Totally Tanked podcast: Recent Episodes
John and Rob
It's a podcast about tanks. Do you want to listen to people talking about tanks? If so this is the podcast for you!
Argentina wanted a tank, some Germans wanted some money moved out of Switzerland, the TAM was born.
A Marder hull, a 105mm gun, a lightish modular family of vehices it all looked good. And yet it failed to get to the fight the one time it mattered.
Recorded to celebrate America's 250th birthday with beer and it's greatest tank we explore the M4 Sherman in all it's glory as an exemplar of everything that made America great.
Britain is trying to build a new tank.
But they're doing it with a gun that entered service in the 1970s and re-tread hulls that ended production a quarter century ago.
And they're building fewer than 150, which for a completely orphan fleet is a "courageous" approach.
With over 8,000 produced the T-70 should not be an obscure tank. With an extremely unusual profile it should be easy to ID. And yet it's not exactly at the top of anyone's list, but we are going to try and shed some light on this Soviet light tank.
When all the world was bright and new and small boys were allowed to design tanks a lot of concepts were created for lumbering landships lurching slowly across the battlefield while delivering justice and vengeance to the enemy from a series varied weaponry in multiple turrets.
More boring designs eventually proved more useful, but in this episode we explore this inter-war golden era where tanks sprouted turrets like mushrooms after rain.
Failed joint procurement programs somehow led to the one tank that a cashed up country making its own decisions would buy.
With the production lines open again it's time to revisit the Leopard 2!
The Soviets decided they didn't have a need for light tanks. And instead built a very useful light vehicle with a big gun. And they built a lot of them. And this is their story.
Vickers went out on a limb and built their own tank in 1963.
And a bunch of countries decided something tough and simple was exactly what they wanted.
India built 2,000 of them and took them to war with great success.
This episode we're going to take a look at what was going on with the Vickers MBTs and the Indian Vijayanta.
The halftime interview features @lottiethetankwhisperer !
Early war tanks on all sides were surprisingly rattly and rickety contraptions. In this episode we're going to count the rivets on the Panzer II which really proved that some tank is better than no tank as it conquered Poland and France.
The halftime interview features Graham from @xacoupeguy reflecting on a year spent working with tanks.
After a world war spent building very bad tanks the British got their act together and unleashed Centurion on the world.
It would fight with distinction in the Korean War, the Suez Crisis, Indo-Pakistani wars, Vietnam, and on both sides of Arab-Israeli wars.
Bruce Springsteen was probably thinking of Centurion when he wrote "Tougher Than The Rest":
"If you're rough enough for love /
Baby, I'm tougher than the rest"
Centurion was the first audio episode we tried to record remotely during the Covid lockdowns and John's technical errors made him sound like a dalek so it was a good candidate to revisit.
The halftime interview features Chris from @HistoryofEverythingChannel on Air Disaster Hill just outside Canberra.
The US Army had a lot of ideas for tank destroyers, but they arrived half a war too late, leaving the operators driving open-topped assault guns. But the M10 was there when they needed it in crucial moments of the Second World War, packing a big gun on a reliable chassis. We'll also be discussing China's new tank, current events in modern warfare, wrapping up AusArmourFest25, and as much nerdy tank stuff we can get to while drinking a few litres of beer each. Join us for the livestream where the tank chatter gets willing! Special thanks to our halftime guests; tank whisperers Nick and Phil Rutherford.
Outfuelled, outmanned, outgunned. The desperate Germans needed a tank that could turn the tide of battle.
Fortunately they came up with this 190 tonne monster instead.
For all the slides and links check out: Totallytanked.net
The ancestor of all failed Franco-German military procurements the AMX-30 was a strange result of meeting the requirements of its moment precisely, while being birthed into a world that had changed from the time of its design.
Despite seeming strange to us in 2025 it enjoyed a great deal of success in markets too odious for the Germans to sell Leopards to.
From Northern France to the gates of Moscow, to the jungles of the South Pacific one tank kept rumbling slowly on. A vastly superior sequel; the Matilda II was a true tortoise of war.
This is our second episode featuring Matilda II as the expanded format of the current show made it worth coming back to.
How good was the Japanese Chi Ha? Just ten of them destroyed the British Empire. In this episode we find out how!
