Unsually modified Tanks

[RyanW]

Another specialized modification: the searchlight tank. It's like a tank... with a searchlight.

[David Johnston2]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mine_flail

Mine flail tank.

[Racer]

Ah forgot The Firefly from Thunderbirds ! A combined Bulldozer/Assault Gun with firefighting capabilities . Dozer blade had specific cutout so large demolition cannon could be fired even if blade was lowered . Similar to some versions of Vindicator Tank from Warhammer 40K .

Firefly also had multiple firefighting foam nozzles never shown in the puppet series (?) , but visible on cutaway plans of Thunderbirds Tech Manual .

Various 40K Tank models could be used as basis for many WWII to late 21st Century designs :

Stormblade - large Tank with fixed large weapon , smaller sponson mounted Cannon , rack of Artillery Rockets & one or two externally mounted heavy Anti-Tank Missiles . Plus several small arms secondaries .

Razorback - Tank PC with two Medium Cannons in remote Turret & option for two more in Sponson Turrets .

Stormhammer - forward Assault Tank with four (2+2) short ranged but powerful Howitzer type Cannon in two separate staggered Turrets & multiple small arms Turrets & Sponsons for Urban Combat or Trench Clearing operations . Armour is strong all round in case of side/rear ambush attacks .

Landraider - Large Assault TPC with twin or multiple Side Sponsons , front mounted rapid fire Weapons & front Assault Ramp to deliver heavily Armoured Troops onto an objective . Can also have side exit points and/or multiple Claymore type external Antipersonnel explosives can be added to neutralize near by enemy combatants .

And many , many others .

[Þorkell]

Originally Posted by Polydamas

Command tank: contains a good radio and more space for the commander.

Some of them also had a wooden mock-up of the gun so that the tank wouldn't stand out too much. I think there's an example of this in the Imperial War Museum in London where they have one of Monty's command tanks.

[Anaraxes]

Americans made all sorts of field expedient modifications. Fighting in the hedgerows in Normandy, they'd come up with ways to help their tanks get through. (There were official bulldozer blades for tanks, but only so many of those.) Blowing holes through the hedgerows with explosives worked, but was dangerous for the engineers to dig them in. So, some tank crews welded a couple of steel pipes to the front of their tank, so they could just ram nice holes into the hedgerows to hold the explosives. Other crews made bumpers out of railroad track, which worked well enough to be turned into an official piece of additional gear.

Adding armor was popular for the Shermans' crews, as they were a bit envious of the Panther and Tiger armor. You've seen sandbags stacked on tanks in the movies, and they did that in real life, coming up with different ways to secure those sandbags, with different units favoring different patterns. There was one armor unit after D-Day that, upon first encountering Tiger tanks, sent trucks back to their landing beach to fetch more sand. Adorning the tank with spare track sections was also popular. They needed to carry the track anyway, and the standoff helped against some weapons like Panzerfausts. Some crews just welded the track to their hull. Not so useful for track after that, but it was easy to get and apply. Pouring concrete on the hull was also a popular way to add armor in the field. One tank unit had to spend six hours removing the concrete from their M4s with jackhammers before turning them back in at the end of the war. One Marine unit liked to build wooden frames around their tanks and then pour concrete into those forms. The wood was also useful against Japanese magnetic anti-tank mines. Though some tankers found that they could just cover their tank with a few layers of fabric, and those mines would slide off. There were also a number of field additions to the armor which weren't even completely improvised, along the lines of welding another inch of armor plate over critical areas like the engine covers, or the bottom plates of some of the light tanks.

[sgtcallistan]

The Ark: a tank chassis (sometimes retaining the turret) that had various bridges carried.
Originally large enough to throw over a large hole in a road (or make a ramp up off a beach, frex), then later a folding extensible two or more section bridge for small rivers, etc.
Mostly superseded by specialised (often floating, powered, boat-like) bridging vehicles, many are still visible at the Royal Engineer's Museum in my hometown of Chatham, Kent, UK.

