6. BMP-1
Once the armored personnel carrier had shown its worth in World War II, wheeled and tracked vehicles entered service with all the world's armies. The Soviet Red Army was the first to move the idea of a personnel carrier forward so that infantrymen would be able to fight from it, rather than have to dismount and lose the protection of the vehicle's armor.
The first sight the West had of the brand-new vehicle was at a parade in Red Square in 1967. The Bronevaya Maschina Piekhota (BMP-1) had firing ports and vision blocks to enable its passengers to fire from within the vehicle. It also featured an automatic loading 73-mm turret-mounted gun firing fin-stabilized HEAT missiles. The BMP was amphibious, propelled though the water by its tracks.
Though the BMP revolutionized armored warfare, it was not without drawbacks. The armor was thin and the low silhouette made it cramped for crew and passengers, but it was still used by many of the worlds' armies. Its successor, the BMP-2, has been made in large numbers and seen combat in Afghanistan and Iraq.
PUZZLES: Put together these Top Ten Fighting Vehicles.
