "The Guardian"s Owen Gibson described Rose as "newly empowered" and a "go-getting teen in the "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" mould." Ahead of the series premiere on Australian Network ABC "The Sydney Morning Herald"s Robin Oliver described Rose's role in the series as being "more the Doctor's equal than previous companions" and that this was "no mean achievement against Eccleston's acting skills." Seventh Doctor actor Sylvester McCoy opined that Piper was "wonderful in the role" and the relationship between her and the Doctor was "quite extraordinary". Porter suggests in her analysis of Rose that the romance between her and the Doctor widened the demographic appeal of the series. She claims that the love story "simmers enough below the surface that adults, especially women who find Time-Lords sexy, watched the series for Rose's interplay with the Doctor". In their book "Who is the Doctor?", Graeme Burk and Robert Smith described the climactic kiss between the Ninth Doctor and Rose in "The Parting of the Ways" as being something "we all secretly wanted, even though it ultimately killed him". Peter Davison, who portrayed the Fifth Doctor, also felt that allowing the Doctor and his companion to have sexual tension ultimately allowed for more rounded characterization. He believed that Rose was the first example of the production team creating a well written companion.


title: Rose Tyler

text: Burk and Smith found the pairing of the Doctor and Rose to be unlikable in the episode "Tooth and Claw" because they were "acting like smug idiots". However they noted that "fortunately there are consequences: the season arc gets kicked off as a direct result of the Doctor and Rose being so irritating". Harry Venning of "The Stage" commented that the eventual parting scene between Rose and the Doctor in "Doomsday" was "beautifully written and movingly played," with "not a dry eye in the universe". Burk and Smith singled out Piper's performance in the episode for special praise stating she "is astonishing at capturing the reality of someone whose world suddenly, finally collapses." Remarking on Piper's departure, Dek Hogan of Digital Spy stated that "Billie Piper’s energy has undoubtedly been one of the reasons that this revival has been so successful and the difficult third series will be so much more so without her." Stephen Brook of "The Guardian" commented that "the departure of the much-loved Rose ...  was brilliantly handled and completely unexpected."


title: Rose Tyler

text: Stephen James Walker, a writer of reference works on "Doctor Who", gave an unfavourable review to Rose's return in "Turn Left" in his "unauthorised guide to "Doctor Who"'s fourth series," "Monsters Within". He thought that Billie Piper was "distinctly below par", citing her gaunt and malnourished appearance, new hairstyle, and slight lisp as reasons why her acting was not her finest. He criticised her role in the episode, stating it had been "far less well worked out" than Donna's. Ben Rawson-Jones of Digital Spy also noted a change in Piper's enunciation; he compared her accent to "[having] her mouth numbed with local anaesthetic". In Rawson-Jones' review of the series finale he notes that whilst having the Doctor and Rose 'cop off' would be divisive with the shows audience, "Davies wisely managed to please both parties" by pairing her off with a human Doctor instead. However, IGN's Travis Fickett reacted unfavourably towards Rose's return and her pairing with the part human Doctor. He thought that it undermined her "perfect send off" in "Doomsday" as she was on the sidelines for much of "Journey's End", and her ending up with the part human, part Time Lord Doctor "feels like an insult to the character". Io9's Charlie Jane Anders also reacted unfavorably to Rose returning and wrote "it was pretty clear that she was only there so she could get her pet faux-Doctor at the end."


title: Rose Tyler

text: Reviewers generally reacted positively to Piper's 2013 appearance in 50th anniversary episode "The Day of the Doctor". Ben Lawrence of "The Daily Telegraph" called her performance as the "Bad Wolf" Rose "transfixing". Neela Debnath of "The Independent" praised the chemistry between Hurt and Piper and compared Piper's performance to Suranne Jones' portrayal of the TARDIS in "The Doctor's Wife" describing it as "slightly eccentric", "oddball" and "off-the-wall". Daniel Martin of "The Guardian" praised Steven Moffat's decision not to extend Rose Tyler's story or re-unite her with the Tenth Doctor. He called Piper "a true and unending legend of "Doctor Who"" and stated that "her wise rendition of the Bad Wolf avatar made a passable stab at the stealing of the show".


title: Rose Tyler

text: Geoff Boucher of the "Los Angeles Times" named Rose the ninth best sidekick of all time, referring to her as "the saucy and smart character who was key to the success of the Russell T Davies relaunch of "Doctor Who" in 2005". She was named the best "Doctor Who" companion by Digital Spy in 2011, who opined that she worked best alongside the Ninth Doctor. In 2006 she was voted best companion by readers of "Doctor Who Magazine". In an online poll in late 2010 conducted by the "Radio Times", with over 3,000 participants, Rose was again voted the most popular companion. She retained this position in a 2013 poll conducted ahead of Doctor Who's 50th anniversary, which had over 21,000 respondents, with 25.09% of the vote. In a 2012 poll conducted by BBC America with over 200,000 participants, Rose was voted "The Greatest Woman of Doctor Who." Both "The Daily Telegraph" Gavin Fuller and Daniel Martin of "The Guardian" rated her as the second-best female companion behind Sarah Jane Smith. In 2012 Will Salmon of "SFX" magazine listed Rose's original exit as the greatest companion departure in the history of "Doctor Who" as he felt it "impossible not to be moved by the sudden severance of their relationship". In 2014 "Radio Times" organized the most massive online (over 2 million respondents) poll which featured every companion since 1963, beating the main сompetitors Jack Harkness and River Song, Rose was crowned "Companion Champion".


