The history of Soviet tank building in the pre-war and war years had both serious achievements and impressive failures. At the first stage of the war, with the appearance of the T-34, the Germans had to catch up with us and create samples of tanks and anti-tank artillery capable of withstanding the threats posed by the T-34. They quickly solved this problem and by the end of 1942 the Wehrmacht had more advanced tanks and equipment. fight against the Soviet tank threat. At the second stage of the war, the Soviet tank builders had to catch up with the Germans, but they failed to achieve full parity with them in terms of the main tactical and technical characteristics of tanks until the end of the war.
The stages of the formation of Soviet light tanks in the pre-war period, including the BT family and the T-50 light tank, are described in the material, and the formation of medium tanks is the T-28, T-34 and heavy T-35, KV-1, KV-2 in the material … This article examines Soviet tanks that were developed and produced during the Great Patriotic War.
Light tanks T-60, T-70, T-80
The history of the creation of Soviet light tanks of the first stage of the Great Patriotic War is very instructive and tragic. According to the results of the Soviet - Finnish war and tests of the PzKpfw III Ausf F medium tank purchased in Germany in 1939-1940, the development of the T-50 light infantry support tank began at the Leningrad plant No. 174. At the beginning of 1941, prototypes of the tank were successfully tested, it was put into service, but before the start of the Great Patriotic War, mass production was not launched.
A few days later, the ambassador of the beginning of the war, Moscow plant number 37 received an order to discontinue production of the T-40 amphibious tank and re-equip the plant for the production of a light tank T-50.
To organize the production of this rather complex tank, a complete reconstruction of the plant was required, adapted only for the production of a simple T-40, in this regard, the management of the plant was not very eager to prepare production for the production of a new tank. Under the leadership of the chief designer of the line of Soviet amphibious tanks Astrov, already in July, a sample of a light tank is being developed and manufactured on the basis of the amphibious T-40, which has been well mastered in production, and it is proposed to organize the production of this tank. Stalin approved this proposal, and so instead of the successful light tank T-50, the T-60 went into production, which was much worse in terms of its characteristics. This decision was based on the need in extreme wartime conditions and colossal tank losses in the first months of the war to quickly master the mass production of a constructively and technologically simple tank based on truck aggregates. The T-60 tank was mass-produced from September 1941 to February 1943; a total of 5839 tanks were produced.
Of course, the T-60 could not replace the T-50, which at that time was one of the best light tanks in the world weighing 13.8 tons, a crew of four, armed with a 45-mm semi-automatic cannon, having anti-cannon armor, and a powerful power plant. on the basis of a diesel engine V-3 with a capacity of 300 hp Outwardly, it was like a reduced copy of the T-34 and had excellent tactical and technical characteristics for its class of vehicles.
Tank T-60, as they say, and "did not stand next to it", its characteristics and did not come close to the T-50. The T-60 was a "land-based" version of the T-40 amphibious tank with all its drawbacks. The T-60 adopted the concept and layout of the T-40 with the maximum use of the components and assemblies of the latter. So, instead of a decent light tank, a simple and surrogate T-60 was put into production, about which many Soviet tankers later spoke with an unkind word.
The transmission compartment of the tank was located in front, behind it was the control compartment with the armored cabin of the mechanic-driver, in the center of the hull was the fighting compartment with the turret shifted to the left and the engine on the right, fuel tanks and engine radiators in the rear of the tank. The tank's crew consisted of two people - the commander and the driver.
The structure of the hull and turret was welded from rolled armor plates. With a tank weight of 6.4 tons, it had bulletproof armor, the thickness of the hull's forehead: top - 35mm, bottom - 30mm, wheelhouse - 15mm, sides - 15mm; forehead and sides of the tower - 25mm, roof - 13mm, bottom - 10mm. The forehead armor of the hull had rational angles of inclination. The turret was octagonal with an inclined arrangement of armor plates and shifted to the left of the longitudinal axis of the tank, since the engine was located on the right.