In this episode we take on the life and times of one of history's most controversial armoured vehicles, the Bradley!
We also take a deep dive into it's namesake Omar Bradley, and share some thoughts on recent world events.
In the interwar period the Soviets went hard on tank production, and a tank the communists took to war from Spain to Manchuria was the BT series, with suspension from an American racecar designer, a 500 horsepower engine, and a whopping (for the time) 45mm gun. Come join us as we explore a machine that killed fascists long before the war began.
The episode also features an interview with Kurt from the Australian Museum of Armour and Artillery.
The USA had one last go at a heavy tank before settling on the MBT concept. It was not to the Army's liking but the Marines wanted as much tank as they could put ashore.
In this episode we will explore the design, development and deployment of the last American Heavy.
In Britain's darkest hour they turned to the industrial genius of William Morris and he gave them the Crusader tank. It was not the tank they needed, it was not the tank they deserved, but it was the tank they got.
As promised the link to Mike Pezullo's article: https://www.aspistrategist.org.au/gradually-then-suddenly-in-geopolitics-decades-can-happen-in-weeks/
The Swedish miracle on ice, the light tank of our times, the CV-90!
And our Christmas Mailbag, and we talk to a Dr Albert Pallazo, a national security expert, about the impact of climate change.
You can download his book for free from:
https://www.armyupress.army.mil/Portals/7/combat-studies-institute/csi-books/Command/ClimateChg-Palazzo%20interactive%20w%20cover%2010Aug2022.pdf
Featuring an under-rated and misunderstood Soviet amphibious tank, a halftime interview with Dr John Dolan, The War Nerd himself, and some other thoughts of recent events as viewed through a great deal of beer.
In which we take on the Tiger II, have a chat with the Mother of Tanks herself, and some thoughts about recent events in Ukraine and the Middle East, as well as a distinctly underwhelming beer review.
Between the Siegfried Line and the Soviet IS3 the western powers put a lot of thought into heavy tanks in the late war period.
Totally Tanked is here to figure it all out with you!
What could have been an incremental improvement on the legendary T-55 instead became a revolutionary tank as a string of weird co-incidences and sliding doors moments lead to a the end of cannon rifling and the invalidation of steel armour.
Todays western tanks with their composite armours and smooth bore cannons are the response to the Soviets development of the T-62, a tank we're going to get to know a whole lot better in this episode!
In this episode we have the extraordinary tale of the little Czech tank that humbled the France.
This episode also features a chat with Jack Bowsher the author of Forgotten Armour: Tank Warfare in Burma.
Romania has its own tank program, and in this episode we unpack just why that might be as we look at the TR-85!
Also we talk to a Romanian about Romania, some thoughts on new Leopard variants, western tanks performance in Ukraine, and God's lager doesn't taste as sweet as it did when we wore younger men's clothes.
In the dark days of the First World War captain of industry Louis Renault looked on the tank building efforts of the allies and decided it could be done better.
In the process he created the tank as we know it today.
Few tanks have seen as much combat as the M48 Patton, and few men have had as much to do with tanks as George Patton.
This podcast takes on the legacy of both the tank and the man.
So what have the Italians wrought with their strange little orphan fleet of tanks?
It's got issues...
Britain spent years getting their big tank ready for D-Day, but in the end one greedy industrialist de-railed the best of plans and gave them a sadly crappy tank.
This is the story of Cromwell.
(Note: This episode was recorded on 18 Feb 2024, we got confused about the year at the start)
Totally Tanked gives you the rundown on China's premier tank, the Type 99A.
We also take a look at what reccent developments in Ukraine, Gaza, and Yemen mean for Chinese tank deployments, particularly surrounding Taiwan.
Possibly the best light tank of the second world war, the M24 Chaffee would take its big gun and low logistics requirements all around the world blazing a lightly armoured path through the hottest moments of the Cold War.
The halftime interview features Hugh Cullimore talking about the Murrayville Tank Graveyard.
Misunderstood, misused, under-appreciated, the T-80 was cut from production a lifetime ago.
And yet the hard lessons of the Ukraine war have seen its qualities come to be perceived in a new light, and production has been restarted!