title: Rose Tyler

text: At the 2005 National Television Awards, Billie Piper won the "Most Popular Actress" award for her role as Rose. In the BBC Online "Best of Drama" poll in 2005 Piper won the Best Actress category with 59.76% of the vote. She was also voted the Most Desirable Star with 26.47%. In January 2006 she was awarded the Breakthrough Award for Rising British Talent at "The South Bank Show" Awards. Piper again won the Most Popular Actress category at the 2006 National Television Awards for her work on the second series of "Doctor Who". In September 2006, Piper was named Best Actress at the TV Quick and TV Choice Awards. "Radio Times"s Tom Cole discussed the importance of "Doctor Who" in boosting Piper's career in an article on how former "Doctor Who" actors can now expect more than "a life of signing autographs at provincial sci-fi conventions." He notes that Piper's portrayal of Rose "firmly cemented her credentials as an actress" and cited the variety of roles she had taken on since leaving the show as proof that "as far as post-"Who" careers go, they don't get much healthier than Billie's."


title: Brandon Adams (actor)

text: Brandon Quintin Adams (born August 22, 1979) is an American actor, known for having played Jesse Hall in the first two "Mighty Ducks" movies and Kenny DeNunez in "The Sandlot". He also played in the 1989 film "Polly" as Jimmy Bean.


title: Brandon Adams (actor)

text: Adams has also appeared in "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air", "A Different World", "Moesha", "Sister, Sister (TV series)", "Martin", Michael Jackson's "Moonwalker" where he played Zeke in the "Smooth Criminal" segment and Young Michael in the "Badder" segment, a parody of Jackson's classic video for "Bad", and was the leading actor in Wes Craven's "The People Under the Stairs". He also provided the voice of Rai in "Kingdom Hearts II".


title: Roadkill (TV series)

text: Roadkill is a British four-part television thriller written and created by David Hare, and directed by Michael Keillor. It was first broadcast on BBC One on 18 October 2020. In the United States, it was broadcast as part of the Masterpiece anthology series on PBS starting 1 November 2020.


title: Roadkill (TV series)

text: The series stars Hugh Laurie as the Justice Minister whose private life is under fire from his enemies. The series also features Helen McCrory in her final performance before her death in April 2021.


title: Sic transit gloria mundi

text: The phrase was used in the ritual of papal coronation ceremonies between 1409 (when it was used at the coronation of Alexander V) and 1963. As the newly chosen pope proceeded from the sacristy of St. Peter's Basilica in his sedia gestatoria, the procession stopped three times.


title: Sic transit gloria mundi

text: On each occasion, a papal master of ceremonies would fall to his knees before the pope, holding a silver or brass reed, bearing a tow of smoldering flax. For three times in succession, as the cloth burned away, he would say in a loud and mournful voice, ""Pater Sancte, sic transit gloria mundi"!" ("Holy Father, so passes worldly glory!"). These words, thus addressed to the pope, served as a reminder of the transitory nature of life and earthly honours.


title: Sic transit gloria mundi

text: A form of the phrase appeared in Thomas à Kempis's 1418 work "The Imitation of Christ": """" ("How quickly the glory of the world passes away").


title: Crusader tank

text: Crusader, in full "Tank, Cruiser Mk VI, Crusader", also known by its General Staff number A.15, was one of the primary British cruiser tanks during the early part of the Second World War. Over 5,000 tanks were manufactured and they made important contributions to the British victories during the North African campaign. The Crusader tank would not see active service beyond Africa, but the chassis of the tank was modified to create anti-aircraft, fire support, observation, communication, bulldozer and recovery vehicle variants.


title: Crusader tank

text: The first Crusader Mark I tanks entered service in 1941, and, though manoeuvrable, it was relatively lightly armoured and under-armed. The following Crusader Mark II had a maximum armour of . The main armament for the Crusader Mark I and II's was a 40 mm Ordnance QF 2-pounder gun; the following Crusader Mark III was fitted with a 57 mm Ordnance QF 6-pounder gun at the expense of one member of the crew in the turret. This variant was more than a match for the mid-generation German Panzer III and Panzer IV medium tanks that it faced in combat. As part of the 1st Armoured Brigade, the Crusader was to prove vital during the Battle of El Alamein, at Tobruk and in Tunisia campaign.


title: Crusader tank

text: Retained in service because of delays with its replacement, by late 1942, the lack of armament upgrades, plus reliability problems due to the harsh desert conditions and the appearance of Tiger I heavy tanks among the German Afrika Korps, saw the Crusader replaced as the main tank by US-supplied M3 Grant and then by the M4 Sherman medium tanks but it was retained in combat use until the end of the war in North Africa and after that for training purposes in Britain.


title: Crusader tank

text: In 1938, Nuffield Mechanizations and Aero Limited produced their A16 design for a heavy cruiser tank based on Christie suspension. Looking for a lighter and cheaper tank to build, the General Staff requested alternatives from British industry. To this end, the A13 Mk III cruiser tank, which would enter service as the "Tank, Cruiser Mk V" (and known in service as "Covenanter"), was designed by LMS. Nuffield was, in 1939, offered the opportunity to take part in the production of the Covenanter.


title: Crusader tank

text: Nuffield, however, preferred to work on its own version of the A13—though it still provided design work for the Covenanter's turret. This new tank was adopted as "Tank, Cruiser, Mk VI Crusader", under General Staff specification A15. Although Crusader is often referred to as an improved version of the Covenanter, in fact it was a parallel design. Both tanks were ordered "off the drawing board" without building prototypes first. Despite a later start, the pilot model of the Crusader was ready six weeks before the first Covenanter.


title: Crusader tank

text: Unlike earlier "Christie cruisers" (A13, Marks III and IV and the Mark V Covenanter) that were built with four road wheels, Crusader had five road wheels each side to improve weight distribution in a tank that weighed almost 20 tons instead of the 14 tons of the previous cruisers. The -diameter wheels were of pressed steel with solid rubber tyres. The hull sides were built up of two separated plates, with the suspension arms between them.