On the searchlight tank: there was also the CDL; a 'Canal Defence Light' tank with a bright light shone through a vertical slit in a specialised turret.
One is visible at the Royal Tank Regiment's Museum at Bovingdon, UK.

[Rupert]

Originally Posted by Anaraxes

Adding armor was popular for the Shermans' crews, as they were a bit envious of the Panther and Tiger armor. You've seen sandbags stacked on tanks in the movies, and they did that in real life, coming up with different ways to secure those sandbags, with different units favoring different patterns. There was one armor unit after D-Day that, upon first encountering Tiger tanks, sent trucks back to their landing beach to fetch more sand. Adorning the tank with spare track sections was also popular. They needed to carry the track anyway, and the standoff helped against some weapons like Panzerfausts. Some crews just welded the track to their hull. Not so useful for track after that, but it was easy to get and apply. Pouring concrete on the hull was also a popular way to add armor in the field. One tank unit had to spend six hours removing the concrete from their M4s with jackhammers before turning them back in at the end of the war. One Marine unit liked to build wooden frames around their tanks and then pour concrete into those forms. The wood was also useful against Japanese magnetic anti-tank mines. Though some tankers found that they could just cover their tank with a few layers of fabric, and those mines would slide off. There were also a number of field additions to the armor which weren't even completely improvised, along the lines of welding another inch of armor plate over critical areas like the engine covers, or the bottom plates of some of the light tanks.

And all those field-improvised types of extra armour were officially frowned upon or outright banned for a reason - other than wooden or cloth stand-off layers to stop magnetic mines/grenades, they didn't work. In fact quite a few of them made the actual armour less effective, and they all added a lot of weight and that meant more fuel burned, more engines and drives burned out, more wrecked suspensions, and more track wear.

[The Colonel]

Originally Posted by Celjabba

Don't forget also the water boiling device added on (in) centurion Tank in WW2, and later to all UK tanks !

Not just tanks - we put BVs in pretty much anything we can.

Originally Posted by Racer

Various 40K Tank models could be used as basis for many WWII to late 21st Century designs :

Meh. Any G-dubs tank tends to be "unusual" ... but then if you look at some genuine designs from the late 30s (T-35, the Vickers Independent or the Char 2C) you can see where they got some of their ideas from ... not to mention the Nahverteidigungswaffe and/or Minenabwurfvorrichtung ... because "frag defender" is a lot easier to pronounce for non-German speakers (and maybe for them as well?).

Originally Posted by Anaraxes

Adding armor was popular for the Shermans' crews, as they were a bit envious of the Panther and Tiger armor.

Has't seen some of the ones from the Pacific? The ones with so many nails spot welded onto them they look like someone borrowed them for a Mad Max movie? Apparently to keep Japanese anti-tank volunteers from sticking charges to the hull...

[Michele]

Originally Posted by The Colonel

Has't seen some of the ones from the Pacific? The ones with so many nails spot welded onto them they look like someone borrowed them for a Mad Max movie? Apparently to keep Japanese anti-tank volunteers from sticking charges to the hull...

Never knew about those, but the Soviet tankers during the final 1945 advances welded bed frames to their T-34s if they could. Lighter than the German Schürzen (and the latter being a formally approved accessory rather than a field improvisation), they apparently worked well against Panzerfäuste, making them detonate prematurely.
The appearance of the T-34s with bed springs on them is - surprising.

[Michele]

Originally Posted by Þorkell

Some of them also had a wooden mock-up of the gun so that the tank wouldn't stand out too much. I think there's an example of this in the Imperial War Museum in London where they have one of Monty's command tanks.

Yes, but the Germans at least tended to use such a vehicle not just for command purposes, but also for FO service for the artillery. They had not just better radios and more room, but also better optical equipment. They tended to be fielded with the armored artillery units, of course.