Capturing a tank intact. contrary to depictions in video games and movies, tanks operating in combat zones are almost always sealed tight from the inside.

Crew members once identifying enemy forces shut and lock the tank hatches, making the vehicle virtually impervious to an assault.

While there are many ways of dismantling and destroying tanks from the outside, the ability to capture a tank without destroying it remains an elusive goal.

Since the tank's introduction to warfare in September of 1916 at the Battle of the Somme, soldiers have been both fascinated and terrified by their awesome firepower and mobility.

Capturing one instead of destroying it would mean that it could be used against the enemy, a much more demoralizing scenario for them.

For over a hundred years there have been many different ways of engaging enemy tanks from attempting to lure crew members outside their vehicles to sticking Molotov cocktails in the rear engine intakes.

But the most interesting and creative methods of anti-tank assaults have been born out of the desire to turn the tank against its own side.

In hijacking enemy tanks, armies can utilize devastating artillery fire from the front lines without using factories, labor or finances.

Stealing enemy tanks means sidestepping costly military contracts, production delays, and transportation times.

In the heat of battle soldiers can't wait for equipment and supply lines to catch up with them for the assault.

They must adapt and use whatever they can to achieve a victory and adding a couple of enemy tanks to their ranks definitely doesn't hurt their chances of success.

German Tank Mephisto. During World War I, the German military developed and deployed heavy tanks known as A7Vs to match the British Mark IV tanks.

At the Battle of Villers-Bretonneux, new German tanks were used to smash through the British lines and faced off against the British Mark IV tanks in what would become the first tank battle in history.

One of the A7V tanks named Mephisto after a demon in German folklore was part of the initial assault group.

Advancing West toward the town of Wadeken, the tank's first contact with Allied troops came as it approached a settlement called Monument Farm.

As it advanced through an orchard in front of the farmhouse, it suffered a fueled blockage and had to stop.

Soon after the tank was repaired after the skirmish, a shell landed immediately in front of the vehicle and created a large crater.

The tank was now stuck in the ground and completely immobile. Much to the crew's dismay, the tank had to be abandoned.

In the weeks after the battle for Villers-Bretonneux, Allied units begin a series of small impromptu raids on enemy outposts around the area, looking for prisoners of war to interrogate or equipment to scavenge.

It was not long before an Australian raiding party stumbled across Mephisto.

In a diary entry by lieutenant H.F Pearson dated July 14 he recorded, during the attack the battalion captured the derelict German tank number 506 Mephisto.

Next after the commanding officer of the 26 Battalion Lieutenant-Colonel James Robinson decided to use the opportunity, fate had given him to raise the morale of his troops by declaring the enemy tank should be acquired as a trophy.

Attaching a steel cable to it, the Australians towed the vehicle three miles westward to the town of Wallabi.

Mephisto was then transported to the fifth tank brigade training ground at Vaux-en-Amienois.

And so the Australians became one of the first units in history to capture a tank intact.

Although it was not by a cunning tactic or heroic show of bravery, the capture of Mephisto still illustrates one of the most reliable ways to capture a tank by waiting for it to be abandoned first.

Ukraine War. over 100 years after World War I, armies are still trying to requisition tanks without destroying them.

In the current Ukraine War, this doctrine has been implemented with great effect as the Ukrainian resistance uses captured tanks to turn the tide of war.

By taking possession of Russian tanks, they can upgrade the quality of their own armored core while detracting from their enemies capabilities.

Many of the vehicles in Ukraine's arsenal before the war were modified second generation tanks, but now they have access to Russia's premier tank technology.

Additionally, by capturing Russian tanks, they've been able to reduce the number of active tanks in the Russian forces by about 40 percent.

Indeed, ukrainians have seemingly mastered the ability to seize tanks as they've captured at least 400 MBTs or main battle tanks and 650 other armored vehicles.

These successes have weakened the Russian forces significantly and allowed Ukraine to gain an advantage in the conflict. But how are they so good at capturing Russian tanks?