The tank's armament consisted of a 20mm TNSh-1 L / 82, 4 automatic cannon and a 7, 62mm DT coaxial machine gun.
The power plant was a 70 hp GAZ-202 engine, which is a modification of the derated GAZ-11 engine from the 85 hp T-40 amphibious tank. in order to improve its reliability. The engine was started with a mechanical handle. The use of the starter was permitted only when the engine was warm. To warm up the engine, a boiler was used, which was heated with a blowtorch. The tank developed a highway speed of 42 km / h and provided a cruising range of 450 km.
The undercarriage was inherited from the T-40 tank and on each side contained four single-sided rubberized rollers of small diameter and three carrier rollers. The suspension was an individual torsion bar without shock absorbers.
In terms of its characteristics, the T-60 was seriously inferior to the T-50 light tank. Its armor protection was higher - the thickness of the upper front plate was 37mm, the lower one was 45mm, the sides were 37mm, the turret was 37mm, the roof was 15mm, the bottom was 12-15mm, and a much more powerful 45-mm semi-automatic gun 20- K L / 46, and a 300 hp diesel engine was used as a power plant.
That is, the T-50 tank significantly surpassed the T-60 tank in terms of firepower, protection and mobility, but the T-60 "suicide bomber" went into production, since it was easy to organize its serial production.
A further development of the T-60 was the T-70 tank, developed in November 1941 and put into service in January 1942. From February 1942 to autumn 1943, 8226 tanks were produced. The development of the T-70 was aimed at increasing firepower by installing a semi-automatic 45-mm cannon 20-K L / 46, increasing mobility by installing a GAZ-203 power unit containing a pair of GAZ-202 engines with a capacity of 70 hp each. and strengthening the armor of the hull's forehead, the bottom up to 45mm and the forehead and sides of the turret up to 35mm.
Installing a pair of engines required lengthening the hull of the tank and the introduction of another road roller in the undercarriage. The weight of the tank increased to 9.8 tons, the crew remained two people.
The increase in the tank's weight led to a sharp decrease in the reliability of the chassis, in this regard, the chassis was modernized and a modification of the T-70M tank was launched into series.
The main drawback of the T-60 and T-70 tanks was the presence of a crew of two. The commander was overloaded with the functions of commander, gunner and loader assigned to him and could not cope with them. Even now, with a completely different level of technology development, a tank with a crew of two people is not yet realizable due to the fundamental incompatibility of the functions of the commander and gunner.
To eliminate the main drawback of the T-70 tank, the following modification was developed - the T-80 with a two-seat turret and a crew of three.
For a two-man turret, the shoulder strap diameter was increased from 966mm to 1112mm, due to the increase in the internal volume of the turret, its dimensions and weight increased, while the tank's weight reached 11.6 tons and a more powerful power plant was required. It was decided to force the GAZ-203 power plant to 170 hp, which led to a sharp decrease in its reliability during tank operation.
The T-80 tank did not last long, in April 1943 its mass production was started and in August it was discontinued, a total of 70 T-80 tanks were produced. There were several reasons for this.
The tank, due to its low characteristics in 1943, did not satisfy the increased requirements for the tank, and according to the results of the battles on the Kursk Bulge, it became clear to everyone that not only the T-70 (T-80), but also the T-34-76 could not withstand the new German tanks, and the development of a new, more powerful tank is required. By this time, the mass production of the T-34 had been debugged and optimized, its cost had been reduced and its satisfactory quality had been ensured, and the army needed a large number of SU-76M SPGs, created on the basis of the T-70 tank, and the factory's capacities were reoriented to the production of SU-76M SPGs. …
Tanks T-60, T-70 and T-80 had low combat effectiveness both against enemy armored vehicles and with the support of infantry. They could not fight the most common German tanks of that time, the PzIII and Pz. Kpfw. IV and the StuG III assault self-propelled guns, and as a direct support tank for the infantry, they had insufficient armor protection. German 75 mm Pak 40 anti-tank guns hit him with the first shot from any distance and angle.
