Anatomy of a hull
Glacis, turret ring, bustle, sprocket — the map of every MBT.
Station
Main gun
Stabilized smoothbore or rifled cannon. Length in calibers (L/44, L/55) drives APFSDS velocity. A thermal sleeve and bore evacuator sit on the tube.
Hull
The hull is the box: glacis at the front, sponsons over the tracks, engine deck at the rear on almost every Western and Soviet MBT (front-engine Merkava is the famous exception, and it is not in this atlas). The driver sits in the hull. Fuel, batteries, and often ammunition live here — which is why a hull penetration is so often fatal.
Turret
The turret carries the gun, the sights, and the commander. It sits on a turret ring — a huge bearing whose diameter limits how large a gun you can stabilize. Bustle (the back of the turret) is where Western tanks stash ammunition behind blow-off panels. Soviet autoloaders historically put the carousel under the turret floor instead.
Gun and mantlet
The mantlet is the armored shield around the gun where it leaves the turret. A thermal sleeve around the barrel keeps the steel from warping as one side heats in the sun. A fume extractor (bore evacuator) mid-barrel sucks residual gas out so the next round and the crew do not share a crew compartment full of propellant smoke.
Running gear
Sprocket (driven wheel), idler, road wheels, return rollers, tracks, and often side skirts. Torsion bars hide in the hull floor. Christie suspension (T-34) used big wheels and no return rollers; most modern tanks use torsion bars or hydropneumatics (S-tank, some Japanese and Korean types).
Open the Atlas and pick any hull — the spec sheet maps onto these parts.