Sunday 18 March 2018

Last Request


"Report on the requests of imported armoured vehicles as a part of the 5th protocol
  1. M4A2 tanks: 5000
  2. T26 tanks: 1000
  3. Harley-Davidson motorcycles (preferably with a sidecar): 6000
  4. Mobile armoured vehicle workshops (preferably 50% with machining equipment and diesel generators): 1200
  5. Diamond-T transporters: 750
  6. Beo transporters: 350
  7. 8 ton automotive cranes: 40
  8. 10-15 ton automotive cranes: 285
  9. Portable 150 atm compressors: 200
  10. M15 SPAAGs: 2000
  11. M17 SPAAGs: 2000
  12. Spare parts: 20,000 tons

Deputy Chief of the Main Armour Directorate of the Red Army, Lieutenant-General of the Tank Service, Lebedev
March 15th, 1945"

Via Yuri Pasholok

5 comments:

  1. Did they mean domestic T-26 tanks, or were they referring to brand new Pershings there?

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    1. Well, I doubt they'd be ordering the old Soviet T-26 tanks from the US, in 1945 :)

      So yes, this was a bit of an optimistic request for M(T)26 tanks I guess :)

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    2. One thousand of your finest tanks, please!

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    3. These are definitely Pershings. The Americans were willing to supply the USSR with Pershings, but only after the US army fully covered its needs, which did not happen until some time after the war was over.

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  2. Most likely the Soviets were requesting M-26 Pershing's. America's heavy tank program started with the M-6 and then preceded under the designation of T-20 series up to 27, which the Soviets were allowed to witness. Not knowing what our Armored Command would name the final model of heavy tank they most likely just used the name they witnessed. Knowing the war was coming to a end the Soviets were anxious to gather whatever free intelligence they could gather. I notice they never offered us any JS-2s much less the 3.

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