One of the World’s Fastest ****s was Builtby Buick

世界最快坦克之一——别克制造

Whether it is meant as a complement or tobe derisive to American cars, it is not uncommon for a Buick to be referred toas a “****.” This is usually a reference to their large size or robustconstruction, but there was a time when Buick actually built a ****– and wasone of the fastest ****s of its day.

对美国汽车来说，不管是补充亦或是嘲弄，把别克称为“坦克”并非不同寻常。人们通常用“坦克”来形容别克公司所产的大型或者坚固的车辆，然而曾几何时别克确实造过坦克——而且所造出来的坦克是当时速度最快的之一。

In the December of 1941, D-Day was stillyears away, but the United States was preparing for war. Many of the ****s andplanes utilized by the U.S. Military did not appear ready to take on theadvanced weaponry from the Germans. Throughout America, factories typicallyused to build cars and trucks were being repurposed for ****s and planes.

1941年12月，离诺曼底登陆还有很长时间，但是美国已经在开始准备战争。美国当时所拥有的很多坦克和飞机在性能上似乎无法与德军的武器装备相抗衡。所以当时全美用来生产汽车的工厂都被用来生产坦克和飞机了。

The Ordinance Corps put out a demand for afast-attack **** to be able to compete with the German ****s, and be fastenough to outmaneuver and outflank the opponent. The original requirementcalled for a torsion bar suspension, 37mmgun and a Wright/Continental R-975 engine.

美军军械署要求所造出来的快速攻击坦克在性能上一定要能与德国的坦克相抗衡，而且要足够的快从而打败对手。为了满足这样的要求，坦克上的装备必须包括一个扭力杆式悬架，37毫米枪炮，以及一个赖特/**式R-975引擎。

Around this time, General Motors committeditself to the War Effort. Harley Earl, one of America’s most influential cardesigners (Earl brought us the tail-fin), was commissioned to design a **** tomeet these requirements. Earl would also develop camouflage for the U.S.Military.

在当时，通用汽车公司承诺要为战争做出贡献。美国最具影响力的汽车设计师哈利厄尔被任命去设计一种能满足这些要求的坦克。他还为美**队设计迷彩服。

Earl’s staff built a **** with a torsionbar suspension that, despite weighing 20 tons, could move at speeds up to 60 mph. That is even fast for today’sstandards. The M-18 or “Hellcat” **** was powered by an aircraft-type enginemaking 450 horsepower, mated to a three speed hydramatic suspension.

厄尔的团队给坦克设计了一个扭力杆悬架，尽管重达20吨，但是最高时速达到了60英里。即使以今天的标准来看，这样的速度也是很快的了。所设计出来的坦克叫做M-18或“悍妇”或“地狱猫”，由一个航空引擎驱动，450马力，与一个三速液压自动式悬挂系统进行配对。

Its high speed allowed it to outflank theGerman ****s in battle, and the high road speed proved useful in the Battle ofthe Bulge. Before the European campaign, the Hellcat was used in North Africa,where the main gun was increased to first a British 37mm gun, then a 75mmunit, before finally ending up with a 76mmmain gun, which would be the configuration for the rest of the War, includingEuropean and Pacific operations.

其速度之快足以超越战场上的德国坦克，在突出部战役中，其速度发挥了巨大的作用。在欧洲战役之前，这种坦克首先被用在了北非，主力炮先是替换成英国的37毫米口径，随后替换成75毫米，最后替换成了76毫米，在接下来的战役中都使用这种口径，包括后来的欧洲战场和太平洋战场。

The Hellcat was produced up until Octoberof 1944. Just over 2,500 M18Hellcats were built, and each was constructed for less than $60,000, which madethe pencil-pushers in Washington happy. To this day, the Hellcat is still oneof the fastest ****s ever built. Even modern battle ****s like the M1 Abramsare limited to a top speed of 60 mph. So while road going Buicks might not be considered speeddemons, when they build ****s– it’s a whole different story.