Compared to the already obsolete light German PzII, the T-70 had slightly better armor protection, but due to the presence of a crew of two, it was significantly inferior to it in handling on the battlefield.
The armor protection of the tank was low and it was easily hit by almost all tanks and anti-tank weapons in service at that time in the German army. The armament of the tank was insufficient to defeat enemy tanks, in 1943 the German army already had well-protected PzIII, Pz. Kpfw. IV and Pz. Kpfw. V tanks, the 45-mm T-70 cannon could not hit them in any way … The power of the 45-mm cannon was clearly insufficient both to combat enemy anti-tank guns and German armored vehicles, the frontal armor of even the medium-sized modernized PzKpfw III and PzKpfw IV could only be penetrated from extremely short distances.
This was also due to the fact that with the appearance on the battlefield in large numbers of T-34s, the Wehrmacht qualitatively strengthened tank and anti-tank artillery. During 1942, the Wehrmacht began to receive tanks, self-propelled guns and anti-tank guns, armed with long-barreled 75-mm cannons, hitting the T-70 at all angles and distances of battle. The sides of the tank were especially vulnerable, even for artillery of smaller calibers, up to the obsolete 37-mm Pak 35/36 cannon. In such a confrontation, the T-70 had no chance, with a well-prepared anti-tank defense, the T-70 units were doomed to high losses. Due to its low efficiency and high losses, the T-70 enjoyed an unflattering reputation in the army and there was mostly a negative attitude towards it.
The climax of the T-70's combat use was the Battle of the Kursk Bulge. In the Prokhorov battle in two corps of the first echelon of 368 tanks there were 38, 8% of T-70 tanks. As a result of the battle, our tankers suffered terrible losses, the 29th Panzer Corps lost 77% of the tanks participating in the attack, and the 18th Panzer Corps lost 56% of the tanks. This was largely due to the presence of light tanks T-70, which were practically unprotected from powerful German anti-tank weapons among the attacking tanks. After the Battle of Kursk, the T-70 was discontinued.
Medium tank T-34-85
Medium tank T-34-76 at the first stage of the war was quite competitive with medium and German tanks PzKpfw III and PzKpfw IV. With the installation of a long-barreled 75-mm KwK 40 L / 48 cannon on the PzKpfw IV tank and especially with the appearance of the Pz. Kpfw. V "Panther" with a powerful long-barreled 75-mm KwK 42 L / 70 cannon and the Pz. Kpfw. VI Tiger with a long-barreled 88 -mm cannon KwK 36 L / 56, the T-34-76 tank was hit by these tanks from a distance of 1000-1500 m, and he could hit them from a distance of no more than 500 m. In this regard, the question of installing a more powerful tank on the tank guns.
Two options were considered for installing the 85-mm cannon, already used on the heavy tanks KV-85 and IS-1, the D-5T cannon and the 85-mm S-53 cannon. To install the new gun, it was necessary to increase the turret ring from 1420mm to 1600mm and develop a more spacious turret.
The turret of an experienced T-43 medium tank was taken as a basis. The tower was designed for two types of guns. The D-5T cannon was more cumbersome and made it difficult for the loader to work in the limited volume of the turret; as a result, the tank was put into service with the S-53 cannon, but the first batches of tanks were also produced with the D-5T cannon.
Simultaneously with the development of a new three-man turret, another significant drawback of the T-34-76 was eliminated, associated with the overloading of the commander in connection with the gunner's functions assigned to him. The more spacious turret housed the fifth crew member - the gunner. In the tank, the commander's visibility was improved by installing a commander's cupola with a rotating hatch and more advanced observation devices. The armor of the tower was also increased. the thickness of the armor of the forehead of the turret was increased to 90mm and the thickness of the turret walls to 75mm.
The increase in firepower and protection of the tank did not help to put it on a par with the German Pz. Kpfw. V "Panther" and Pz. Kpfw. VI Tiger. The frontal armor of the Pz. Kpfw. VI Tiger was 100mm thick, while that of the Pz. Kpfw. V Panther was 60-80mm, and their guns could hit the T-34-85 from a distance of 1000-1500m, and the latter pierced their armor only at distances of 800-1000 meters and only at a distance of about 500 meters are the thickest parts of the forehead of the tower.
