Using WW2 Tanks in modern conflits

[NavySealPT]

Hello Comrades.

I want to use World War 2 tanks ( probably russians) from Warlord in some games with normal Empress and Assault Group figures.

The idea is to give more cheap heavy armor to insurgent factions.

Acording to what had happened in recent conflits or even today, it makes any sense?

[Etranger]

Plenty of T34-85s around until quite recently (1990's Yugoslavia IIRC) & it's possible that there are still a few in use around the world. If you want to modernise somewhat then the T54/55 series is still widely used.

[NavySealPT]

Thanks for the feedback. Seems a good option.

[commissarmoody]

Brazil at least up to the 1990s used a modernized Stuart chase style light tank. And I believe a few other south American countries used Sherman's and WW2 half tracks and grey hounds up into the 90s also.
One or two of the Sherman's are still being used in a few of their Armor driving schools.

[Arlequín]

Both the T34/85 and the SU-100 are seemingly still used in the Yemen...

[Mike Bravo Minis]

Great find Arlequin. Tempting me to dust off my ak47 armies...


From a random blog: "Today it can still be found in arsenals in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Vietnam, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Yemen, North Korea, the Republic of Congo, Cuba, Laos, Mali and Namibia" and "The T-34 reportedly saw action in 2014 too, when pro-Russia fighters in eastern Ukraine removed at least one display example from its pedestal, and after a quick overhaul took it into combat once more."

[has.been]

In WW2 the local Dads' army took the Independent tank (that's the British attempt at a multi-turreted tank)
out of Bovington Tank Museum and used it to defend the inland route from the beaches the Germans might have landed on had Sea Lion (Invasion of Britain) happened.
What a nice game that would make, Wharmington-on-Sea platoon (Mainwaring, Wilson et-al) and a tank with lots of turrets. 

[Rich H]

ISU-152 in Iraq: Didn't last long against modern weapons.

[Treadheadz]

Back in '96 with IFOR in Bosnia, we were issued these Armour Recognition Cards - One of the picts was a M4 Sherman - I thought it was a joke, but the first three wrecks I spotted in theatre, was M4 Shermans!

And quite a few aging WWII era Soviet tanks are still rumbling about in the Middle East and Africas.
 

[dadlamassu]

Makes a lot of sense:

Some WW2 vintage AFVs I've seen on operations:
T34/85, SU-85, SU-100, JS-3, M-4, Sherman Firefly, M-10, M-36, M-3 Stuart (usually modified), M-3 Half track, OT-810 (basically a SdKfz 251), Comet. 

In Iraq we saw various really odd things - Vickers Light MkVI, JSU-152, 15cm on Lorraine Chassis, CV35 etc but most of these were from museums and used as decoys to make us expend ammo!

The break up of Former Yugoslavia saw an amazing variety of AFVs stock and modified being used.

The Norwegians used M-24 Chaffees (modified), a few countries used Canadian & British armoured 15cwt trucks, Humber, Daimler, M-8 Armoured cars (including some with quad ,50cal AA Mounts), Swiss used Hetzers probably lots more!

[Witchsmeller]

Here is an article about Paraguay putting the Stuart and Sherman back in service from December 2015.

http://nationalinterest.org/blog/the-buzz/wwii-sherman-tanks-back-action-2016-14768

[Wyrmalla]

Ukraine has saw use of handful of WWI era tanks in combat. IIRC the T-34 wasn't actually used and was sold off. However, whilst not as direct combat vehicles, old tank destroyers have been retrofitted as engineer vehicles, as have others been used as platforms for rockets (I'm not that much of a tanky to know the models).

The Middle East had a load of tanks dumped on them during the Cold War by both sides. In a modern context, with the rise of irregular military units, some of these are being pulled from the tank graveyards. Strictly speaking though, for widespread use you're unlikely to see WWII stuff in use except by the Israelis (who still have Centurions in use as APCs in reserve units, they did away with all their Shermans and IS years ago).

Africa/ South American/ Asia. Again militias will use anything. Governments however, like in the Middle East, did away with the old junk when the world's super powers were giving away equipment like sweets in the Cold war. However, there has been initiatives to modernize mothballed gear.

If you want to use some WWII era I'd say you have two options. Either use it out of the box, with a natty paintjob and a bit of rust, with militia units, or modernize the thing. With the latter you could get away with just adding bits off of a later era tank, different lights, a newer pintle mount, etc. Of course you could go whole hog and then start adding ERA, infra-red sights, a larger gun, but I'm not sure if that's what you're going for.

In general though, unless someone's cheaping out, its the Cold War stuff which is being modernized these days, and there's enough of that laying about that irregulars use it too.

[Wyrmalla]

Here is an article about Paraguay putting the Stuart and Sherman back in service from December 2015.

http://nationalinterest.org/blog/the-buzz/wwii-sherman-tanks-back-action-2016-14768

Did Paraguay not buy up a load of Sherman upgrade kits from the Israelis too? Could just buy a Company B Super Sherman model and that I guess.

[Arlequín]

Back in the '90s the ones in Bosnia were apparently festooned with rubber matting to cut down their heat signatures, or as 'spaced armour' against RPGs, depending on who is commenting on them... or indeed for both, as you can see tyres under the matting on the bottom one.

[CptJake]

I remember a guy making fun of the use of WW2 tanks in a modern theater being told "When it is the only tank on the battlefield, it is the best tank on the battlefield".

Though susceptible to modern AT weapons, something like a T-34 is still gonna shrug off small arms fire.   I would rather not face one if all I had was a rifle.  

From an operational (vice tactical) perspective, they may be harder to keep running due to parts availability than more modern tanks.   However, most wargame scenarios are going to start with the assumption that the beast made it to the battlefield...