War Chronicles: Rewrite History! The greedy economy in the game.
Who is stronger in World of Tanks today? Who gets the laurels of winners in hot computer battles on the battlefield? Whose machine makes the enemy tremble and run at full speed from the battlefield? Today we will talk about the top ten tanks according to Topstens.ru - and see that most of them left no noticeable mark in history.
10 FV 214 Conqueror (Conqueror)
Tenth place on the list is this British mastodon. It was invented in the late forties as a counterweight to Soviet heavy tanks, which ironed the fields and roads of East Germany and, according to the West, were eager to run to the English Channel. The Briton turned out to be heavy, slow, slow-moving, and even voracious. At a maximum speed of 30 km / h, he could overcome only 150 km. For comparison, our T-62 "ran" under a fifty dollars and at the same time covered a distance of 450 km. What did the British "conqueror" take? Strong and thick armor, a 120-mm cannon and two 7.62 machine guns. A very good option for use in ambush or defense. And yet, with such firepower, the tank had many shortcomings. The FV 214 Conqueror did not participate in any war, exhausted the British tankers with its shortcomings, and was ultimately withdrawn from service. Those vehicles that didn’t make it to museums became training targets at training grounds for other tanks.
9. Batignolles-Chatillon 155mm
Surprisingly, the game World of Tanks revived this French self-propelled gun from ashes. It was developed immediately after the Second World War. She was armed with a 155-mm howitzer, ammunition of 36 shells and, most importantly, the difference from her brothers in the workshop, a rotatable turret. But here's the bad luck - the French have been trying to assemble it for more than three years, but in the end they prepared only a prototype and that ... from wood. In general, this self-propelled gun was not able to participate in a real battle. But in the virtual beats very well.
8. T-62 - the veteran hasn’t said everything yet
Soviet, formidable, fast and reliable, he was born in the late 60s of the last century. Notable for strong armor, 115-mm smoothbore gun, anti-nuclear (!) Protection. He fired subcaliber armor-piercing, cumulative and high-explosive fragmentation shells. Auxiliary weapons are represented by a 7.62 mm PKT machine gun and a 12.7 mm DShKM heavy machine gun. In the USSR, more than twenty modifications were made on the basis of this tank. He stood in service with 28 countries and fought in twenty wars and military conflicts. For the first time, the T-62 was used during the conflict on Damansky Island - unfortunately, this did not prevent the Chinese from capturing a piece of Soviet territory.
7. KV-1 - whoever forged a victory knows how to win
This tank was born in the war - and is still fighting to the joy of the "tankers" and in spite of their "enemies." KV was born in August 1939, and already three months later ironed Mannerheim’s impregnable line. The Finns were shocked by such a Soviet machine: not a single anti-tank gun took his armor. The German tankers also experienced the same shock in 1941: they could only damage HF from extremely short distances. True, no matter how formidable the HF was, there were enough shortcomings in its design, and the main one was unreliability. Perhaps this factor played a role in the World of Tanks: the most powerful Klim Voroshilov could have stood even higher in the rating.
6. “St. John's wort” - from the museum to the battle (object 268)
The Soviet designers assembled this self-propelled gun, in fact, for the quick transportation of the wonderful M64 gun. After all, a shell fired by this 152-mm gun could hit targets at a distance of more than 10 km. Therefore, in the mid-fifties, it was decided to construct a self-propelled gun for it. It turned out to be heavy, durable and gluttonous (200-220 liters per 100 km). Unfortunately, the gun itself had a number of "childhood diseases", and while they were being eliminated, the Americans and the British managed to create their own heavy tanks, against which the Soviet self-propelled gun was powerless. Therefore, the first and only prototype was sent to the museum in Kubinka. Only on the fields of virtual tank battles, "St. John's wort" revealed its fire potential.
5. Brief Witch Century (M18 hellcat)
This american self propelled artillery mount born during World War II, in 1943. Armed with a 76-mm gun, it was considered a tank destroyer and performed well during operations in Italy, Africa, and Normandy. American soldiers gave her the nickname "witch." With a mass of 17.7 tons, this armored self-propelled gun could reach speeds of up to 90 km / h with a cruising range of 160 km. It is clear that having such good speed, she unexpectedly jumped out of an ambush, spun on the battlefield, like in a frying pan, hit enemy targets, and then left unscathed. And yet her age was short-lived. In the late 40s, the "witch" was sent to the reserve.