title: Crusader tank

text: It had a different engine from the Covenanter, different steering system and a conventional cooling system with radiators in the engine compartment. Covenanter used a brand new engine design, whereas Crusader adapted the readily available Liberty engine to fit into a lower profile engine compartment. At the left side of the front hull—a place occupied by the engine radiator in the Covenanter—was mounted a small hand-traversed auxiliary turret armed with a Besa machine gun. The auxiliary turret was awkward to use and was often removed in the field or remained unoccupied.


title: Crusader tank

text: Both the A13 Mk III Covenanter and the A15 Crusader designs used the same main turret. The turret was polygonal—with sides that sloped out then in again—to give maximum space on the limited turret ring diameter. Early production vehicles had a "semi-internal" cast gun mantlet, which was quickly replaced in production by a better protected larger cast mantlet with three vertical slits for the main gun, a coaxial Besa machine gun and for the sighting telescope. There was no cupola for the commander who instead had a flat hatch with the periscope mounted through it.


title: Crusader tank

text: The main armament, as in other British tanks of the period, was balanced so that the gunner could control its elevation through a padded shaft against his right shoulder rather than using a geared mechanism. This fitted well with the British doctrine of firing accurately on the move.


title: Crusader tank

text: When it was understood that there would be delays in the introduction of successor heavy cruiser tanks (the Cavalier, Centaur and Cromwell), the Crusader was adapted with a six-pounder gun.


title: Crusader tank

text: Initial performance of the Crusader was found to be better than the comparable Stuart light tanks. Despite reliability problems, the tanks formed the primary unit for British cruiser tank armoured regiments, while the Stuart was used for reconnaissance.


title: Crusader tank

text: The Crusader suffered from chronic reliability problems in desert use as a result of several factors. Tanks arriving in North Africa were missing many of the essential tools and servicing manuals needed to maintain operation—stolen or lost in transit. As tanks broke down, a lack of spare parts meant that many components were replaced with worn parts recovered from other tanks. When the tanks were returned to the base workshops upon reaching service intervals, many were serviced with components that had already achieved their design lifespan.


title: Crusader tank

text: A rapid ramp-up in manufacturing within the UK caused quality issues as inexperienced workers began assembling tanks. This placed further pressure on the receiving base workshops who had to carry out the necessary re-work.


title: Crusader tank

text: The new tanks also had a number of design flaws which needed to be worked out. The reconfiguration of the Mk. III Liberty engine into a flatter format to fit into the Crusader engine compartment had badly affected the tank's water pumps and cooling fan arrangements, both of which were critical in the hot desert temperatures. Several official and unofficial in-theatre modifications were applied in attempts to improve reliability and conserve water, which otherwise had to be prioritised on keeping the vehicles running. Rectification of these issues took a very long time, by which time confidence in the Crusader had been lost. Calls were made at various points for the vehicles to be replaced with the Valentine infantry tank or US-made M3 Grant tank.


title: Crusader tank

text: As time moved on, more and more were being returned to base workshops, leading to a shortage of battle-ready tanks and a massive backlog of repair works to be completed. The number of vehicles available on the frontline dwindled, and US-made replacements were brought in.


title: Crusader tank

text: While the 2-pounder gun had good performance when the tank was introduced, ammunition supply was focused on solid armour-piercing (AP) rounds. When German tanks moved to face-hardened armour, an effective Armour-piercing, Capped, Ballistic Capped (APCBC) ammunition was not available. By the time it was, German tanks had adapted specifically to counter it. Delays in producing the next generation of cruiser tanks meant the Crusader was later up-armed with the 6-pounder, which had much better anti-tank performance.


title: Crusader tank

text: In keeping with a highly mobile cruiser tank, the vehicle had lighter armour than the Axis tanks that it encountered. It was among the first to have additional armour fitted to the ammunition storage. This greatly improved vehicle survivability with only a slight reduction in the number of rounds that could be carried. A significant area of concern, however, was the driver's compartment, the side of which had been left exposed by the removal of the secondary Besa machine gun turret. The angle left behind became a shot trap, with some incoming shells being deflected into the tank.


title: Crusader tank

text: Despite the many problems, the Crusader was successful in combat against Axis tanks, using its better mobility and greater capability to fire on the move to strike at vehicle weak spots. This caused a change in German tactics, whereby Axis tanks would feign retreat, drawing Crusader units onto a pre-positioned anti-tank gun screen. With no high explosive (HE) ammunition, the Crusader struggled to engage these emplaced enemies. This situation continued until the introduction of US-produced vehicles, such as the Grant and then the Sherman, with dual-purpose 75 mm guns.


title: Crusader tank

text: With the Axis forces in North Africa having pushed the British back to the Egyptian border and the remaining British armour being a mixed force of older tanks with a few Matilda infantry tanks, tanks were hurriedly shipped via the Mediterranean arriving on 12 May 1941. There were sufficient Crusaders to equip the 6th Royal Tank Regiment (6RTR) which with the older cruiser tanks of 2nd Royal Tank Regiment (2RTR) formed the 7th Armoured Brigade. The rest of the tanks were Matildas for the 4th Armoured Brigade giving the 7th Armoured Division only four tank regiments.


title: Crusader tank

text: Although there was pressure from London for the 7th Armoured Division to go into action, outfitting for the desert and training delayed the first use of Crusaders until Operation Battleaxe, an attempt to relieve the siege of Tobruk in June. As the brigade swept round the flank, the Crusaders were caught by concealed anti-tank guns and lost 11 tanks. The 6 RTR lost further tanks to action and defects in the fighting withdrawal during the next two days.


title: Crusader tank

text: The 7th Armoured Brigade was re-equipped with further Crusaders, but, as the brigade had been expanded by the addition of 7th Hussars, there were not sufficient Crusaders to replace the older cruiser tanks.


