The Conqueror – as mighty as it was – had an extremely short service life, in operation between 19. Weighing in at 63 long tons* (64 tonnes), armed with a powerful 120 mm gun, and protected by thick steel armor. 1, 120 mm Gun, FV214 Conqueror’, was an impressive vehicle. The Conqueror or – to give its officially long-winded title – the ‘Tank, Heavy No. The FV214 was one of the vehicles in this series, and was a design for a ‘Heavy Gun Tank’. The FV200s were a projected series of vehicles based on one common chassis, hence ‘Universal Tank’.
This is where the FV200 series of vehicles come in. It was projected that it would be equipped with the 20-Pounder (84mm) in the future, but a more powerful gun was desired. At this time, however, it was only armed with the 17-Pounder gun. The FV4007 Centurion was also in development well before the IS-3 appeared. The British, on the other hand, would pursue the development of the ‘Universal Tank’, what we know today as a ‘Main Battle Tank’ or ‘MBT’. Both of these tanks had 120 mm guns that would – it was hoped – be able to combat the IS-3 threat. The Americans would create the 120 mm Gun Tank M103 while the French experimented with the AMX-50. France, Britain, and the US immediately began the design and development of their own heavy or heavily armed tanks. What they saw was a tank with well-sloped and – apparently – heavy armor, a piked nose, wide tracks, and a gun at least 120 mm in caliber. As these machines clattered down the parade route, a sense of fear enveloped the representatives of the British, US, and French Armies. During that parade, the increasingly threatening Soviet Union unveiled its latest tank to the world: the IS-3 heavy tank. On September 7th, 1945, military heads of the Western Powers were horrified by what they saw rumbling towards them along the Charlottenburger Chaussee in central Berlin during the 1945 Victory Parade celebrating the end of the Second World War.
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