WWII Tanks Andrew Logan Middle Township High School United States History Wilson 4/4/14 World War II was an era of learning and innovation , despite the disturbing story behind it. Many new technologies have been developed which have led to many things never seen before; The first jets debuted, rocket experimentation began, nuclear science reached nuclear levels, peering radars and huge metal boxes on wheels. These metal boxes evolved greatly during World War II. Tanks had such an impact on warfare, and the same is true in reverse. Each nation had a slightly different approach to tanks, each evolving over time, and the way tanks were used also varied from nation to nation and changed significantly throughout the war. Interestingly enough, Japan actually had tanks during World War II. Few were ever deployed during World War II, because most of the fighting occurred in the Pacific. Japan purchased tanks from foreign sources before World War II, most of which were obsolete by the time of the war. These tanks mainly included the Vickers series of tanks of the British. Japan built some advanced tanks, but mass production was postponed as they had no heavy manufacturing industries and the war ended too quickly for them. The only major World War II tanks that Japan had was the Type 3 Chi-Nu tank. Developed to counter the American M4 Shermans, it carried a 75 mm gun, capable of penetrating the M4 Sherman's armor . However, only 166 of these were built and they were kept on standby in Japan. Similarly, China had imported tanks from other nations, mainly the British Vickers series. However they never built their own World War II tanks and lacked a significant armored force for most of the war. When so... middle of the paper... late, since they were always designing and modifying things for even negligible improvements. They started at the end of the war with the E series of tanks to standardize. However, this delay had a pronounced effect. At the Battle of Kursk, the Soviets outnumbered the German armored forces by 1 to 2. (Cornish, 2002) Overall, it can be said that tanks started out unrefined and relegated to infantry support (with the exception of Germany). As the war progressed, the tank's role expanded greatly. Both sides began building better tanks than the other, in an attempt to be superior. Standardization came into play when quantity over quality became paramount. 50,000 M4 Shermans were produced, while only 1,300 Tiger Is were produced. (Nuutinen) Competition in tank design has led to better tanks with standardization facilitating production, with expanded roles for tanks on the battlefield.