title: Crusader tank

text: The 22nd Armoured Brigade comprising three inexperienced armoured regiments equipped with Crusaders, transferred to North Africa to bring the 7th Armoured up to a strength of three armoured brigades. The 8th Hussars was added to the 4th Armoured Brigade, but these had to be equipped with M3 Stuart light tanks as there were still insufficient cruisers. The 22nd was able to take part in Operation Crusader in November 1941.


title: Crusader tank

text: In Operation Crusader, the two British corps were disposed such that they could not support each other, but it was expected that, as the British outnumbered the German and Italian forces in tanks, the tank against tank battles would be decided in their favour. However, in the resulting encounters, Rommel did not put his tanks "en masse" into action against the British ones, and the large numbers of German anti-tank (AT) guns working offensively with the tanks and infantry proved effective. The Germans were mostly equipped with the PaK 38, a long-barrelled 50 mm gun with a range of . This superiority in quality and tactical deployment of anti-tank guns was to be a feature of the Afrika Korps throughout the "Desert War". The Crusader's 2-pounder (40 mm) gun was as effective as the short-barrelled 50 mm of the Panzer III, although it was out-ranged by the short-barrelled 75 mm of the Panzer IV.


title: Crusader tank

text: Although the Crusader was faster than any tanks it opposed, its potential was limited by a relatively light QF 2-pounder gun, thin armour, and mechanical problems. A particular tactical limitation was the lack of a high-explosive shell for the main armament (these existed but were never supplied). Axis tank forces developed an extremely effective method of dealing with attacking tank forces by retiring behind a screen of concealed anti-tank guns. The pursuing tanks could then be engaged by the artillery. With the German anti-tank guns out of range of the tanks' machine guns and without a high-explosive shell to return fire, the tanks were left with the equally unpalatable options of withdrawing under fire or trying to overrun the gun screen.


title: Crusader tank

text: The Crusader proved prone to "brew up" when hit, a problem that was identified as being due to the ammunition being ignited by hot metal penetrating the unprotected racks. The angled underside of the turret created shot traps that deflected rounds downward, through the hull roof.


title: Crusader tank

text: The Crusader proved unreliable in the desert. This started with their transport from the UK to North Africa. Poor preparation and handling caused problems that had to be rectified before they could be passed to the regiments and ate into the supply of spare parts. Once in use, the sand caused erosion in the cooling system and the stresses of hard cross-country travel caused oil leaks between the engine block and the cylinders. Since there were few tank transporters or railways in the desert, the tanks had to travel long distances on their tracks, causing further wear.


title: Crusader tank

text: By the end of 1941, there was only one brigade, the 2nd, which was operating with only Crusaders. In March 1942, US-built Grant medium tanks arrived and replaced one in three Crusader squadrons. While the inclusion of Grants with its effective 75 mm gun gave better firepower against anti-tank guns and infantry, had better armour, and were more mechanically reliable, they were slower, limiting the Crusaders when they had to operate together. From May 1942, Mk IIIs (with the 57 mm 6-pounder gun) were delivered. Of the 840 tanks available to the British, 260 were Crusaders. The German tanks they were facing were improved types with face-hardened frontal armour, which caused 2-pounder shot to shatter rather than penetrate.


title: Crusader tank

text: As part of British deception operations, Crusaders could be issued with "Sunshade", which was a metal framework with canvas covering that disguised the tank as a lorry to German aerial reconnaissance. Dummy tanks were also deployed.


title: Crusader tank

text: Later in the campaign, shipping was improved, Nuffield put an engineering team in Egypt, and crews were better at preventing problems, but the reputation of the Crusader could not recover.


title: Crusader tank

text: After Montgomery took over command, the imbalance between British and German armour was redressed by better control and the addition of more American-supplied Grant and Sherman tanks. The Crusader was replaced in the main line of battle and used for "light squadrons" trying to flank the enemy when it engaged the heavier units. The Australian 9th Infantry Division operated Crusaders for reconnaissance and liaison.


title: Crusader tank

text: The British 1st Army landed as part of the Allied operations in Tunisia; some of its units were using the Crusader and these saw action from 24 November. These were not solely Crusader regiments, but mixed Crusader and Valentine tanks; within each squadron, two troops were Crusader IIIs, and there were Crusader II CSs attached to the Squadron HQ. These units of the 26th Armoured Brigade were used as an independent armoured column, "Blade Force", with the 78th Infantry Division. The operations of Blade Force were on terrain different from the desert of the earlier campaigns, and the fighting took place with smaller numbers of vehicles. These actions were similar to what would be seen later in Europe.


title: Crusader tank

text: The 1st Army converted to Shermans during the Tunisia campaign, but Crusaders remained in use with the 8th for longer. The last major actions for Crusaders were the Battle of the Mareth Line and the Battle of Wadi Akarit. The North Africa campaign finished shortly after.


title: Crusader tank

text: After the completion of the North African Campaign, the availability of better tanks, such as the Sherman and Cromwell, relegated the Crusader to secondary duties, such as anti-aircraft mounts or gun tractors. In these roles, it served for the remainder of the war.


title: Crusader tank

text: The Crusader, along with the Covenanter, equipped regiments at home; particularly those of the 11th Armoured Division.


title: Crusader tank

text: A Crusader bulldozer was developed, but not used operationally. One of these bulldozer tanks was converted for removing munitions following a fire at Royal Ordnance Factory Kirkby.


title: Crusader tank

text: The Crusader anti-aircraft guns were designed for use in North West Europe. However, with the Allied domination of the air, they were largely unneeded and the AA troops were disbanded. The Crusader gun tractors operated with 76.2 mm 17-pounder anti-tank gun regiments attached to armoured divisions and with XII Corps.