The lack of firepower and protection of the T-34-85 had to be compensated for by their massed and competent use, improved control of tank forces and the establishment of interaction with other types of troops. The leading role in the fight against enemy tanks has largely passed to heavy tanks of the IS family and self-propelled guns.
Heavy tanks KV-85 and IS-1
With the appearance in 1942 of the German heavy tanks Pz. Kpfw. V "Panther" and Pz. Kpfw. VI Tiger, the Soviet heavy tank KV-1 with insufficient frontal protection and armed with a 76, 2-mm cannon ZIS-5 L / 41, 6 already could not resist them on equal terms. The Pz. Kpfw. VI Tiger hit the KV-1 at almost all distances in real combat, and the 76.2 mm KV-1 cannon could only penetrate the side and rear armor of this tank from distances not exceeding 200 m.
The question arose of developing a new heavy tank armed with an 85-mm cannon, and in February 1942 it was decided to develop a new heavy tank IS-1, an 85-mm D-5T cannon was developed for it and, for its installation in the tank, a new turret with increased to 1800mm diameter of the turret ring.
The KV-85 tank was a transitional model between the KV-1 and IS-1, the chassis and many elements of the hull armor were borrowed from the former, and an enlarged turret from the latter.
After a shortened test cycle, the KV-85 tank was put into service in August 1943. The tank was produced from August to November 1943 and was discontinued due to the launch of the more advanced IS-1 tank. A total of 148 tanks were produced.
The KV-85 tank was of a classic layout with a crew of 4 people. The radio operator had to be excluded from the crew, since the installation of a larger turret did not allow him to be placed in the hull. The frontal plate turned out to be broken, since a turret platform had to be installed for the new turret. The tower was welded, armor plates were located with rational angles of inclination. There was a commander's cupola on the roof of the tower. In connection with the exclusion of the radio operator from the crew, the course machine gun was installed motionless in the tank hull and controlled by the driver.
With a tank weight of 46 tons, the hull of the tank had the same protection as the KV-1: the armor thickness of the hull's forehead was 75mm, the sides were 60mm, the front and sides of the turret were 100mm, the roof and bottom were 30mm, the armor thickness of the turret was only increased to 100mm. … The tank's protection was insufficient to withstand the new German Pz. Kpfw. V "Panther" and Pz. Kpfw. VI Tiger.
The armament of the tank consisted of a long-barreled 85 mm D-5T L / 52 cannon and three 7.62mm DT machine guns.
A V-2K diesel engine with a capacity of 600 hp was used as a power plant, providing a highway speed of 42 km / h and a cruising range of 330 km.
The undercarriage was borrowed from the KV-1 tank with all its shortcomings and contained six twin track rollers of small diameter with a torsion bar suspension and three carrier rollers on one side. The use of the KV-1 undercarriage led to its overload and frequent breakdowns.
The KV-85 tank was inferior to the German Pz. Kpfw. V "Panther" and Pz. Kpfw. VI Tiger in terms of firepower and protection and was used mainly to break through the enemy's prepared defense, while it suffered heavy losses.
The tank's protection could only withstand the fire of German guns with a caliber of less than 75 mm, the most common at that time German anti-tank 75 mm Pak 40 cannon successfully hit it. Any German 88 mm gun could easily penetrate the KV-85 hull armor from any distance. The gun of the KV-85 tank could fight the new German heavy tanks only at distances of up to 1000m. However, as a temporary solution that emerged in 1943, the KV-85 was a successful design as a transitional model to the more powerful heavy tanks of the IS family.
The development and testing of the IS-1 tank continued with the testing of a new turret with an 85 mm cannon on the KV-85. The turret of the KV-85 tank was installed on this tank and a new hull with reinforced armor was developed. The IS-1 tank was put into service in September 1943, its serial production lasted from October 1943 to January 1944, a total of 107 tanks were produced.
