Humans are not really nocturnal creatures; and unlike our nocturnal animal friends (such as cats), we cannot really see very well in the dark. Nevertheless, the preperations for the day's battles are often made at night. One could imagine the chaos of hundreds of tanks attempting to move into position without being able to see where they were going in the pitch blackness of the Russian night.

Fortunately, tank designers anticipated this problem. Headlights were added on all Soviet and German tanks throughout the war. While the function of these headlights was similar to the function of modern-day headlights, these military headlights were in fact very different. For example, only a small sliver of the headlight was glass (see right). This sliver let out a flat beam of light, which could help illuminate the ground ahead of the tank while being nearly invisible to enemy night-flying reconnaissance planes. The small amount of glass on the headlight also reduced the risks of it being damaged by small arms fire.

HOW TO LOCATE HEADLIGHTS

Look for the headlights on the front of the tank. Be aware, however, that some models of tanks had only one headlight - located on either the left or the right - while other tanks had as many as four.