Tiger Killers

The German Tiger tank gained significant renown during the Second World War and remains a popular topic in discussions of this period even today. While some modern interpretations paint the Tiger as a semi-mythical wonder weapon, its contemporary evaluations are much more reserved. Let’s take a look at the conclusions drawn by British specialists who studied this tank and the measures they devised to fight it.

Clash of heavyweights

The Western Allies first encountered the Tiger tank around the same time it appeared on the Eastern Front. A successful offensive in North Africa forced Hitler to take severe measures, including deploying his latest weapon. The 501st Heavy Tank Battalion began its landing at Bizerta, Tunisia, on November 23rd, 1942. It first saw battle on December 1st, but the scale of combat was limited. It’s not surprising that Allied intelligence obtained relatively little information on this tank around this time. An article in the Tactical and Technical Trends magazine dated February 11th describes a new enemy heavy tank weighing on the order of 50 tons, equipped with an 88 mm gun, and with 80 or 100 mm of armour. This tank was called Mark VI or Pz.Kw.6.

“German heavy tank”, Tactical and Technical Trends #20, March 11th, 1943.

Borgward Tankettes

"Main Intelligence Directorate of the Red Army
October 20th, 1943
#200558ss
Moscow

To the Commander of the Armoured and Mechanized Forces of the Red Army, Colonel General of the Armed Forces, comrade Fedorenko

Agents report (still need to be confirmed) that the Germans are producing B-4 tankettes that are controlled by radio and are conducting training on their use.

The tank is loaded with 300 kg of explosives and has several smoke emitting devices. It is designed for destruction of bunkers, making passages through obstacles, and clearing minefields.

Tanks at Khalkhin-Gol

 "To the Chief of the RKKA ABTU
August 19th, 1939

Directorate of the People's Commissar, 1st Department
#755895ss

On orders of the Deputy People's Commissar of Defense, Army Commander 1st Class comrade Kulik, I send you a copy of the act on the inspection of combat and training in the 1st Army Group for your inspection and execution of necessary measures.

Deputy Chief of the 1st Department, 
Major Bibikov

Act [to certify that] I conducted an inspection of the combat and training in the 1st Army Group fighting in the region of Khalkhin-Gol during the period of July 11th-24th, 1939

1. Permanent units

[...]

Armoured units:

The 7th, 8th, and 9th Armoured Brigades are essentially armoured cavalry, more suitable for guarding borders and internal security. They did not train to fight alongside infantry and don't know how to do this. These units played a big role in the initial stages, but took heavy losses. The arrival of poorly trained reinforcements weakened them, they need to train and re-equip.

Ever-Changing Tank Nomenclature

One of the topics that resurfaces in arguments about armoured vehicles is classification. It wouldn’t be so bad if people far from the science of armoured vehicles made mistakes, but quite notable historians also throw fuel on the fire. The T-28 is one of the most misunderstood vehicles. There is a certain group of people who draw modernisations onto the T-28 that would allegedly make it a suitable replacement for the T-34. After all, both have a 76 mm gun, similar weight, two tracks, basically the same thing! The fact that the T-34 was built to replace the BT doesn’t bother them, neither does the fact that it was the SMK that was first supposed to replace the T-28 and then the KV. The T-28 tank was included in heavy tank brigades. This seems like a very strange fact if one is not familiar with the Red Army’s system of classifications. Similar mistakes are made regarding tanks of other nations. For instance, the Panther is often called a heavy tank, but it’s enough to look at where these tanks went and what vehicles they replaced. Today we will cover the Soviet tank classifications, touching foreign vehicles a little for context. Keep in mind that the same names can mean different things in different times.

Classification of tanks in the Red Army. Bronevoye Delo magazine, March 1921.

A 16 ton maneuver tank designed by the GUVP. No one ever called this tank "medium".

Polish Tank Destroyer

The growth of tactical-technical requirements is a normal phenomenon for any army in the world. The brass also often doesn't know when to stop, which results in a strange metamorphosis. This happened to the tankette class of vehicles. Initially, the concept was something akin a mobile machine gun nest: a machine gun with a shield, engine, and tracks. Early tankettes were one-man vehicles, but experiments in the early 1920s showed that you need at least two crewmen. The Carden-Loyd Mk.VI is a classic example of this concept. Nevertheless, many nations quickly started treating it as a tank, albeit a small one. Requirements for these tankettes grew until they were more suited to tanks, and so the tankette withered away. 

TK-S tank destroyer, a great example of a successful modernization of an obsolete vehicle.

Video: 6-pounder and 57 mm M1 Gun in the USSR

Both British made 6-pounders and American made 57 mm M1 guns were shipped to the USSR in various forms, but one was received much better than the other. I talk about why in my latest video. Huge thanks to Major (Ret.) Michael Calnan, the Swords and Plowshares Museum, and the 1st Canadian Parachute Battalion and 191st Rifle Division reenactment groups for the footage used in this video.

The Main Soviet Pre-War Tank

There were many cases in tank building history where development programs were restarted almost from scratch. This happened with Soviet tank development at the end of the 1920s and start of the 1930s. By the end of the 20s, the USSR composed requirements for armoured vehicles and created their own tanks. The first such vehicle was the T-18 (MS-1) small support tank accepted into service on July 6th, 1927. This tank was a grand achievement for Soviet industry. It was a very modern tank for the mid-20s and, most importantly, it was mass produced. It was a challenge, but production was fully set up by 1930. The problem was that the tank was already obsolete by then. The Red Army fully understood this. The first solution was to modernise the T-18, but the idea of finding a suitable replacement abroad was also raised.