“悍妇”的生产一直持续到1944年10月。总共建造了2500多辆M18悍妇坦克，而且每辆的建造成本低于6万美元，这令美国***很是满意。直到今天，悍妇依然是最快的坦克之一。像M1Abrams这样的现代战斗型坦克最快时速也就60英里。虽然如今的别克车在速度上可能不是最快的，但是谈到他们曾经建造过的坦克，那又完全不一样了。

A battle of the Bulge (Ardennes,France/Belgium) was THE worst single battle disaster of the Western front lineduring WW2, when allies had suffered about 90000 in casualties...

Germans had been using 88mmmain **** guns capable of the "double wall" penetration of theAmerican ****s at the range of more than 1500m(1650 yards). American **** guns were lucky if they could penetrate a side wallof the German "Tiger" at the range of 500 yards or less.

All allies could do was running away from Germans very fast...

突出部战役(发生于阿登高地)是二战期间西线最糟糕的一场战役，盟军伤亡人数大约为9万人。

德军使用的是88毫米枪炮的坦克，足以在1500多米远的地方摧毁美国坦克。而美国坦克能在500米远的地方击毁德军虎式坦克就很不错了。

所以盟军唯一能做的就是在看到德军坦克时跑得远远的。

The Rear End of all German ****s were thereweakness the fuel and ammo was stored there. The Germans never really saw thisas a weakness because of the Huge Gun that was in front. But we did why thiswas so fast it was built to get behind the German **** not take it Head On andhit it there in the Rear before they could swing around and when 3-4 of thesecame at the Germans they did just that only problem One **** usually took a hitthat destroyed it why these came with huge and many Exit's.

德军所有坦克的尾部是弱点所在，燃料和弹药都储存在那里。德军从来不觉得这是弱点，因为他们认为坦克上的**足以保护他们。所以当时的美国才需要建造快速的坦克，从而能够快速绕到德军坦克后方，在德军坦克转头之前，就袭击德军坦克尾部。

American doctrine of the time was not toengage ****s with ****s. ****s were to be used to break through the enemy lineand support the infantry. If you were going to engage ****s, the U.S. preferredto use **** destroyers like the Hellcat. They were faster and more agile thanenemy ****s. And to repeat what has been said in the earlier comments, theHellcat is not a ****. It doesn't have a roof on its turret, and it doesn'thave enough armor.

美国当时的想法是不要用坦克来对付坦克。所以美国当时只用坦克来突破敌人的防线并且支援步兵。如果要对付德军坦克的话，美国更喜欢用高速轻型反坦克装甲车，比如悍妇。比起德军坦克来，悍妇这种反坦克装甲车速度更快更敏捷。悍妇并非坦克。其炮塔上并没有安装塔顶，而且所装备的装甲也不够多，所以不是坦克。

The author dug up several interesting factsand figures about this vehicle, so it seems odd he chose to overlook theglaring fact that the M18 is NOT a ****. at it's thickest this vehicle had aninch of armor, that's 1/3 as much as the M-4 Sherman AKA "tommycooker."

the defining characteristic of a **** would be it's ability to slug it out withanother ****, i.e having at least a marginal chance of surviving a hit fromanother ****... the hellcat did not posses this capability, which is why themilitary classified it as a "**** destroyer" rather than a"****."

文章的作者提供了很多有趣的事实，但是他似乎不知道M18其实并非坦克，这种车辆装甲最厚的地方也 就1英寸，这厚度相当于M-4坦克的三分之一。

一辆坦克的关键性特点就是其有能力承受另外一辆坦克的攻击，也就是说在遭受另外一辆坦克的攻击后，其有生存下来的可能。而悍妇根本不具备这样的能力，所以美军才把其归类为“反坦克装甲车”而非“坦克”。

When I see these articles I always rememberthe German Tiger 1 that attacked an entire armored column, alone. Destroyed all12 ****s and support vehicles. During the largest **** battle in history, theRussians with the supposed best **** of the war, out numbered the Germansnearly three to one in armor yet had to settle for a draw.

The American "Machine" won the war! Producing what the Germansthemselves described as "So much coming at them, they couldn't blow it upfast enough. Coupled with the American ideal,"You made US come here, we'llstop when we win!

Reagan turned "The Machine" lose again, and the communist went busttrying to keep up.

