This blog is dedicated to bringing World War II era documents to the general public, with an overall focus on armoured warfare. Questions? Requests? Comments? Email me at tankarchives@gmail.com or find me on Twitter @Tank_Archives.
As you've seen in previous articles, diagrams showing weak areas of enemy tanks were pretty common in the Red Army. However, these diagrams were usually produced as a result of thorough study and live fire tests. Sometimes diagrams had to be produced with less information, and thus ended up a little bit more vague, like these ones drawn up in the early stages of the war.
The T-34 is a quite interesting tank from a historiographical point of view. Despite being one of the most numerous tanks ever built with variants still in service in some remote parts of the world, surprisingly little has been written about this vehicle. While Hunnicutt's Sherman: A History of the American Medium Tank covers production of the equivalent American tank in exhaustive detail, no such work has ever been undertaken for the T-34. Many modern books on this tank continue to recycle the same myths and misconceptions born in the Cold War, even though primary documents on the topic have been available for decades.
T-34 Shock (originally T-34 Continuum) by Francis Pulham and Will Kerrs begins with an interesting assertion. The authors state that the complete history of the tank lies not in these documents, but in photographs. Despite not reading Russian, Pulham and Kerrs have assembled an impressive collection of photographs of all manner of Soviet tanks, including the T-34, T-34-85, and SPGs on the chassis of these vehicles. These are chiefly photographs taken by German troops depicting either knocked out or captured tanks, but the book contains plenty of photos of tanks in other contexts, including in the armies of Soviet allies and tanks in post-WWII usage. With these photographs, they aim to reconstruct the vehicle's history.
The 1920s were a transitional time for worldwide tank building. The end of the First World War resulted in a radical decrease of military budgets. Many vehicles were created as designers and commanders ruminated on the experience from the previous war, but most of them remained prototypes.
Italy joined the tank builders' club with its Fiat 3000 light tank, as did Sweden (with what really were German tanks). The USSR continued to develop tanks as well. The Russian Renault, a copy of the Renault FT, was followed by an original tank: the T-18, aka MS-1.
After having captured a running Tiger in North Africa, the British began a thorough study of this new German tank. Its performance was carefully evaluated in many trials that ran even after Germany's surrender. Read about what the British found in my latest article on Warspot.net.
The T-34's impact on the German army is rarely underestimated, but often misunderstood. In my latest video I describe impressions from German soldiers and more importantly German commanders, as well as the lasting impact this tank had on German tank building.
The Germans focused a lot of effort on mechanization of artillery. They were the first to use SPGs of all types in large numbers. The most common German fully tracked armoured vehicle was an SPG. Light and medium SPGs were common, but heavy ones not so much. Only the Jagdpanther heavy tank destroyer was built in large numbers, but only 90 Ferdinands and 85 Jagdtigers. Compared to the ISU-152 and ISU-122 these are negligible numbers. Heavy "weapons carriers" were in the worst position. Not a single one was mass produced and only one prototype was built. This was the Geschützwagen Tiger für 17cm K72 (Sf) or Grille 17/21.
"32nd Tank Regiment
June 27th, 1944
#0207
To the ABT Chief of the 7th Guards Cavalry Corps
Commander of the 16th Guards Cavalry Division
I report that out of the 10 MK-2 ("Matilda") tanks received by the regiment, only 2 were equipped with radios. An investigation showed that the radios were "redistributed" by the 201st Tank Brigade before the tanks were surrendered to be sent to other units.
The 1st Tank Battalion of the 201st Tank Brigade was especially complicit in the illegal disassembly of the vehicles, as the radios were removed at night while the vehicle commanders were absent.
I consider the act of permitting disassembly of perfectly functional vehicles negligent and criminal.
I ask you to forward my request to punish the guilty and return the radios for installation on the tanks to the Front command.
Commander of the 32nd Tank Regiment, Guards Lieutenant Colonel Galkin
Chief of Staff Duderman"
"Translated from German
Chief Inspector of Mobile Forces
Staff of the Supreme Command of the Land Forces
#126/42
Secret
Direction on tank combat against the Russian T-34 tank
Characteristics of the T-34
The T-34 tank is faster, more maneuverable, and more mobile than our Pz.Kpfw.III and Pz.Kpfw.IV tanks, its armour is thicker than the armour of our tanks. Its 76 mm gun surpasses our 50 mm and 75 mm guns in penetration. Beneficial shape (all surfaces are sloped) helps shells slide off.
American self propelled artillery developed on its own terms, especially tank destroyers. After a series of experiments, American tank destroyers became very similar to their own tanks. As a rule they were based on tank chassis, but had thinner armour and higher mobility. The first such vehicle was the GMC M10, which made its debut in March of 1943. Its replacement, the M36, appeared on the battlefield a year and a half later. This was the best of American tank destroyers. Like the Soviet SU-100 its career spanned more than a decade. The last conflict it took part in was the Yugoslavian Civil War in the 1990s.
"To the Chief of the GABTU
Combat and technical characteristics of the British Mk.III tank
In using the Mk.III in combat from November 11th to December 6th, the following positive qualities were observed:
