2024 Author: Howard Calhoun | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 10:16
At the end of the thirties, the tanks of the USSR had all the signs of modern armored vehicles of the late twentieth and early this century. These include the following: a long-barreled gun, a diesel engine, powerful anti-ballistic armor made without rivets, and a rear transmission. During the entire Second World War, not a single country created a single model of military equipment that met all these four criteria, only in the second half of the fifties did foreign designers understand what was clear to Soviet tank builders already in the mid-thirties.
The basis of the tank fleet of the Soviet Union as of 1941 was the light BT-7 (high-speed). This state of affairs fully corresponded to the offensive nature of the military doctrine: the enemy was preparing to be beaten on his territory. These machines had high speed (up to 80 km / h) and maneuverability, were wheeled and caterpillar. They practically could not fight off-road, but, like all tanks of the USSR, they had a powerful engine running on diesel fuel, rear-wheel driverollers, a 45-mm cannon capable of hitting any foreign analogue of its time, and a machine gun. The rear wheel drive provided a lower profile which reduced vulnerability by not having to drive the driveshaft to the front rollers.
Despite the dominant role of the offensive strategic idea, the tanks of the USSR were not only light, but also medium and heavy. The T-34, the best in the medium class, had a 75-mm gun in the first modification, in addition, the frontal armor was thick, it was located at a reflective angle. As in the BT tanks, its undercarriage included road wheels on inclined springs. This scheme was invented by the American engineer Christie, it became the best in the practice of world tank building and remains so to this day. In 1943, a modification of the T-34-85 appeared, with an 85-mm gun and a cast turret.
After the German attack on the USSR, it was medium and heavy tank building that became the main direction of development of design developments.
Heavy tanks of the USSR of the Second World War knew no equal. KV and ISs that appeared at the front in 1944 became an ideal tool for breaking into the enemy’s echeloned defense. The turret gun of 122 mm caliber did not give a single German tank a chance to win an artillery duel, and armor protection up to 120 mm thick made the 46-ton giant practically invulnerable.
Compared to the German tanks, the USSR tanks had much better maneuverability, wereit is more convenient to operate, and due to the correct layout, it is also easier, while having the best fighting qualities. They were much easier to transport, to cross bridges, both conventional and pontoon. It should be noted that the German designers did not manage to create a tank diesel engine until the end of the war, which could be compared with our 600-horsepower B-2-34.
In the post-war decades, Soviet factories continued to build tanks. The USSR produced them more than all other countries combined. T-54, T-62, T-72 and other samples of armored vehicles of the Soviet era have become masterpieces of design ideas and the object of borrowing technical ideas for tank builders around the world.
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