The Machine is gone. Sold away. Lets get it back.

当我看到这类型的文章时，我总是会想起德国虎1坦克独自攻击整个装甲纵队的情景。总共摧毁了12辆坦克和后勤车。在历史上规模最大的一次坦克大战中，俄军拥有最好的坦克，而且数量上是德军坦克的三倍，可是最终还是打成了平手。

而美国的“战争机器“赢得了战争!德国人是这么形容美国的战争机器的：“它们的袭击速度太快了，我们都来不及把它们炸毁”。

而里根再次让我们的战争机器大显身手，最终****者为了追赶我们而导致破产。

这样的战争机器已经远去，被卖掉了。让我们重新拾回吧。

The US Ordinance dept screwed the ****erswith the puny 37mmgun. It could not penetrate the German **** armor unless you could shoot thePanzer or Tiger in the butt. US Ordnance has always shorted sodiers...in theAmerican Civil War they could have bought repeating firearms for the US Armybut they thought the soldiers would waste ammunition....so they bought moremuzzle loading muskets and doomed many thousands to death. It took some toughwar commanders to demand heavier guns on these ****s so they could fairlycompete...but of course it is hard to beat a four hole buick!

美**械署给这种坦克装备了37毫米口径的枪炮，这真是乱来。这种口径的枪炮根本没法摧毁德国坦克的装甲，除非从背面袭击了德国坦克的尾部。而且这样的事情并非第一次。。，美国内战期间，他们本可以给美军装备连发枪，但是由于害怕士兵浪费子弹，所以给美军装备了更多的需要通过枪口装弹的毛瑟枪，导致大量士兵因此身亡。在一些强硬的美军将领的要求下，才给这种坦克装备了更大口径的枪炮，如此才能和德军坦克一决高下。当然，现在要想打败4个洞的别克车，那还真是挺难的。

Regardless of if you classify it as a ****,**** destroyer, or motor gun carriage this is still a very interesting articleand another example of how American auto companies were once at the forefrontof armament production during WWII.

不管是坦克还是反坦克装甲，亦或是机动炮车，这篇文章都非常有趣，也表明了美国汽车公司于二战期间在军需生产方面所发挥的作用。

The best heavy **** of the war on any sidewas the Patton. However, on transports it took up the space of 2 Shermans. So,it was generally the Sherman or nothing for our troops. The famous Tiger wasintroduced to battle before it was ready, had a hand cranked turret, and hadwierd interlocking wheels which were difficult to disassemble. Only 2000 ofthem were produced. The best mass production medium **** was obviously theT-34. It's main defects lay in the insufficient training of the Russian crews,and lack of space inside.

我觉得战争中最好的重型坦克是巴顿坦克，可是在运输时，其所占据的空间相当于两辆谢尔曼坦克。所以我们军队中一般都装备舍尔曼。著名的虎式坦克在还没准备好的情况下就上战场了，所以一开始的时候其炮塔是手动曲柄的，而且车轮也是联锁的，所以很难拆解。总共就生产了2000辆。产出最多的中型坦克显然是T-34，唯一的不足之处是俄罗斯驾驶员没能得到足够的训练，而且坦克内部空间较小。

aircraft-type engine making 450 horsepower,mated to a three speed hydramatic suspension. I can just see the engineerssitting there for hours trying to figure out how to get that thing to move withthe engine bolted to the suspension. Then some ignorant mechanic ask why notbolt that engine to the transmission? and behold it worked.

“450马力的航空引擎，与一个三速的液压自动式悬挂系统相连接。”

看到这个后，我就在想，这些工程师肯定坐在那里几个小时，在苦苦思考如何将这个航空引擎与悬挂系统进行结合。突然，某个无知的技工说道，为什么不把引擎连接到传动系统上?最终证明这个方法可行。

The GM, Ford and Chrysler plants producedmany a ****, plane and everything else one could imagine during WWII. Nowadays,we would have to get China to make them for us. Not a good thing.

通用，福特和克莱斯勒二战期间制造了很多飞机和坦克等等。如今，我们需要中国的帮助才能制造这些东西，这真不是好事。