Some lovers of speculation from history say a lot about the fact that the Red Army did not pay attention to the mechanization of troops, they relied on horses. One can only agree in the part where it is said that the dominant attention was paid to the tanks.
Nevertheless, the work was carried out, and the results were. One of them will be the subject of today's story.
Artillery armored tractor T-20 "Komsomolets".
Developer: KB Astrov.
Started in 1936.
Year of production of the first prototype: 1937.
Combat weight - 3.5 tons.
Crew - 2 people.
Troopers - 6 people.
Reservation:
Forehead - 10 mm, side and stern - 7 mm.
Engine: GAZ-M, carburetor, in-line, 4-cylinder, liquid-cooled.
Engine power - 50 hp. with.
Highway speed - 50 km / h
In store down the highway - 250 km.
Overcoming obstacles:
rise - 32 degrees without a trailer
wall - 0, 47 m
moat - 1, 4 m
ford - 0.6 m
T-20 tractors were used until the end of World War II, including as light tanks / tankettes and even gun platforms of the Red Army and the armies of Germany, Finland and Romania.
For towing guns in the Red Army, as in many other armies of the world, ordinary agricultural tractors are widely used. This was a completely normal practice of that time, allowing you not to bother with the training of personnel and the presence of a certain reserve of vehicles in case of war.
As a rule, each division or regiment had vehicles of the type C-65 "Stalinets", C-2 "Stalinets-2" or KhTZ-NATI, which had good traction characteristics, but with low mobility.
In addition, they were absolutely not suitable for small-caliber artillery, such as 45-mm anti-tank guns. The next story will be just about the S-65, this huge tractor, which normally carried 122 and 152-mm howitzers, was definitely not suitable for moving something small and mobile.
For divisional and regimental guns, a lighter armored vehicle was required that could immediately transport the crew and ammunition to the firing position, possibly under enemy fire.
The creation of the T-20 was preceded by a whole series of experiments. On the chassis of the T-16 tank, a "light (small) tractor of the Red Army" was created, which did not go into series due to low traction characteristics (3 tons were required). As a temporary solution, T-27 tankettes, decommissioned from combat units, were used as tractors.
A more successful attempt was the creation in 1935 of the Pioneer tractor-transporter, the development of which was carried out by the Design Bureau under the leadership of A. S. Shcheglov. The tractor was simply "ripped off" from the British "Vickers", from which the chassis scheme was borrowed.
The Pioneer received part of the elements from the T-37A light tank and the Ford-AA car engine. That is, they used what had already been developed.
The car turned out to be good, but too cramped and with minimal hull armor. The army was not satisfied with the car, and immediately after the start of mass production "Pioneer" began to look for a replacement.
The design of the new artillery tractor was now taken up by the NATI design bureau under the leadership of N. A. Astrov. Using the experience gained during the creation of the T-37A and T-38 amphibious tanks, "Astrovtsy" proposed a project at a qualitatively new level, providing for the full booking of the driver's cabin and the gunner's commander.
The tractor body was structurally divided into three parts. In front there was a transmission, which consisted of the following components: a single-disk main dry friction clutch, a four-speed gearbox providing four forward gears and one reverse gear, a one-way range for direct or slow gears, a bevel main gear, two multi-disc dry final clutches with band brakes with ferrodo linings and two single-stage final drives.
The main clutch, gearbox and bevel final drive were borrowed from the GAZ-AA truck.
Next was the control compartment, protected by an armored superstructure. The driver's seat was on the left side. On the starboard side was the place of the vehicle commander, who also served as a machine gunner. The only DT machine gun of 7, 62 mm caliber was placed in a ball mount on the right and had a small sector of fire, being rather a course one. Cartridge boxes, designed for 1008 rounds, were placed on two racks. One rack for 6 discs was located behind the driver's seat. The second, three discs - to the right of the arrow. Six more disks were placed in special machines, and the last 16th was immediately installed on the machine gun.
The engine compartment was located in the middle of the hull. A 4-cylinder gasoline engine MM-6002 (modified by GAZ-M) with a capacity of 50 hp was installed here, equipped with a liquid cooling system, a Zenith carburetor, an economizer and an enrichment agent.
The maximum capacity of two fuel tanks was 121.7 liters, with the main one having 115 liters, and the additional one holding up to 6.7 liters of fuel. The engine compartment was closed by an armored hood with hinged covers. The engine was started using the MAF-4006 electric starter or from the crank.