4. The tank that did not have time to be born (Waffenträger auf e100)
This colossus of steel and firepower has been developed since 1943. The stasorocatonic colossus was to deliver a deafening blow to Soviet tanks and become the king of tank battles. However, the German economy was not able to master such an expensive production, and despite Hitler’s personal order to bring the tank to mind, he did not even leave the shops for testing. According to the designers, the supertank had to reach speeds of up to 40 km / h, have strong armor (frontal - 200 mm, side 120 mm and aft 150 mm), and most importantly - a terrible gun with a caliber of 174 mm. But in life he was not destined to fight. Now “Squire” is gaining ground in World of Tanks and, as we see, is very popular among gamers.
3. Shook the tower, but did not fight (T57 Heavy)
This heavy tank was just an experimental rabbit and the victim of an unsuccessful experiment. The Americans decided to outdo all their competitors, and “dressed” him in armor with a thickness of 137 to 203 mm. To completely frighten the whole world, they equipped him with a 150 mm first, and then a 203 mm cannon. In addition, all this power had to be located in a swinging tower, allowing to hit targets in mountain battles. This colossus promised to be the worst weapon in the hands of the restless American generals. However, not everything that is drawn and drawn can be brought to life. So the idea of \u200b\u200bT57 remained only on paper and in the dreams of Uncle Sam's henchmen. And, of course, on the battlefields of World of Tanks.
2. Killed not by the enemy, but by bureaucrats (AMX 50 FOCH (155))
Another theoretical armored monster, but in reality just an iron can, revealed its potential in the virtual battles of World of Tanks. This French self-propelled gun was designed on the basis of the AMX 50 tank to become a formidable fighter of Soviet tanks, which were very feared in France. The sixty-ton colossus had a 120-mm rifled cannon, a 7.62-caliber machine gun and could run along the highway at a speed of up to 50 km / h. And although it looked very formidable during the trials, the French had to abandon it ... simply because it did not fit NATO standards. By the way, this story played a role in the fact that the French subsequently withdrew from the military treaties of the North Atlantic bloc.
The unconditional leader of virtual tank battles was our Soviet KV-1s. This machine was nothing more than a modernization of the KV-1, but the C index indicated that the tank was faster than its predecessor, less massive and more mobile on the battlefield. Perhaps he would have become the real king of the tank battles of the Great Patriotic War if the Germans had not fired their heavy T-VI (Tiger), which turned out to be stronger than their Soviet opponent. Therefore, the USSR made a choice in favor of a new and powerful IS-1. That’s the whole short history of this Soviet tank. But in the fields of World of Tanks today he has no equal.
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There are a lot of good tanks, but modern gamers prefer these machines. And we are doubly pleased that in the top ten the leading positions are occupied by domestic cars. No wonder the old song sings "Strong armor and our tanks are fast, and our guys, what can I say ..."
Second world War showed the world a huge number of different tanks, some of them entered forever, creating a real historical and cultural code, familiar to almost everyone. Such tanks as the Soviet T-34 medium tank, the German Tiger heavy tank, or the American Sherman medium tank are widely known today, they can often be seen on documentary shots, in films or read about them in books. At the same time, before the start and during World War II, a huge number of tanks were created, which remained as if behind the scenes, although they also represented examples of the development of tank building in different countries, albeit not always successful.
We begin our series of articles about little-known tanks of that period with the Soviet KV-85 heavy tank, which was released in 1943 with a small series of 148 combat vehicles. We can say that this tank was created in a hurry, as a response to the emergence of new heavy Tiger tanks in Germany. Despite the relatively small series, the KV-85 tanks were actively used in hostilities in 1943-1944, until the complete withdrawal from the Red Army. All tanks sent to the front were irretrievably lost in battle or decommissioned due to irreparable damage and malfunctions. Only one fully authentic KV-85 has survived to this day.
The name of the KV-85 tank is quite informative, we have before us the version of the heavy Soviet tank Klim Voroshilov with a new main armament - an 85-mm tank gun. This heavy tank was created by specialists of the Design Bureau of Experimental Plant No. 100 in May-July 1943. Already on August 8, 1943, a new combat vehicle was adopted by the Red Army, after which the tank was launched into serial production at the Chelyabinsk Plant - the Chelyabinsk Kirov Plant. Production of this model was carried out in Chelyabinsk until October 1943, when it was replaced on the conveyor by the more advanced heavy tank IS-1, which, by the way, was produced by an even smaller series - only 107 tanks.
