I really wish that there was a good write up on "how" to tank. Every time I park someplace figuring I'm under some cover from one angle or another I'm dead in one shot. I guess I'm sitting next to one of the trees that disappear when the other guys turn down there graphics 
Trying to turn my tank to an angle so they don't get a strait on shot doesn't seem to help either. Parking just short of the top of a ridge or trying to hide behind small hill only gets my turret blown off.
I keep trying tho, at least I'm padding some ones score, so I guess that's a good thing 
I've been writing one up for a very long time now, It covers Attacking Defending and Camping, differences between the tanks and perk tanks etc. Really it comes down to experience more then anything else, Longer you sit in 1 tank the more experience you can build in it, for example my non-perk tank is a T34/85 - its fast and guns quite nice to build perks with, my primary tank is the Panther, main reason I choose it over the Tiger is because of the hydro turret which turns extremely fast enabling me a quick reset on a shot vs a Tiger whose turret is piss poor.
Some choose the M4, others Panzer - its really comes down to choices, Panzer F L/43 is a very nice perk farmer, but the armor is terrible, one hit generally is a kill where its gun can't penetrate all that well.
You have to survey the surrounding map before you deploy (best way to do this is use a storch) fly Low towards the spawn (where enemy tanks come in) and take note of all hills and tree lines as well as any ridges.
If the enemy comes in with better then 2:1 ratio in attackers vs defenders, you want to stay less then 1.5k from your base, you want them to DRIVE into your guns, rather then you drive into a horde.
If the enemy comes with 1:1 ratio, then you expand out around 3k or so, pretty much half way to the spawn, idea is to push them back to the spawn then camp it.
Basically you want to find ridges and hills that offer a defensive position as well as have something behind it in case you need to run, nothing sucks more then being down to 10 rounds AP, and turning around and having nothing to help you cover an exit.
Just keep trying, the more you die the more you can figure out what to do and what not, surveying is really the key, you need a GOOD setup on high ground, with a good escape plan in case things happen.
More then not there are 2 ridges on either side of a GV spawn, usually 4-5k apart, I generally sit my panther on one side of the hill and snipe tanks at 3-4k away mainly at their spawn.
