ARV Towing Vehicle

A Soviet truck and two armored recovery vehicles, receiving supplies.

The weight of tanks puts a lot of wear on them, but without the turret and a ton of ammunition they ARV often lasted longer than the tanks.

So in real life an older ARV might serve more modern tanks as long as they were in the same weight class.

A towing vehicle like this could also serve in armored personnel carrier or armored artillery units.

I like them in wargames because if there are a few tanks knocked out on the bridge or in the mountain pass or on the main street, the ARV can remove the obstacles.  Sometime a smoke mortar might be part of the ARV kit so they can provide a screen to work behind.