title: Crusader tank

text: One Crusader was used for testing the Rolls-Royce Meteor engine, the increased horsepower over the standard Liberty engine giving a maximum speed in excess of .


title: Crusader tank

text: The turret of a Crusader tank was used by the French Far East Expeditionary Corps to defend the city of Hanoi at the beginning of the first Indochina War.


title: Crusader tank

text: Original production version. The auxiliary turret was often removed in the field, eliminating the hull machine gunner position.


title: Crusader tank

text: The Crusader II had increased armour on hull front and turret front. As with the Mk I, the auxiliary turret was often removed.


title: Crusader tank

text: Due to delays with the Cruiser Mark VII Cavalier and the need for cruiser tanks, the Crusader was up-gunned with the 57 mm 6-pounder, the first British tank to mount this gun. Design work for a new turret started in March 1941, but Nuffield was not involved until late in the year, when they adapted the existing turret with a new mantlet and hatch.


title: Crusader tank

text: The turret also received an extractor fan to clear fumes from the firing of the gun. The larger gun restricted turret space, so the crew was reduced to three, with the commander also acting as gun loader, a role previously performed by the wireless operator. The auxiliary turret space was given over to ammunition stowage.


title: Crusader tank

text: Crusader III also saw the introduction of the Mk. IV Liberty engine, fixing many of the reliability issues previously encountered. This featured the Mk. III engine's later updated water pumps along with a shaft drive replacing chain drive for the cooling fans.


title: Crusader tank

text: Production started in May 1942 and 144 were complete by July. The Crusader III first saw action, with about 100 participating, at the Second Battle of El Alamein in October 1942.


title: Crusader tank

text: This was a tank converted to a mobile armoured observation post for direction of artillery. The turret was fixed in place, the gun was removed and a dummy barrel fitted to give it the same outward appearance of a regular tank. With no requirement for ammunition, the interior was given over to the radios, two No. 19 radios and No. 18 radio, map boards and related equipment. The Royal Artillery could then operate the OP tank up front among the fighting units directing artillery fire in their support.


title: Crusader tank

text: The 6-pounder was replaced with a Bofors 40 mm anti-aircraft gun with an autoloader and powered mounting in an open-topped turret. The crew numbered four: gun commander, gun layer, loader, and driver. However, those Crusader III, AA Mk I used in NW Europe from D-day on did not have the turret, but a 40 mm Bofors gun mounted directly on the hull top with its standard shield.


title: Crusader tank

text: A Crusader armed with twin Oerlikon 20 mm guns for anti-aircraft use and a single .303 (7.7 mm) Vickers GO machine gun. The turret was a small polygonal turret with heavy armour, but poor situational visibility for spotting approaching aircraft. The Mk III only differed from the Mk II by the position of the radio, which was moved to the hull in order to free some space inside the turret.


title: Crusader tank

text: A variation with triple Oerlikons was produced in very limited quantities but seem to have been used only for training.


title: Crusader tank

text: Due to Allied air superiority over the battlefields of north-west Europe, none of the AA versions saw much action against aircraft but a few - especially with the 1st Polish Armoured Division - were used against ground targets. The AA troops - attached to HQ squadrons - were disbanded after the Normandy landings.


title: Crusader tank

text: The Crusader gun tractor came out of a need for a vehicle to tow the heavy 76.2 mm QF 17 pounder anti-tank gun. It was a Crusader tank hull with a simple boxy superstructure replacing that of the gun tank. The 14 mm thick structure protected the driver and the gun crew of six. The tractor also carried ammunition on the rear and within the crew area.


title: Crusader tank

text: Although nearly as heavy as the gun tank, it was still capable of high speed and was officially limited to . This was still hard on the towed 17 pounder guns. They were used in northwest Europe from the Normandy landings of 1944 to the end of the war in 1945.


title: Crusader tank

text: One such unit was the 86th Anti-Tank Gun Regiment, Royal Artillery, part of XII Corps. In the 86th, the Crusader gun tractor replaced earlier Morris C8 gun tractors in two out of the four batteries. Unit veterans reported that the Crusader was popular with the crews and were often driven by former Armoured Corps drivers seconded to the Royal Artillery because of their driving experience. 86th veterans claimed that they removed the 'governors' that normally limited tank speeds. Thus adapted, they credited an empty Crusader with speeds up to and claimed to be able to outrun Military Police motorcycles, which were limited to a wartime speed of just due to low grade petrol.


title: Crusader tank

text: Crusaders were used for experimentation such as a flotation kit, consisting of two pontoons attached to hull sides, special blades attached to tracks to propel the vehicle in water and a cowl over engine air intakes and cooling louvres.


title: Crusader tank

text: Around 21 tanks survive in various degrees of preservation, ranging from running-condition museum vehicles to wrecks. Eight survive in various collections in South Africa.


title: Crusader tank

text: Notable examples include the Crusader III in running condition at The Tank Museum in the United Kingdom. The Musée des Blindés in France preserves a Mk III anti-aircraft Crusader and the Overloon War Museum in the Netherlands owns a gun-tractor variant.


title: Tanks in the German Army

text: This article deals with the tanks () serving in the German Army ("Deutsches Heer") throughout history, such as the World War I tanks of the Imperial German Army, the interwar and World War II tanks of the Nazi German Wehrmacht, the Cold War tanks of the West German and East German Armies, all the way to the present day tanks of the Bundeswehr.


title: Tanks in the German Army

text: The development of tanks in World War I began as an attempt to break the stalemate which trench warfare had brought to the Western Front. The British and French both began experimenting in 1915, and deployed tanks in battle from 1916 and 1917 respectively. The Germans, on the other hand, were slower to develop tanks, concentrating on anti-tank weapons.