The halftime interview features Ross Manuel, you can find him at → https://thedocnetwork.net/
Brought to you by the makers of the Titanic it was a vehicle only the British could conceive of. Monstrously heavy, incredibly slow, and anaemically armed.
Yet somehow over 5,000 Churchill tanks were built in the Second World War.
The halftime interview features author David Mitchelhill-Green, you can find his work at: https://www.amazon.com.au/David-Mitchelhill-Green/e/B01MZ9U8SW/
Pakistan has given a case study in how to make an adequate tank on a shoestring.
Also some thoughts on Ukraine.
It is poetic, if not inevitable, that a much-anticipated episode about the Panther tank would be plagued by an omnishambles of technical difficulties, and thus fail to meet expectations.
But there is some good stuff in here if you can get past what is not our finest performance!
Ever wonder why all those weird British light tanks had a name that started with an "S"?
In this episode we're all across that, and will Graham's tank run? What's been going on in Russia? what are the household cavalry up to? What IFV is the US Army getting?
Now for some links!
-- Sponsor us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/TotallyTanked
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The best tank is the one you have that you can get where it needs to be.
But... Sometimes you wish you had a little more.
The Stuart in M3 and M5 variants saw a lot of action in the Second World War and beyond, so we're going to have a lot to talk about in this episode!
Now for some links!
-- Sponsor us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/TotallyTanked
-- Buy a T-shirt: https://www.redbubble.com/people/totallytanked/shop
As the Cold War became more lively the West couldn't leave German manufacturing sitting on the bench.
The result was a radical tank design that was widely accepted as the best of its time, the Leopard 1.
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In this special recorded on ANZAC Day 2023 we tackle institutional white supremacy, and how it relates to a desperate Australian effort to build tanks in the second world war.
We also talk to an American OPFOR tank commander, bring up the latest on Australia's move to cancel IFV production and just be all submarines all the time, and tackle Lazerpig's flawed views on the T-14 Armata.
Enjoy!
Now for some links!
-- Sponsor us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/TotallyTanked
-- Buy a T-shirt: https://www.redbubble.com/people/tota...
-- Subscribe to the podcast: https://totallytanked.libsyn.com/web
In this episode we explore the magical fantasy tank that Russian dare not use, the T-14 Armata!
Also discussion of model tank building, Australian submarines, and the war in Ukraine!
We take on the best tank of the early second world war, the French Char B1 Bis.
There was a lot to hate about this tank, but a surprising amount of good things there too.
Also we talk to Clayton about building model tanks, and have some thoughts about the war in Ukraine!
Dedicated to the memory of Lejla Nikolas.
Totally Tanked takes on the new Japanese Type 10 tank. We also have a chat with a Japan resident about their recent developments, and then it's into:
-- The greyhound that never killed a tiger
-- The failure of the Pumas:
-- The rise of the Wagner Group
-- Free the Leopards (and challengers to Ukraine)
– Ukraine
– Elon
Links:
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/TotallyTanked
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCr4bmgC4i34J32MY7bL79pg
Merch: https://www.redbubble.com/people/TotallyTanked/shop
A quick run through the numbers which tell the tale of 2022 for a small independent tank podcast.
Quick links:
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/TotallyTanked
Redbubble for tshirts (and more): https://www.redbubble.com/people/TotallyTanked/shop?asc=u
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TotesTanked
Twitter: https://twitter.com/totallytanked1
Totally Tanked is tackling the American WW2 heavy, the M26 Pershing.
In 1943 the Americans had a tank design that would define tanks into the 1980s, but they decided they didn't want it.
In this episode we will get to the bottom of how and why this happened, and how it ended when an American Lieutenant General was blown to smithereens by the US Eighth Airforce.
Links:
-- The Ukraine volunteer talking to Lindybeige is at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TCbD4WBqPg4
-- Sponsor us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/TotallyTanked
-- Buy a T-shirt: https://www.redbubble.com/people/tota...
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Totally Tanked is tackling the Russian monster the T-90!
We also have a chat with an expert on infantry fighting vehicles and the latest from Ukraine.
The beer for review is the Styrian Wolf Hazy IPA - by Urbanaut Brewing.
