"Wundsdorf Tank School
March 1st, 1942
Which Russian tanks will you encounter in 1942?
A significant amount of obsolete tanks:
- Ford armoured reconnaissance car
- T-37 amphibious tank
- T-26 light tank
- BT (Christie) light tank
- T-28 heavy tank
- T-35A heavy tank
Modern tanks:
"BA" Ford armoured car
This is an obsolete 3-axle armoured car with 12 mm of armour (no armour on the bottom), slow speed, and poor off-road mobility. Crew of 3. Armament consists of a 4.5 cm gun, which has the same penetration as the German 3.7 cm gun. Has a radio.
T-37 amphibious tank
An old license built clone, weighs about 3 tons, top speed of over 40 kph on land and 7-9 in water, has insufficiently thick armour of 10 mm all-round. Armament is very weak, only one machinegun.
T-26 light tank
A 10 ton tank, a clone of the British Vickers Armstrong 6 ton tank. Russia built many series of this tank, initially with two turrets, later with one. Armament is good, consisting of one 4.5 cm gun and 1-2 machineguns. Some variants have a flamethrower instead of a cannon. Armour everywhere is thinner than 20 mm, easily penetrated by our anti-tank guns. Has a radio.
Distinctive features: has a "pocket" under the turret in the front, rail antenna on the right side of the chassis (looking from the front).
BT light tank
This tank is similar to the Christie tank, and is very fast. It can move without tracks. Removing the tracks and turning on the wheel drive takes 3/4 hours. Thanks to a large turning radius (37 meters) the use of the tank in reconnaissance roles is limited. On a normal width road turns have to be made by engaging the reverse gear. The armour is insufficiently thick. Armament: 1 4.5 cm cannon, two machineguns (in the rear of the turret).
T-28 heavy tank
This heavy tank is an obsolete design, with a lineage dating back to German tractors. The data in Hegel's book is partially wrong. The engine (a copy of a BMW engine) can develop up to 500 hp of power. The 28 ton tank has a top speed of 30 kph. A weak point is a very light clutch. The tank is very massive (7.25x2.78x2.75 meters). It is often confused for the 52 ton tank. The armour is only 30 mm in the front and 20 mm elsewhere. Armament is strong: a 7.62 cm cannon and 3-5 machineguns.
The 7.62 cm gun with a short L/16.5 barrel is obsolete. Some types use a semiautomatic L/24 gun that is approximately the same as the German 7.5 cm gun.
As the 3.7 cm Pak could penetrate the armour of this tank in Finland, the Russians thickened it to 53 mm by adding extra armour in the front. The tank was unreliable to begin with thanks to its clutch, and the additional weight reduced its reliability to the limit of usefulness.
Distinctive features: 3 turrets.
T-35A heavy tank
A colossal tank 10 meters in length, 3.47 in height, and weighing 45 tons. This was a vehicle made for Red Army parades. Due to its enormous size, it was confused for a 60 or even 120 ton tank during the Eastern campaign. The tank has 5 turrets. Armament is as follows: short 7.62 cm gun and 1-2 machineguns in the turret, 2 neighbouring turrets have one 4.5 cm gun and coaxial machinegun each. The other two turrets have one machinegun each. Five turrets consume so much weight that the tank only has 30 mm thick armour, and can be penetrated by anti-tank guns and tank guns at any distance.
Intermediate types called T-35B with 4 turrets have never been captured or seen.
The T-35C was also encountered in the Eastern campaign. It was considered dangerous in the Finnish campaign because of its 60 mm of armour. The width of the tracks is over 60 cm. The tank has two turrets. It appears that the Russians stopped development of these types.
Distinctive features: 5 turrets.
All aforementioned types of tanks are considered obsolete. They seem to be no longer produced, but are still present in significant numbers. Their armour does not meet modern requirements. Heavy tanks have a strong psychological effect, but not on those who are familiar with them.
Remember: any Russian tank with more than one turret is worthless! We can penetrate it!""
I love the last comment!
ReplyDeleteHarsh but not particularly exaggerated; the Soviets essentially agreed.
DeleteNow I'd really love to see the German original...
ReplyDeleteAnd yet by 1945 the German's were trying to introduce super heavy tanks of their own. While not multi turreted they tended to suffer from being so large that taking advantage of terrain was impossible. Dare I say they would of been easy targets for planes.
ReplyDeleteTanks were not easy targets during ww2, no matter how large. Airforces from all sides hugely over claimed tank kills.
DeleteBy '45 they had actually already axed the dumbest ones (cough Maus cough) while fever dreams like the "Ratte" and "Monster" amounted to what is often derisively summarised as "napkin designs" and about as practically relevant as whatever capital-ship fantasies the Kriegsmarine was still entertaining to pass the time. The big stuff they were *seriously* looking into (eg. E-50 & E-75) was not markedly more massive than what they had been already fielding for some time - though given they were running 45-ton "medium" tanks their calibrations and sense of scale were definitely a bit off...
DeleteWhat Unknown and Kellomies said!
DeleteYes, the German push in 1945 was to rationalize and simplify production, rather than make any new monstrous super-tank, which makes all of the "Panzer '46" fantasies you see on the internet even more absurd.
DeleteAs absurd as those fantasies were, they had one fan. Hitler. So I suspect even more slow Jagdtigers would of been built along with the first copies of the E-50,75's. LOL
DeleteSure, but that's mainly cuz the original order was for 150 of which only about half got actually produced (on account of, y'know, Germany losing the war if nothing else). The two "Es" OTOH were basically just improved, modernised and rationalised Panther and Tiger II - certainly bulky for their intented classes by the standards of the day, as now tended to be the case with mid- and late-war German designs, but hardly breaking any new ground there.
DeleteAnd near as I know neither of those two was unusually vulnerable to air attacks so eh.