Monday 28 January 2019

New Year, New Weapons

"Decree #443ss of the Committee of Defense of the Council of Commissars
December 19th, 1939
Moscow, Kremlin

On the acceptance of tanks, armoured cars, and artillery tractors into service in the Red Army and production in 1940

Based on the results of trials of new types of tanks, armoured cars, and tractors, produced in accordance with Committee of Defense decree #198ss issued on July 7th, 1938, and #118ss, issued on May 15th, 1939, the Committee of Defense of the Council of Commissars decrees that:
  1. The following are accepted into service in the Red Army:
    1. KV tank: heavily armoured, produced by the Kirov factory based on NKO tactical-technical requirements, with the correction of all defects discovered during trials. The tank must be armed with:
      1. An F-32 gun with a coaxial 7.62 mm machinegun in the gun mantlet.
      2. A separate 7.62 mm machinegun operated by the radio operator.
      3. One 7.62 mm machinegun in the turret bustle.
        Proved for full visibility from within the tank.
    2. T-32 tank: tracked, with a V-2 diesel engine, produced by factory #183, with the following changes:
      1. Increase the thickness of the main armour plates to 45 mm.
      2. Improve visibility from the tank.
      3. Install the following armament:
        1. F-32 76 mm gun with a coaxial 7.62 mm machinegun.
        2. A separate 7.62 mm machinegun for the radio operator.
        3. A separate 7.62 mm machinegun.
        4. An AA 7.62 mm machinegun.
          This tank will be named "T-34".
    3. BT tank: with a V-2 diesel engine, produced by factory #183.
    4. T-40 tank: amphibious, with a torsion bar suspension, high caliber machinegun, coaxial 7.62 mm machinegun, produced by factory #37.
    5. V-2 engine: 450 hp, produced by factory #75
    6. Voroshilovets tractor: artillery tractor with a V-2 diesel engine, produced by factory #183.
    7. ST-2 tractor: artillery tractor with a V-2 diesel engine, produced at the Chelyabinsk Tractor Factory.
    8. STZ-5 tractor: produced by the Stalingrad factory.
    9. BA-11 armoured car: on the ZIS-6-K chassis, 90 hp engine, produced by the Izhora factory.
    10. GAZ-61 light 4x4 truck produced by the Molotov Gorkiy Automotive Factory.
    11. ZIS-5 4x6 truck.
..."

2 comments:

  1. 4. An AA 7.62 mm machinegun. This tank will be named "T-34". Does anyone know why t-34 never had an aa machinegun installed on the roof? Maybe there wasn't enough space or they have thought that it is useless for that particular tank class?

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    Replies
    1. It's not about the tank class, BT, T-26, T-28, T-35, and KV tanks all had P-40 mounts. The problem was that airplanes became too tough for 7.62 mm machineguns to handle. KV tanks were no longer produced with P-40 mounts after a certain point, and the T-34 never got one at all.

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