Links:
-- Dr Albert Palazzo's paper on Australian infantry fighting vehicles: https://www.aspi.org.au/report/deciding-future
-- Sponsor us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/TotallyTanked
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Huge thanks to our patrons:
Stamps
Scotch12
Brian Jenkins
Vikram Murthy
David Mulvaney
In this episode we explore the murky world of making tanks in an era of disarmament, how keeping the Vickers company alive meant teaching the world how to make tanks, and then we go on to explore more recent events with the AbramsX and what's going on in Ukraine.
Sign up on Patreon to support the pod at: https://www.patreon.com/TotallyTanked
In a jam packed episode we examine the reasons behind the creation of the M18 Hellcat tank destroyer and its exciting service history in the Second World War and beyond.
We also have an interview with The Chieftain himself from AusArmourFest 2022, thoughts about the tank festival experience for those thinking of attending such a thing, the latest news from Ukraine, and a review of a really cracking NEIPA from New York's Barrier Brewing.
In our 36th outing we cover Chieftain, the tank which proved the British don't always get it right.
We also talk a bit about the looming war over Taiwan, and other parts between.
To see the images and maps check out the YouTube livestream.
https://youtu.be/RPQ8-Q6iwJA
In a jam packed episode we dismantle one of the greatest tanks of all time, the Panzer 3!
There's also some discussion of why politics and tanks mix, and the American light tank!
Beer for review is the Schnitzer Brau gluten free.
If you want to join us for the live streams sign up at → https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCr4bmgC4i34J32MY7bL79pg
Also you can find us on facebook → https://www.facebook.com/TotesTanked
And Twitter → https://twitter.com/totallytanked1
The last masterpiece of the greatest tank designer in history the T-64 was initially a disappointment largely due to being too far ahead of its time.
Now long past its prime of the 1980s it has roared back to prominence as the mainstay of the Ukrainian Army in the struggle against Russia.
A tank so bad it was replaced by older designs, a tank so good it replaced newer ones.
Despised by the Soviets, loved by the British, in the thick of the fighting for the best moments of German forces in Africa.
The M3 Medium was a weird looking tank that did strange things over a peculiar service history.
It certainly gives us a lot to talk about.
John and Rob dive deep into the Israeli-Arab wars and then detour hard into the Ukraine to cover the old and the new in tank design and development.
It's a marathon episode of tank related gold!
It's little known that Australia deployed a fleet of tanks to the middle east in 1915. Noting the date, we present to you the history of this underappreciated vehicle.
The best tank in the world in 1936 is not such a great thing to be in 1940. In this episode we take on the many tragic failings of what was on paper a very good tank, and the way it demonstrates the crucial weakness of France at the start of the Second World War.
We also talk later in the episode about recent events in Ukraine, and as for the beer we review the Lindemans Pecheresse.
In this episode we talk about China's shiny new light tank, and John talks to a private tank owner about the joys of this very expensive hobby. Also some thoughts on the Ukraine, and a review of Tsingtao beer.
We roar into the new year with a tank that was downright bad, but was built to be just good enough in an extremely cheap way.
It's the sten gun of tanks, it's the tank we'd have covered in February if we were smarter, it's the British Valentine!
Hi Folks, a special New Year Greeting to you from The Chieftain, Nicholas Moran himself, and a quick game of "Guess That Tank", check our Facebook for the answers and to post your scores!
https://www.facebook.com/TotesTanked
Breaking with tradition we're back for a second bite at the cherry in December.
We discuss:
-- Australia's new Huntsman self-propelled artillery,
-- All the comments, messages, reviews and emails we've had from you fine folk during 2021
-- TWO beers for review!
-- Recent events in and around Ukraine.
There's a lot to unpack so listen in and have the best possible Christmas!
What happens when a country with thousands of very good Russian tanks decides to build something different for themselves?
You get yourselves Arjuns!
As the sun set on the end of the world for Nazi Germany the Soviets made a super tank of their own to counter the wonder weapons.
With the armour to defeat German 88s, and the biggest gun ever mounted in a tank (until then) it was only relevant for a year, but it won the final battles of the Second World War.
This episode is about the IS2.
All tanks are supposed to be dangerous, but the M551 Sheridan was a killer even before it made contact with the enemy.
An excellent concept with desperately poor execution.
Rob and John talk about the madcap innovation of the Swedish turretless tank that still represents a high point of design brilliance. And then because we're Australians talking on defence issues we cover the weirdness of our submarine procurement.
John stuffed up his expensive audio rig while Rob sounds delightful on a cheap headset, the end result being that Rob talks for 80 minutes with a Dalek about the tank which showed the British could build a decent one when they tried. This episode is all about Centurion!
So you've declared war on the whole world and you can't build proper tanks fast enough to keep the Red Army out of Prussia.
What do you come up with to slow down the enemy as much as possible, without actually changing the course of the war?
It's the tank that isn't a tank, the little armoured vehicle which no two tank nerds can even agree on the name of.
This month, Totally Tanked brings you: The Hetzer!
Rob and John talk through the very clever French offering to the world of tanks, the LeClerc main battle tank.
And then we have a laugh about how badly the British have stuffed up their AJAX program.
This episode focuses on the great Cold Warrior, the American M-60, why you shouldn't call it a Patton, and why anti-tank missiles ended up being a dead end.
Then we turn our attentions to a very nice Imperial Stout, and discuss the abject foolishness of the Challenger 3 announcement.
We've got an alternate theme music this episode thanks to Etienne Chartrand reworking the amazing Luke McGrath.
Mistakes were made.
We should have split this tank up over two episodes, we should have bought a Russian beer, not a dutch beer that was sitting on the Czech beer shelf.
But in terms of speaking glowingly about the most produced tank of WW2 for over an hour.
Nailed it!
What would a tank look like if it was designed with all the most modern features, with no expense spared?
What if it was intended to shred antiquated armour?
Wonder no more! Instead come and listen in to find out about the most advanced tank in the world!
The world's favourite tank podcast is back to figure out what went wrong with Italian armour in the second world war.
Featuring the Carro armato M 13/40
In our first episode of 2021 we take on the most produced armoured fighting vehicle of history, the father of the technical, and yet the almost utterly unknown Universal Carrier!
Rob and John take on the most produced tank in the history of the world with special help from a guest who has lived the dream of commanding a stolen tank in a dystopian war-zone. It's a special bumper episode on the kalashnikov of tanks, the T-55!
Rob and John take start off with the modern state of tank conflict in the caucasus before teeing up on what Japanese armour had to offer the world in 1942.
Bringing us back to the point that the best tank is the best tank you've got.
A tank that only made sense as a fascist empire failed to come to terms with the reality of its own demise.
It still remains one of the great villains of history, an icon to conjure with.
This month we talk about the Tiger.
A tortured development, a weird anglo-iranian heritage, a tank designed to invade Iraq, that got to do it twice.
The wrong gun with the wrong engine, and an armour scheme that no-one understands.
And yet if we had to choose one tank to go to war in, in 2020, it's this weird beast.
Forget your big cats, forget your miracle weapons.
The greatest German tracked fighting vehicle of the Second World War was based around proven manufacturing, training, and logistics and an adequate gun.
Thankfully they did not learn from this lesson.
But we've learned plenty from talking through the history of the Stug III.
Responding to listener demand we bring you the dawn of the tank, the history of the tank in the first world war.
In this outing we take a deep breathe and go though the most poorly understood and yet massively produced tank of the world's most important tank war.
We dive deep on the M4 Sherman.
It was the best of tanks, it was the worst of tanks...
In our Christmas edition we take on the mighty Soviet Colossus, the KV-1.
Also the beer review is Bombardier Premium British Ale!
The most influential tank of the cold war? Consider the little known, but widely fought light French terror, the AMX-13.
New host Rob joins John to take us through the smallest and most obscure tank with an unexpectedly huge cultural impact.
It's the Ontos, The Thing, The Pig, or, in polite company, the "Rifle, Multiple 106 mm, Self-propelled, M50".
Andrew and John try to figure out how one tank can be so great, and so abysmally bad, at the same time. It's a small, fast, tough, swimming tank with a really big gun. What more can you ask for?
Andrew and John go through the gubbins of what makes a modern tank as we kick the tracks of the tank of the free world, the euro-tank, the global-tank, the Leopard 2!
In the first outing of Totally Tanked we talk you through the development and design of the Matilda II and explain its unexpected claim to being the best tank of the Second World War.