title: Tanks in the German Army

text: The German response to the modest initial successes of the Allied tanks was the A7V, which, like some other tanks of the period, was based on caterpillar tracks of the type found on the American Holt Tractors. Initially unconvinced that tanks were a serious threat, the High Command ordered just twenty A7Vs, which took part in a handful of actions between March and October 1918. They suffered from numerous design faults, and Germany actually used more captured British tanks than A7Vs. As it became clear that the tank could play a significant role on the battlefield, Germany began working on designs for both heavy and light tanks, but only a small number of prototypes were completed by the end of the War.


title: Tanks in the German Army

text: After the Armistice, all tanks in German hands were confiscated. Almost all were eventually scrapped, and the various postwar treaties forbade the former Central Powers from building or possessing tanks.


title: Tanks in the German Army

text: On 30 January 1933, Adolf Hitler was appointed Chancellor of Germany. Although he initially headed a coalition government, he quickly eliminated his government partners. He ignored the restrictions imposed by the Treaty of Versailles (1919) and began rearming, approving the development of many German tank designs he was shown.


title: Tanks in the German Army

text: The German Army first used Panzer I light tanks, along with the Panzer II, but the mainstays were the medium Panzer IIIs and Panzer IVs which were released in 1937. The IV became the backbone of Germany's panzer force and the power behind the blitzkrieg. During the invasion of Russia in 1941, the Germans encountered the famous and technologically advanced Soviet T-34 tanks. This led Germany to develop the Panther or Panzer V in response. Its 75 mm gun could penetrate the new Soviet tanks. Germany also developed the heavy Tiger I, released in 1942. The Tiger could defeat any Allied tank and was soon joined by the Tiger II, also known as King Tiger, but too few were produced to impact the war in any discernible way.


title: Tanks in the German Army

text: One note of interest was the poor reliability of the German tanks such as the Panther and Tiger; constant mechanical failures meant that German tank divisions were rarely able to field a full complement of tanks and were often diminished below 50% combat readiness. The book "The Last Battle" by Cornelius Ryan makes mention of the 7 million foreign workers who were forcibly brought into Germany to work in the factories and businesses --- many of them in military assembly lines. Ryan specifically writes about these foreign workers in German tank manufacturing, who sabotaged every part they could and may have contributed to the rate of breakdown of German tanks in the field. This especially affected tanks built later in the war (such as the Panther and Tiger) when forced labor had replaced German manpower in their manufacture.


title: Tanks in the German Army

text: In the Battle of Kursk, when the newly arrived Panther tanks moved into their assembly areas, 45 out of 200 experienced mechanical problems requiring repair. A good example was the Großdeutschland Division, which had a brigade of two battalions of new Panther Ausf. D tanks come under its operational control before the battle. After the launch of Operation Citadel, the new Panthers were plagued by technical problems, suffering from engine fires and mechanical breakdowns, many before reaching the battle, in which the division was heavily engaged. Also, it may have affected the Großdeutschland Division's non-role in the ensuing epic tank Battle of Prokhorovka, in which it was held in reserve, its Panther tanks not engaging as most were broken down by the time the battle started.


title: Tanks in the German Army

text: It also may have been an issue with the Tiger tanks. The Tiger's reliability problems were well known and documented; Tiger units frequently entered combat understrength due to breakdowns. It was rare for any Tiger unit to complete a road march without losing vehicles due to breakdown. The Jagdtiger, built on a lengthened Tiger II chassis, suffered from a variety of mechanical and technical problems and had frequent breakdowns; ultimately more Jagdtigers were lost to mechanical problems or lack of fuel than to enemy action.


title: Tanks in the German Army

text: German factories and industry was devastated by the end of World War II, but by the 1950s, the nation began to look at designing new tanks. The next tank design started as a collaborative project between Germany and France in the 1950s, but the partnership ended, and the final design was ordered by the Bundeswehr, production of the German Leopard 1 starting in 1965. In total, 6,485 Leopard I tanks were built, of which 4,744 were battle tanks and 1741 were utility and anti-aircraft variants, not including eighty prototypes and pre-series vehicles. The Leopard quickly became a standard of European forces, and eventually served as the main battle tank in Germany. It was superseded by the Leopard 2.


title: Tanks in the German Army

text: German tank development can be traced back to 1911, when Austrian Oberleutenant Gunther Burstyn proposed a design for "motor vehicle gun" ("Motorgeschütz") with a turret. He patented his design in 1912 in Germany but it never progressed beyond paper.


title: Tanks in the German Army

text: After British tanks went into action at the Battle of Flers–Courcelette on 15 September 1916, the German Army immediately demanded their own landships. Following the appearance of the first British tanks on the Western Front, the War Ministry formed a committee of experts from leading engineering companies, answerable to the "Allgemeines Kriegsdepartement, Abteilung 7, Verkehrswesen" ("General War Department, 7th Branch, Transportation"), The project to design and build the first German tank was placed under the direction of Joseph Vollmer, a leading German automobile designer and manufacturer. He was chosen to design the World War I German tanks A7V, and the "Großkampfwagen" (K-Wagen). The K-Wagen was a German super-heavy tank, two prototypes of which were almost completed by the end of World War I. The A7V tank which actually got into the war, was known as the "Sturmpanzerwagen" A7V, named after the committee that oversaw its development. It weighed around 30 tons, capable of crossing ditches up to metres wide, have armaments including cannon at front and rear as well as several machine-guns, and reach a top speed of at least . The running gear was based on the Holt tractor, parts for which were copied from examples borrowed from the Austrian army. After initial plans were shared with the Army in December 1917, the design was extended to be a universal chassis which could be used as a base for both a tank and unarmoured "Überlandwagen" ("Overland vehicle") cargo carriers. Powered by two Daimler engines, the tank was first demonstrated in the German spring offensive of 1918. Internally, the "Sturmpanzerwagen" was cramped, smelly and noisy. it required a crew of 18 to man the machine to full potential. With the 57 mm main gun at front, internal operators had access to two 7.92 mm machine guns at the rear along with a further four along the sides - two to a side. Each machine gun needed two personnel per gun - a firer and an ammunition re-supplier. The engine sat in the lower-middle of the design with the main gear components resting under the rear. A crew of two operated the front 57 mm main gun, one to aim and fire while the other loaded it. Two drivers sat in the upper center budge area operating a steering wheel and lever controls. Stowage was allotted for individual crew weapons in the form of rifles. During final design, a rear-facing cannon was removed and the number of machine-guns was increased to six. Grab ropes were provided throughout as the design had plenty of headroom space for the average soldier, though travel made for an uneasy and overall bumpy ride.