The layout of the tank was similar to the KV-85 with a crew of 4 people. Due to the denser layout of the tank, its weight decreased to 44.2 tons, which facilitated the performance of the chassis and increased its reliability.
The tank had more powerful hull armor, the thickness of the upper body armor was 120mm, the bottom was 100mm, the turret front plate was 60mm, the sides of the hull were 60-90mm, the bottom and roof were 30mm. The armor of the tank was equal and even exceeded that of the German Pz. Kpfw. VI Tiger, and here they played on equal terms.
The V-2IS engine with a capacity of 520 hp was used as a power plant. It provides a highway speed of 37 km / h and a cruising range of 150 km. The chassis was used from the KV-85 tank.
The IS-1 tank has become a transitional model to the IS-2 with more powerful weapons
Heavy tanks IS-2 and IS-3
The IS-2 tank was essentially a modernization of the IS-1, aimed at further increasing its firepower. In terms of layout, it did not fundamentally differ from the IS-1 and KV-85. Due to the denser layout, the driver's hatch had to be abandoned, which often led to his death when the tank was hit.
With a tank weight of 46 tons, its armor protection was very high, the thickness of the armor of the forehead of the hull was 120mm, the bottom was 100mm, the sides were 90mm, the forehead and sides of the turret were 100mm, the roof was 30mm, and the bottom was 20mm. The armor resistance of the hull's forehead was also increased by eliminating the broken upper frontal plate.
The 122 mm D-25T cannon was specially developed for the IS-2, the IS-1 turret had a reserve for modernization and made it possible to deliver a more powerful cannon without major alterations.
A V-2-IS diesel engine with a power of 520 hp was used as a power plant. providing a highway speed of 37 km / h and a cruising range of 240 km.
The IS-2 was much stronger protected than the Pz. Kpfw. V Panther and Pz. Kpfw. VI Tiger and was only slightly inferior only to the Pz. Kpfw. VI Tiger II. Nevertheless, the 88-mm KwK 36 L / 56 cannon penetrated the lower frontal plate from a distance of 450 m, and the anti-tank 88-mm Pak 43 L / 71 cannon at medium and long distances penetrated the turret from a distance of about 1000 m. At the same time, 122- mm, the IS-2 cannon penetrated the upper frontal part of the Pz. Kpfw. VI Tiger II only from a distance of up to 600 m.
Since the main purpose of Soviet heavy tanks was to break through heavily fortified enemy defenses, saturated with long-term and field fortifications, serious attention was paid to the high-explosive fragmentation effect of 85-mm cannon shells.
The IS-2 was the most powerful Soviet tank that took part in the war and one of the strongest vehicles in the heavy tank class. It was the only Soviet heavy tank that, in terms of the totality of its characteristics, could withstand the German tanks of the second half of the war and ensured offensive operations with overcoming powerful and deeply echeloned defense.
The IS-3 was the last model in this series of heavy tanks. It was developed already at the end of the war and did not take part in hostilities, it only marched at the parade in Berlin in September 1945 in honor of the victory of the allied forces in World War II.
In terms of layout and armament, it was the IS-2 tank. The main task was to significantly increase its armor protection. When developing the tank, the conclusions and recommendations on the results of the use of tanks during the war were taken into account, special attention was paid to the massive destruction of the frontal parts of the hull and turret protection. On the basis of the IS-2, a new streamlined hull and turret were developed.
A new frontal assembly of the tank's hull was developed, giving it a three-slope shape of the "pike nose" type, and the driver's hatch, which was absent on the IS-2, was also returned. The tower was cast, it was given a drop-shaped streamline shape. The tank had good armor protection, the armor thickness of the hull's forehead was 110mm, the sides were 90mm, the roof and bottom were 20mm. The thickness of the armor of the forehead of the turret reached 255mm, and the thickness of the walls at the bottom was 225mm and at the top 110mm.
The power plant, armament and chassis were borrowed from the IS-2 tank. Due to the many design flaws of the tank, which were never eliminated, the IS-3 was withdrawn from service in 1946.
