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This is an idea I've had for a little while, and as it's the first real attempt at an AH timeline I'm very much looking for criticism and help here. I know the concept of a "walking tank" is a difficult engineering problem and I'm probably assuming a lot by having the "walking" part solved so early, but is this otherwise plausible? Do I need more detail? What can I do to make the concept more plausible?

Thanks!

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Timeline of Walking Tank Development

Late 1940 - As plans for Operation Barbarossa were being drafted by Nazi Germany, the German military considered the possibility of the invasion extending beyond Moscow all the way to the Urals. If that occurred, some planners argued that German tanks would be rendered useless by the unforgiving mountain terrain. To prevent such a catastrophe, the German Army requested that manufacterer Henschel & Son to develop a vehicle that could overcome this problem. Henschel's solution was the Hs-281 "Spazierengehen Panzerkampfwagen", or "Walking Tank" (literally, "Walking Armored Combat Car"). Afterwards, the Hs-281 project was suspended and the design shelved as German military leaders decided it would not be necessary.

October 1941 - With German forces bearing down on Moscow and after facing serious resistance from the Soviets, interest was reknewed in the Spazierengehen Panzerkampfwagen project as some in the German High Command once again worried about the performance of the Tank Corps when German forces pushed into the Urals. Henschel & Son was commissioned to build a working proof-of-concept prototype of the Spazierengehen Panzerkampfwagen for the German Army.

August 1943 - A single Hs-281 prototype was completed at Heschel & Son's factory in Kassel and demonstrated for senior military officials. Impressed, they commissioned a combat-ready prototype. Heschel & Son designated the new unit Hs-281B. Unfortunately, as the war had turned against Germany, the project saw its funding cut in favor of increased traditional tank production.

April 1945 - The city of Kassel, including Henschel & Son's factories, was captured by the US Army. Among other things, the Hs-281A and the incomplete Hs-281B prototypes fell into the hands of the United States military. After the war in Europe ended, all materials related to the project were shipped to Newark Army Air Field and, eventually, to the Tank Automotive Research, Development and Engineering Center in Warren, Michigan. Deemed of "low priority interest", all materials were put in storage.

January 1946 - Dr. Eberhard von Maur, the chief engineer on the Spazierengehen Panzerkampfwagen project, resurfaced at the Soviet OKB-520 design bureau, where he participated in the development of the T-54 and T-55 main battle tanks.

December 1967 - Dr. von Maur, now a senior engineer at OKB-520, capitalized on renewed Soviet interest in robotics to propose an updated Soviet version of the Walking Tank concept. The project was approved under the codename "Object 169", but was given low priority next to other projects, with many engineers doing double duty on the development of the T-72 main battle tank.

June 1971 - US intelligence obtained documents detailing Object 169 and Dr. von Maur's work. In response, the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency (DARPA) was asked to conduct a study on whether or not the concept was at all feasible.

May 1972 - DARPA completed its study on the walking tank concept, determining that "while interesting, was too fallible and easily countered to be useful in a realistic combat setting". Although tabs were kept on the Soviet walking tank's development, it was considered a dead-end and likely waste of Soviet resources.

February 1974 - Dr. von Maur died of lung cancer. Shortly afterward, Object 169's development was cancelled and its term dispersed throughout OKB-520, with the Object 169 prototype about 70% complete. The CIA ceased surveillance of Object 169.

December 1979 - The Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan. Opposing them was the mujahideen, supported and supplied by the CIA.

September 1982 - Unable to use armored vehicles effectively in Afghanistan's rough terrain, interest was renewed in Object 169. The Soviet Army tasked OKB-520 with finishing the prototype, and the project was handed over to Dr. Pavel Demidov, who had originally worked on the design under Dr. von Maur.

March 1983 - The Object 169 prototype was demonstrated to a group of senior Soviet officials, impressing them as much as it had their German predecessors forty years earlier. The Soviet Army commissioned the construction of three combat-ready units, now designated the W-83, for field testing in Afghanistan. How well the W-83 team performed in the field would determine whether or not to go forward with further production.

January 1986 - The three W-83 test units were completed. The Soviet Army drew personnel from the Tank Corps to be trained as the test operators, with initial field tests conducted in Tajikistan. Word of the bizarre vehicles eventually made its way to CIA operatives, who managed to smuggle photos back to the United States. Analysts were able to connect the W-83 units to the all-but-forgotten Object 169 Project.

July 1987 - All three W-83 units, as well as their support team, were deployed to Afghanistan and attached to the 201st Motor Rifle Division. Despite efforts to maintain some level of secrecy, images reached western media outlets and the existence of the W-83 walkers became public knowledge. Many in the West found the vehicles absolutely absurd, repeating many of the criticisms first made by DARPA a decade earlier, and wrote the W-83 off. As a talking point, it was used as an example of how desperate the Soviets had become.

November 1987 - Operation Magistral began. Amongst the Soviet forces deployed to Paktia Province was the W-83 Test Unit, which served with flying colors as mobile artillery support amongst the rugged mountain terrain supporting Soviet and Afghani infantry. The W-83s proved surprisingly effective and their intimidating appearance had an impact on Mujahideen morale. Even more impressively, one W-83 unit survived a direct RPG attack to the legs - what many predicted would be a devastating (if not fatal) blow was shrugged off, with the unit managing to right itself within only a few minutes and the heavily armored leg sustaining only moderate damage.

January 1988 - Operation Magistral ended in a Soviet victory, and the success of the W-83 units won them respect amongst their allies and enemies. Unfortunately, this was all too little too late: by the end of the year, the Soviet Union began withdrawing from Afghanistan. Regardless, the Soviet Army ordered nine more W-83s.

August 1988 - Researchers at the United States Army Tank Automotive Research, Development and Engineering Center (TARDEC) in Warren, Michigan restarted research into the walking tank concept after US intelligence passed on what was known about the W-83 and its development. John O. Olsen, head of the project, rediscovered the old Hs-281 prototypes rotting away in a warehouse in the Detroit Arsenal since World War II. Using the Hs-281 as the basis, TARDEC began designing an American walking tank.

January 1989 - All three W-83 units withdrew from Aghanistan and returned to their field base in Tajikistan along with the 201st Motor Rifle Division. The first mass-production W-83, designated "W-83 Block 2", was completed in Russia.

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Thoughts? I intend to continue this up to 2011.
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