title: Tanks in the German Army

text: In theory, the idea of an armored box with a lot of weapons seemed sound. In practice, however, the large design was far from perfect. The vehicle was top-heavy, making it impractical to be used on uneven terrain. It was slow as well, often meaning that it could be outpaced by the very infantry it was to assist. The short tracks of the tractor system also made the vehicle relatively unsafe and uncontrollable in some cases. If the A7V has one saving grace, it was that the all-around armor protection for the crew was second to none - even when compared to the British designs - over an inch in some areas. Twenty of these tanks were produced, and the first of these were ready in October 1917. The A7V was first used at St Quentin on 21 March 1918. Although some of its features, such as the sprung tracks and the thicker armour, made it better than British tanks at that time, the A7V was less successful as a battle vehicle. The main problems concerned its mechanical reliability and the difficulty it encountered crossing enemy trenches. Three of the five tanks committed broke down at St Quentin. At the Second Battle of Villers-Bretonneux a British tank disabled one A7V and drove off two more.


title: Tanks in the German Army

text: By the time of the arrival of the Sturmpanzerwagen, the Germans had already successfully developed their own brand of armor-piercing projectile as well. Near the end of the First World War it was clear that the A7V was a failure, being too slow and clumsy in action and slow to build. Therefore, it was decided that a lighter tank was required which could spearhead assaults and which could be mass-produced, and was called the Sturmpanzerwagen Oberschlesien.


title: Tanks in the German Army

text: Thirteen companies bid for the contract and in the middle of 1918 construction of a design by Captain Müller was assigned to the Oberschlesien Eisenwerk of Gleiwitz, which had partially completed two prototypes by October 1918. It was a radical design for a fast-moving, lightly armored assault tank.


title: Tanks in the German Army

text: The Oberschlesien included a track which was placed under the tank and only wrapped around half of it. The design sacrificed armor for the sake of speed and only required a 180 hp engine for the 19-ton body, giving it a projected ground speed of 14 km/h (8.7 mph).


title: Tanks in the German Army

text: The tank featured such advanced features as a main cannon mounted on top of the tank in a central revolving turret, separate fighting and engine compartments, a rear-mounted engine and a low track run.


title: Tanks in the German Army

text: Neither the ordered test models nor the improved "Oberschlesien II" already planned were finished before the end of the war.


title: Tanks in the German Army

text: In the end, time running out on the new designs and the limitations of the A7V design, and being a part of the losing side of a war and fighting on the defensive, all led to a very average first try in the realm of tank design for the Germans.


title: Tanks in the German Army

text: The post-World War I Treaty of Versailles of 1919 prohibited the design, manufacture and deployment of tanks within the Reichswehr. The victors pushed for severe restrictions on the country's war-making capabilities and Germany took the brunt of the blame to the west and was forced into signing the Treaty in June 1919. Limitations for the land army included a 100,000-strong infantry army, absolutely no tanks of any kind and just a few armored vehicles for spot duty. The German Army became a shell of its former self. Paragraph Twenty-four of the treaty provided for a 100,000-mark fine and imprisonment of up to six months for anybody who "[manufactured] armoured vehicles, tanks or similar machines, which may be turned to military use".


title: Tanks in the German Army

text: Despite the manpower and technical limitations imposed upon the German Army by the Treaty of Versailles, several Reichswehr officers established a clandestine General Staff to study World War I and develop future strategies and tactics. One such Reichswehr officer, Hans von Seeckt, became Commander-in-Chief. Seeckt took to heart the lessons learned in the Great War and set about in rewriting the foundation of the German Army. Infantry still remained the heart and soul of any planned offensive, but the tank would become the spearhead of actions that could shatter enemy defenses through speed, force and firepower. Tactics involved the splitting up of enemy formations and counteractions involving pincer movements to surround and ultimately decimate the enemy in whole. By 1926, German Army doctrine was all rewritten to fulfill this vision. Although at first the concept of the tank as a mobile weapon of war met with apathy, German industry was silently encouraged to look into tank design, while quiet cooperation was undertaken with the Soviet Union. In the late 1920s and early 1930s, Germans closely co-operated with Russians in the development of armored vehicles, which were tested at Kama tank school, near Kazan in the USSR. There was also minor military cooperation with Sweden, including the extraction of technical data that proved invaluable to early German tank design.