The cargo compartment was located above the engine behind an armored partition. As in the Pioneer, it was divided into two sections with three-seater seats, each of which was closed with armored covers. The engineers provided the following option for their use. Turning outward, the seats formed with their backs the sides of the cargo platform for transporting ammunition and artillery equipment. During transportation, the gunners were placed with their backs to each other, within the dimensions of the tractor. In inclement weather, with long marches, a closed awning with windows could be installed, while the height of the car increased to 2, 23 m.
The electrical equipment of the machine was made according to a single-wire circuit. The voltage of the on-board network was 6 V. A ZSTE-100 storage battery with a capacity of 100 A / h and a GBF-4105 generator with a voltage of 6-8 V and a power of 60-80 W were used as power sources. The means of external and internal communication were not installed on the machine. Outdoor lighting was provided by two headlights mounted on the frontal sheet of the hull, and one marker lamp on the stern armor plate. In combat conditions, the headlights were removed and placed inside the body.
Hull armor was differentiated. The frontal armor plates protecting the transmission compartment and the control compartment were 10 mm thick. The sides and stern were covered with 7 mm armor. Almost all armor plates were connected to a metal frame using rivets and bolts. The 10-mm armor did not save from being hit by shells, but reliably protected from bullets and shrapnel.
When driving on the highway, the maximum speed of the T-20 reached 50 km / h. With a towed 2-ton trailer and a gross weight of 4100 kg, the speed dropped to 40 km / h, and the average technical speed was 15-20 km / h, depending on the type of road surface.
On the off-road, the speed dropped to 8-10 km / h, but at the same time the T-20 could move with a roll of 40 ° and fell trees up to 18 cm in diameter. The maximum climb with a crew of two and full refueling without a trailer reached 45 °; with a full combat weight and a trailer weighing 2000 kg up to 18 °.
The turning radius on the spot was only 2.4 m, which was also assessed positively, given the high requirements for the maneuverability of the vehicle. The T-20 tractor could tow a trailer with a carrying capacity of 2 tons, but when the slow transmission of the demultiplier was turned on, this figure increased to 3 tons. Such indicators were quite suitable for the army requirements.
An unpleasant moment was a large ejection of dirt from under the tracks of the tractor, "thanks" to which the towed gun had to be put in order after the march for 2 hours, and then, in the presence of water.
The car engine for the tractor turned out to be frankly weak. Under prolonged loads (for example, on multi-kilometer marches with a gun, a front end to it and a calculation), the modified GAZ-M worked in the ultimate endurance mode and often failed.
Starting from the second series, the T-20 received triplex viewing devices instead of folding flaps. Instead of armored shutters installed on the cutout for the cooling air outlet, overlapping armor plates began to be used. Outside, it was also covered with a metal mesh. Often a spare road roller was attached to the stern sheet of the hull on the right.
The production of T-20 tractors was launched in December 1937 at the plant number 37, where the T-38 amphibious tanks and accessories were also manufactured, as well as at the special production facilities of STZ and GAZ. Thanks to the simple design and unification of its individual elements, the production of finished products proceeded at a high rate. As a result, a very interesting situation turned out - on January 1, 1941, the customer, represented by the Red Army, received 4401 vehicles of three series (20.5% of the fleet of special tractors), with 2810 according to the state.
By June 22, 1941, the total number of tractors was already 6,700 units. The car turned out to be easy to operate and technically reliable. The release of the T-20 could have lasted much longer, if not for the outbreak of war with Germany. Already in July, factory # 37 was loaded with orders for light tanks T-40, and then for T-30 and T-60. The assembly of artillery tractors again turned out to be a less priority task, and since August, “Komsomoltsy” were no longer produced. Until that time, it was possible to collect 7780 vehicles, absolutely most of which went to the front.
After all the modifications and changes made, we can conclude that the T-20 turned out to be quite a suitable vehicle. Small, fast (by the standards of that time), maneuverable, it was used not only as a tractor, but also replaced tankettes and armored vehicles during reconnaissance.
Good speed and maneuverability made it possible to quickly escape in case of need, and the machine gun was a good help during clashes.
Our opponents also appreciated the Komsomolets, and the captured vehicles were used by both the Wehrmacht and the allies of Germany.
This wonder cannon is the work of the Romanian weapon makers.
In general, it turned out to be a very good and useful machine. Throughout the war, the T-20 dragged through "forty-fives" and "regiments", and after the war, in fact, became the prototype of the MT-LB.
This copy of the T-20 is on display in the Museum of Military History in the village. Padikovo, Moscow Region.
