Soviet armor was plentiful before the German invasion on
June 22, 1941, but varied greatly in quality. The 11-ton T-26 was the most
numerous Soviet tank when the war broke out. T-60s weighed 6.4 tons, had a crew
of two, and mounted a 20 mm gun. They were the Red Army scout tank
equivalent
of the Italian L3/35 tankette. The 10- ton T-70 was still rolling off the line
in 1942. It was a death trap for its two-man crew when facing Panzers or
anti-tank guns. Yet, with the main medium and heavy tank factories lost at
Kharkov and surrounded at Leningrad, a critical decision was made to
concentrate on producing T-60s in automobile plants while fevered completion of
new tank factories was underway, notably at Chelyabinsk (“Tankograd”).
Chelyabinsk became the main manufacturing center of the superb T-34 medium
battle tank, the mainstay of Soviet tank armies by mid-1942. The 1940 model
weighed 28.5 tons while mounting a powerful 76 mm gun. Its four-man crew could
attain a battle speed of 34 mph, faster than any Panzer. The 1943 model was
nearly six tons heavier; the extra weight came from additional armor. The 1943
T-34 was turned out at the extraordinary rate of 1,200 per month. The T-34-85
did not add much weight. Its great advance over earlier models was its 85 mm
high velocity gun, which could smash the heaviest Panzers. Its turret was also
enlarged and modified, providing better sighting and gun handling. Even with
the extra weight it still attained a top speed of 34 mph. About 11,000 were
built in 1944 and 18,500 in 1945. The T-44 was comparable to the T-34, but with
thicker armor (3.5 inches frontal).
Alongside T-26s, T-60s, and the first T-34s, the Red Army
deployed the KV-1 in 1941. Named for Kliment Voroshilov, it weighed 53 tons. It
outmatched the armored protection and weight of shell of German Panzer IIIs and
IVs, could withstand multiple hits, and mounted a powerful 76 mm gun of its
own. Protection and firepower made up for a slow, 22 mph top speed. The KV-1 so
impressed the Wehrmacht that German tank designers modeled the Panther and
Tiger types on it. The Soviets introduced a new series of heavy tanks late in
the war. The KV-2 weighed 57 tons and mounted a 152 mm howitzer. Capable of
just 16 mph and with insufficient frontal armor, it proved highly vulnerable.
The 1943 KV-5 was a 50-ton tank with an 85 mm gun. The “Joseph Stalin,” or JS
II, was a variation of the KV line under a new name. It weighed over 50 tons
and had a top speed of 23 mph. It mounted a 122 mm gun and had 3.5–4.7-inch
frontal armor, along with a remarkable 3.5-inch side armor. The JS III weighed
an additional 1.5 tons but was two mph faster. It had an exceptional 4.7–6.0
inches of frontal armor. Some 2,300 “Stalin” tanks were built in 1944, and
1,500 in 1945.
TANK ARMY
A Red Army equivalent to a Wehrmacht armored corps, or
Panzerkorps . It was a new formation introduced in 1942 after three failed
prewar and early wartime experiments: four enormous prewar “tank corps” were
broken up in 1939; reorganization of tank brigades was tried in 1940; a dismal
try out of mechanized corps failed during 1941. Command and organizational
problems troubled many tank armies to the end of 1943. It was only in 1944 and
1945 that the Red Army began to resolve these problems and employ its tank
armies to excellent operational effect.
MECHANIZED CORPS (MC)
An early Red Army formation comprising two armored divisions
and one motorized rifle division. This organization did not survive major
reforms undertaken from mid-1941 even while fighting against the German
invader. Judged by the Stavka to have been too large and difficult to handle in
combat, MCs were replaced over 1942 by more heavily armored tank brigades,
formed in turn into tank corps and tank armies. Tank companies were also added
to rifle divisions.
MECHANIZED DIVISION (MD)
A Red Army designation for hastily organized mobile armor
forces assembled, but only partly equipped and trained, in the year before the
German BARBAROSSA invasion of the Soviet Union began on June 22, 1941. Along
with similarly poorly designed and commanded motorized rifle divisions, almost
all mechanized divisions were destroyed in the first six months of fighting,
losing nearly all their tanks and tracked vehicles. All but two of the original
27 MDs were converted into tank brigades and tank armies in reforms initiated
by the Stavka in early 1942.
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