Mechinized Infantry

[102first_hussars]

During World War I, when the tank was developed, the British Mark V tank was designed with a small passenger compartment to carry troops. By some definitions this can be considered the first armoured personnel carrier. The first specialised APC was the Mark IX of 1918.

During World War II, half-tracks such as the American M3 and the German SdKfz 251 played a role similar to the armoured personnel carriers that were developed later on. Another forerunner to the APC during this time was the British Universal Carrier. Often, APCs were simply armoured cars with the capacity for carrying troops, but they evolved into purpose-built vehicles to suit the demands of motorised warfare from World War II.



In 1944, the commander of 2nd Canadian Corps, General Guy Simonds, ordered the conversion of 72 US-produced M7 Priest self-propelled howitzers to personnel carriers. They were due for replacement anyway, as the howitzer barrels were worn out. The howitzer was removed, and the resulting hole was plugged with whatever steel was available. The vehicle was called Kangaroo, after the workshop which did the conversion. Later in the war Canadian-built Ram tanks were used as a basis for the majority of conversions, as they were then obsolete and the original Kangaroos were worn out.

After the war different specialised APCs were developed. The United States developed a series of tracked vehicles, culminating in the M113 "box on tracks", of which 80,000 were made. The Soviet Union developed the wartime BTR-40 into a series of 8-wheeled APC.

At the end of the 1980s, Israel converted captured T-55 tanks to APCs, reminiscent of WWII conversions. The result is one of the best protected APCs in the world, called IDF Achzarit.

Now here we are in the present knowing the true inportance of such, now we find which is the best ifantry fighting vehicle and the best APC, now originally I wasnt going to add the two but it seems that today the APC and IFV are being merged more and more into the multi-role figure.

[MacArther]

I personally prefer the American M2 bradely. I'll have to get my tank book out for any further discussion.

[102first_hussars]

I like the Bradley, but simply because im canadian my heart belongs to the Coyote, havnt voted yet though

[P38 Pilot]

M2 for me...