title: Tanks in the German Army

text: As early as 1926 various German companies, including Rheinmetall and Daimler-Benz, produced a single prototype armed with a large 75-mm gun (codenamed "Großtraktor", "large tractor", to veil the true purpose of the vehicle). Only two years later prototypes of the new "Leichttraktor" ("light tractor") were produced by German companies, armed with 37-millimeter KwK L/45 guns. Development of the Neubaufahrzeug started in 1932 when "Wa Prüf 6" established design specifications for a new 15 tonne tank to be known as the ""mittlere Traktor"". It had many connections to the previous Großtraktor, utilizing many of the same components including the engine and transmission. Initially both Krupp and Rheinmetall were asked to submit proposals, but after the end of trials of the "Großtraktor" prototypes, during which Rheinmetall's vehicle proved superior to others, Krupp would only be awarded a contract for a turret design while Rheinmetall was to design both a chassis and turret. Rheinmetall's turret design had a rounded shape and was armed with a 3.7 cm gun above the 7.5 cm gun, while Krupp's turret was more rectangular and had the 3.7 cm gun mounted beside the 7.5 cm gun. Both turrets were also armed with a co-axial MG 34 machine gun, along with the two sub-turrets at the front and rear of the tank.


title: Tanks in the German Army

text: The Neubaufahrzeug was intended to fulfill the role of a medium tank in Germany's developing armored force, but it proved to have too many problems with its front drive and aircraft engine for this role. But even with all its faults, the Neubaufahrzeug provided insight into tank designing that was valuable to the next German medium tank project, the "Begleitwagen" ("accompanying vehicle") which would come to fruition as the Panzer IV tank for infantry support.


title: Tanks in the German Army

text: In 1934 Rheinmetall built two mild steel prototypes, one with their own turret design and one with Krupp's. Three more prototypes were built with proper armor and the Krupp turret design in 1936. The "Großtraktor" was later put into service for a brief period with the 1 Panzer Division; the "Leichttraktor" remained in testing until 1935.


title: Tanks in the German Army

text: In the late 1920s and early 1930s German tank theory was pioneered by two figures: General Oswald Lutz and his chief of staff, Lieutenant Colonel Heinz Guderian. Guderian became the more influential of the two and his ideas were widely publicized. Like his contemporary Sir Percy Hobart, Guderian initially envisioned an armored corps ("panzerkorps") composed of several types of tanks. This included a slow infantry tank, armed with a small-caliber cannon and several machine guns. The infantry tank, according to Guderian, was to be heavily armored to defend against enemy anti-tank guns and artillery. He also envisioned a fast breakthrough tank, similar to the British cruiser tank, which was to be armored against enemy anti-tank weapons and have a large 75-millimeter (2.95 in) main gun. Lastly, Germany would need a heavy tank, armed with a massive 150-millimeter (5.9 in) cannon to defeat enemy fortifications, and even stronger armor. Such a tank would require a weight of 70 to 100 tonnes and was completely impractical given the manufacturing capabilities of the day.


title: Tanks in the German Army

text: In the early 1930s, the German Army called upon a few German firms to put together some funded prototype light and medium tanks. At this time, the Army did not have a formal plan of action in terms of what it realistically needed. Light tanks could be made available in large quantities for a relatively low price while medium tanks afforded firepower but came at a price. At any rate, the German industrial infrastructure - both the post-war limitations and the economical hit caused by the crash of 1929 - meant the development of light tanks to start with.


title: Tanks in the German Army

text: In 1931, Major-General Oswald Lutz was appointed the "Inspector of Motor Transport" in the German Army (Reichswehr) with Heinz Guderian as his Chief of Staff and they began building the German Armored Forces and a program of light training tank to train future personnel of panzer divisions. In 1932, specifications for light (5-ton) tank were made and issued to Rheinmetall, Krupp, Henschel, MAN and Daimler Benz.


title: Tanks in the German Army

text: Soon after rising to power in Germany, Adolf Hitler approved the creation of Germany's first panzer divisions. Simplifying his earlier proposal, Guderian suggested the design of a main combat vehicle which would be developed later into the Panzer III, and a breakthrough tank, the Panzer IV. No existing design appealed to Guderian. As a stopgap, the German Army ordered the preliminary vehicle to train German tank crews. This became the Panzer I.


title: Tanks in the German Army

text: The Panzer I was intended not just to train Germany's panzer troops, but to prepare Germany's industry for the mass production of tanks in the near future: a difficult engineering feat for the time. In July 1932, Krupp revealed a prototype of the "Landswerk Krupp A", or LKA, with a sloped front glacis plate and large central casemate, a design heavily influenced by the British Carden Loyd tankette. The tank was armed with two obsolescent 7.92-millimeter (.312 in) MG 13  machine guns. Machine guns were known to be largely useless against even the lightest tank armor of the time, restricting the Panzer I to a training and anti-infantry role by design.


title: Tanks in the German Army

text: A mass-produced version of the LKA was designed by a collaborative team from Daimler-Benz, Henschel, Krupp, MAN, and Rheinmetall, exchanging the casemate for a rotating turret. This version was accepted into service after testing in 1934. Although these tanks were referred to as the La S and LKA well beyond the start of production, its official designation, assigned in 1938, was "Panzerkampfwagen I Ausführung. A" ('model A' or, more accurately, 'batch A'). The first fifteen tanks, produced between February and March 1934, did not include the rotating turret and were used for crew training. Following these, production was switched to the combat version of the tank.


title: Tanks in the German Army

text: Its debut in combat was during the Spanish Civil War (1936–38). First 32 PzKpfw I along with single "Kleiner Panzer Befehlswagen" I arrived in October 1936. Only 106 tanks, (102 Ausf A, Ausf B and four Kleiner Panzer Befehlswagen I) saw service with the Condor Legion (Major Ritter von Thoma's "Panzer Abteilung 88" also known as Abteilung Drohne) and General Franco's Nationalists. Pz.Abt.88 with its 3 companies was based at Cubas near Toledo, where German instructors trained future Spanish crews, while the unit was used for training duties and combat (e.g. assault on Madrid). Panzer I tanks proved to be outclassed by Soviet T-26 and BT-5 provided to Republican forces. However the Panzer I was also a propaganda tool and as a show piece of the Third Reich and its military might in the years leading to beginning of World War II.