Tank
The tank is an armour-plated vehicle moving on caterpillar tracks and armed with a large gun. It was the answer to the tactical necessity of finding an offensive weapon capable of breaking through an enemy front. It can move over any type of ground surface. It made its first appearance on 15 September 1916 when the English used it on the battlefields of Flanders during World War I. In World War II the Germans formed divisions of armoured tanks with which they were able to make enormously successful lighting strikes I Poland, Belgium, France and Russia. There are many types of tank, including the Mark, the Panther, the Sherman, the T34, the Patton, the Centurion and the AMX. Did you know… …that the tank was first invented by the English, who kept its manufacturing secret by having each component build in a different factory? The tanks were packed in cases and the rumour was put about that they were water tanks on their way to Africa. The English name has come into use in many languages. …that the tank played such a decisive part in the German defeat in World War I that when the fighting was over the Germans said that they have been defeated not by Marshal Foch but by Marshal Tank? The elephants used by Hannibal in his struggle against the Romans could perhaps be described as the ancestors of the modern tank. But the blind force of these beasts was difficult to direct and sometimes rebounded on the army using them. The picture here shows a strange Roman war machine. Two little huts, each mounted on four wheels, were fastened together and pushed along by means of a tree trunk. It was a type of battering ram used against the enemy army, and in its day was an effective and devastating weapon.
War chariot invented by Leonardo da Vinci Tanks were a decisive weapon in the two world wars of this century. Preceded by an artillery barrage, armoured tanks with their caterpillar tracks would move in and occupy enemy trenches. From 1914 onwards the tank played an important part in warfare. This picture shows the powerful gun mounted on a revolving turret, the armour plating and caterpillar tracks. Although the tank was originally developed as a weapon of war, as time passed and technical progress continued some of its features were applied to agriculture and to public work. He is a tractor with caterpillar tracks.
In 1865 the French officer Reffye invented a machine gun with a total of 25 fixed barrels, which fired 125 to 150 missiles a minute. It was soon made obsolete by newer and quicker-firing models. In 1883 the American Maxim invented the automatic machine gun. Although there were earlier versions, the modern machine gun and machine pistol were developed by Hotchkiss in 1914. His main aim was to make a gun, which would give heavy fire over a limited area. The whole weapon was automatic and cartridges were made up into belts, which fitted one of the apertures of the machine gun. The gun was based on an American model invented by Gatling, which could fire 100 missiles a minute. The idea of a rapid-firing weapon dates back to the days of the first firearms such as rifles and revolvers. Gatling’s machine gun was used in 1865 during the American Civil War. There were other models by Montigny, Feldi, Nobel, Maxim, Gardner, Colt, Hotchkiss and Skoda. The machine gun has evolved through a variety of forms, but that used by the world’s fighting forces today is a single-barreled automatic weapon. This machine, known as the multiple cannon (1450), is one of the earliest ancestors of the machine gun. Hand-held multi-barreled gun dating from 1755. It represents an attempt to produce a more powerful firearm. It had to be rested on a wall before it could be fired. James Puckle patented this repeating weapon in 1718. 
It is closer to the machine gun than the two weapons shown above. One cylinder fired round bullets and another square ones, which were actually thought to be more effective against the enemy! Once fighter planes were fitted with machine guns aerial warfare took on a new dimension. In early World War I aeroplanes the gunner had to fire across the propeller, which was therefore fitted with a deflector to prevent it from being damaged. Later the firing of the machine gun was synchronized with the propeller. The development of the machine gun continued and military staffs tried to adopt the best model. Wartime experience proved that two or three men armed with an effective machine gun could halt a massive enemy attack. The picture shows a Maxim machine gun, adopted by the German army in 1908. The Maxim gun marked a new era in the evolution of the weapon. The gun is manned by two soldiers who are holding off an enemy attack. American Bell P39 or Aircobra. This is a World War II fighter plane with a