T-26 tank on display, February 23rd, 2021

DShK vs Pz.Kpfw.IV

"Results of firing the 12.7 mm DShK machine gun with the B-32 bullet against the German Pz.Kpfw.IV tank

Range	Hit location	Armour slope from vertical	Total angle (slope + shooting angle)	Armour thickness	Hits	Results
100 m	Right side of the turret	25 deg	70 deg	20 mm	5	15 mm deep impacts (1 on photo #63)
50		25	90	20	2	18 mm deep impacts (2 on photo #63)
100	Right side of the hull, engine compartment	0	70	20	3	Complete penetration
100	Turret rear	12	90	20	5	One complete penetration, 4 18 mm deep dents
100	Hull rear	0	70	20	2	Complete penetration
150		0	70	20	2	17 mm deep dents
150		0	90	20	2	18 mm deep dents

Artillery vs Fortifications

 "To the Military Council of the 16th Army

1. Experimental trials using an anti-tank rifle, 45 mm gun, and 76 mm gun were performed against an earth and timber bunker on July 31st, 1942.

The size of the bunker was 5.5 by 5.5, the thickness of the walls was 1.4 meters, formed by two log frames. The space in between was filled with earth and logs. 

Results of firing from 300 meters:

1. 76 mm regimental gun:
1. HE grenade fused for explosive effect: the outer log frame is destroyed with one grenade. 5-7 direct hits are needed for complete destruction.
2. Shrapnel with impact fuse: wall of the bunker is penetrated fully, shell explodes inside the bunker.
2. 45 mm gun AP shell: penetrates both the front and rear walls of the bunker.
3. Anti-tank rifle: at 100-200 meters the bullet penetrates one wall of the bunker. The bullet maintains enough energy to kill.

Conclusions: to improve the effectiveness of earth and timber bunkers, the thickness of the walls must be increased. Conduct additional trials.

...

Division commander, Colonel Terentyev

Military Commissar, Brigade Commissar Sedenkov

Chief of Staff, Lieutenant Colonel Sokolov

August 1st, 1942"

Via Yuri Pasholok

Heavy Guns vs KV-1

 

"XXXVIII Army Corps HW
Operational Department

Lempelevo, September 19th, 1941

RE: Experimental firing by Pz.Jg.Abt.563 against a Russian 52 ton tank (not reinforced).
1 diagram

18th Army HQ

Attached is the result of experimental firing against a Russian 52 ton tank (not reinforced) ordered by the corps HQ.

• Gun: l.F.H.18
• Ammunition: 10 cm Gr.39 rot (5th charge)
• Range: 200 m
• Results:
• 1st shot to the side destroyed the road wheels.
• 2nd shot to the turret ring jammed the turret. No penetration.
• 3rd shot to the turret ring jammed the turret. No penetration.
• 4th shot to the turret side penetrated about 5 cm, no complete penetration.

For the General Commander, Acting Chief of Staff, [Signature]"

Deliveries

 "Table of arrivals of tanks at the front lines in 1941, by type

Type	Domestic				British			American		Total
Month	KV	T-34	T-60	T-70	Mk.II	Mk.III	Mk.IV	M3 S	M3 L
Total 1941										20,740
Jan	126	206	348	-	-	16	-	-	-	696
Feb	165	420	260	-	-	-	-	-	-	845
Mar	105	338	84	-	-	-	-	-	-	527
Apr	320	702	576	-	134	144	-	14	32	1922
May	350	1003	898	-	255	171	-	30	16	2723
Jun	199	698	657	103	-	74	-	144	222	2091
Jul	299	1177	746	371	86	44	-	66	91	2880
Aug	178	1378	250	583	10	63	-	35	98	2595
Sep	45	598	-	439	-	72	-	54	43	1251
Oct	160	1100	75	640	-	10	-	24	5	2024
Nov	215	1312	-	838	85	163	-	187	61	2861
Dec	239	1678	48	1026	-	-	42	23	16	3072
Total 1942	Total domestic:  20,957				Total foreign: 2530					23,487

"

Via Alexey Isayev

This data is interesting on its own, but it's also interesting to compare to deliveries of foreign tanks. The first Matilda and Valentine tanks began arriving during the Battle for Moscow and were thrown into battle with little preparation. As you can see in the above table, once the situation stabilized a little bit it took some time before new units with British tanks could be properly outfitted. Large deployments of Matildas and Valentines only take place in April, four months after deliveries began.

A similar picture can be seen with American tanks. The first shipments arrived in January of 1942 and we start seeing a small number of these tanks on the battlefield in April-May, 4-5 months later. Once the pipeline was set up, it was not as hard to deploy new tanks. A bump shipments that came in May hits the front lines in June. A lot of tanks were tied up in delivery by the end of the year: 3875 foreign tanks were delivered to the USSR in 1941-1942, but only 2530 were actually fielded before the end of 1942.

You can see the same pattern with Soviet tanks. Evacuation of factory #183, the USSR's largest producer of the T-34 tank, began in September of 1941. The factory began to set up in the Urals in December-January, and by May of 1941 you see a spike in deliveries of T-34 tanks. Similarly, production of the T-70 was authorized in March of 1942 and we see these tanks begin to arrive on the front lines in July.