1917- Following the Battle of the Piave Italian soldier Antonio Gagliardini, a factory engineer who oversaw the modification of FIAT plants to produce tanks, writes a series of essay’s covering the central idea of an armored vehicle designed for rough terrain.
1922- Italian company Carro Veloce creates a four legged “Goat” tank or Walker as they came to be known. It goes only 5 mph, but can move along step grades, and rough terrain with ease. Armed with only a machine gun, it is seen as a very interesting weapon, but not at all the same as the impressive progress of the standard tank.
1936- The CV-22 and CV-34 walkers see combat for the first time during the Second Battle of Tembien. They perform well enough, but many think they are slowing down the army too much, and as such are used sparingly.
1938- German designers get a hold of a single walker and work on it to see if the speed issue can be fixed to better use them for mountain combat. What occurs is the so-called Zahn Limit System, which clearly shows that the weight of the main armament must be a quarter the weight of the leg suspension system in order to keep speeds above 12mph. As such the Germans toss aside the Walker, yet the Italians enjoy the new breakthroughs.
1941- During Operation Marita the Germans find themselves using Italian Walkers to move over the rocky, and hilly regions of Greece. The 22mph CV-39 armed with a 20mm cannon, and a machine gun comes into its own, and is outright copied by the German after Hitler demands a Walker for the Third Reich.
1944- As Operation Market Garden went underway the British and Americans find their actions slowed by the German built PzFw-42, or the Chicken as the Americans called it. Simply a few machine guns, and a short barrel 120mm anti0tank gun it quickly showed itself as a deadly weapon in the cities. However speed was always an issue, and a single shot to the leg could cripple the thing.
1945- The Battle of Iwo Jima proved two things, first that Japan was keeping a secret weapon close to the Home Islands, and that the Walker was a weapon to be feared. Unlike the Italians, or Germans who saw the Walker as a weapon to fight tanks, the Japanese stuck closer to the original intent of the weapon. The Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Type 4 Chi-Ka walker was responsible for close to 1,900 of the 8,000 casualties during the battle. Armed with one 20mm machine gun, and two Type 1 heavy machine guns. Able to go 25 mph, but most went at 20mph due to the terrain. These added mobility, armor, and firepower to the Japanese defenders. As but fifteen were on the island at the time, they did much damage to the US marines in the region.
1953- As the Korean War comes to a close the world looks out at the newer weapons of war. The jet, the massive tanks, and now the Walker. While not a deciding factor in the conflict the newly created American Hardy Class walker proved itself in crossing the mountains, and even against the better armed Soviet IFW-49. While still unable to go faster then 25mph, the Walker looks to be one of those support weapons many militaries are adopting.
