What did the relatively 'High-tech' British, American, German and Japanese forces use? What about China, USSR, or the minor powers?
The USSR began experimenting with night vision systems before the war, as early as 1927. There were two use cases for night vision devices: allowing a driver to drive at night and allowing the commander to observe the battlefield and communicate via IR lamps with other night vision equipped tanks.
A passive IR-based device was built in 1940 that allowed driving a car at night. If there was no dust or snow at night, it could show the driver any obstacles in his path and enable him to drive the car, with one important complaint: the road was not visible at all, and it was difficult to drive confidently.
The Prism could show an area 20-25 meters long and 8-10 meters wide, enabling driving a column of tanks at a speed of 10-12 kph. Two tank brigades on the Stalingrad Front were equipped with Prism devices for nighttime driving. 25 "special T-34 driving devices" (most likely also Prism) were also sent to the 19th Tank Brigade for testing (alongside experimental mine rollers), but as far as I know they were not used in combat.