KV-85 was a response to the appearance on the battlefield of new German tanks "Tiger" and "Panther". By the summer of 1943, the KV-1 and KV-1s were already obsolete, primarily because of their weak armament, the 76-mm tank gun could no longer cope with the new German tanks. She didn’t pierce the Tiger in the forehead, it was possible to confidently hit a German heavy tank only on the sides of the hull or stern and from very short distances - 200 meters, while the Tiger could calmly shoot KV tanks at all distances of the tank battle of those years . It should not be considered that the idea to equip Soviet tanks with more powerful guns appeared only in 1943. Even before the outbreak of war in 1939, the first attempts were made to arm tanks with more powerful 85-95 mm guns, however, with the outbreak of war, such work was temporarily stopped, and the guns themselves seemed excessively powerful at that time. The fact that the cost of 85 mm guns and shells for them was higher than that of standard 76 mm played a role.
However, by 1943, the issue of re-equipping Soviet armored vehicles had finally matured, requiring urgent decisions from designers. The fact that the army’s need for new tanks was enormous is evidenced by the fact that the KV-85 was adopted by the Red Army on August 8, 1943, even before the end of its full test cycle. Then in August, the tank was launched into serial production. The prototype of the tank was built at the pilot plant No. 100 using the chassis of the KV-1s tank and the turret from the unfinished IS-85, the rest of the tanks were produced by ChKZ. When assembling the first combat vehicles, the accumulated backlog of armored hulls for the KV-1s tank was used, so cutouts were made in the turret box for the extended shoulder strap of the turret, and the holes for the ball-mounted machine gun of the course machine gun had to be brewed. The tanks of subsequent series in the design of the armored hull were made all the necessary changes.
In this case, the KV-85 heavy tank was initially considered as a transitional model between the KV-1s tank and the new IS-1 tank. From the first, he borrowed the chassis and most of the details of the armored hull in full, from the second - a tower with a new gun. The changes concerned only the armored parts of the turret box - on the KV-85, they were made anew to accommodate a new and more dimensional tower than the KV-1s heavy tank with a shoulder strap - 1800 mm. KV-85 had a classic layout, which was characteristic of all serial Soviet medium and heavy tanks of those years. The hull of the tank was sequentially divided from bow to stern into a control compartment, a fighting compartment and a motor-transmission compartment (MTO). The driver of the tank was located in the control compartment, and three other crew members in the fighting compartment, which combined a tower and the middle part of the armored corps. Here in the fighting compartment was ammunition and guns, as well as part of the fuel tanks. The transmission and engine - the famous V-2K diesel engine - were located in the stern of the tank in the MTO.
Being a transition tank, the KV-85 combined both the advantages of a new, more spacious turret with an 85-mm cannon of the IS-1 tank, as well as the shortcomings of the chassis of the KV-1s tank. In addition, from the last KV-85, the hull reservation was also insufficient for the second half of 1943 (the largest armor in the forehead was 75 mm, the sides were 60 mm), which made it possible to provide acceptable protection only against German guns of caliber up to 75 mm. At the same time, the Pak 40 German antitank gun, the most common German anti-tank gun at that time, was a sufficient means to successfully deal with the new Soviet tank, although with an increase in distance and at certain course angles, the KV-85 was enough to protect against its shells. At the same time, the long-barreled 75-mm Panther cannon or any 88-mm gun easily pierced the armor of the KV-85 hull at any distance and at any point. But the tower borrowed from the IS-1 tank compared to the standard KV-1s turret provided more reliable protection against artillery shells (gun mask - 100 mm, turret sides - 100 mm), increasing the usability of the tank crew.
The main advantage of the new KV-85, which distinguished it among all Soviet tanks of that time, was the new 85-mm D-5T gun (before the launch of the IS-1 tank in serial production in November 1943). Tested earlier on the SU-85 self-propelled artillery mounts, the D-5T tank gun was a really effective means of fighting even with new German tanks, ensuring their destruction at a distance of up to 1000 meters. For comparison, the 76-mm ZIS-5 gun, which was mounted on the KV-1s tanks, was almost completely useless against the frontal armor of the Tiger heavy tank and hardly hit it aboard at distances further than 300 meters. Moreover, increasing the caliber of the gun to 85 mm had a positive effect on the power of high-explosive fragmentation munitions. This was especially important since the KV-85 tanks in the Red Army were used as heavy breakthrough tanks. Practice, on the other hand combat use showed the need to further increase the caliber of heavy tanks to confidently defeat powerful enemy bunkers and bunkers.
The installation of a new, more powerful weapon on the tank required a change in the ammunition, the ammunition of the tank was reduced to 70 shells. At the same time, instead of the frontal machine gun located in the ball mount to the right of the mechanical drive, a fixed course machine gun was installed on the KV-85 tanks. Non-target fire from this machine gun was fired by the mechanical driver himself, which reduced the tank crew to four people, excluding the radio operator gunner from the crew. At the same time, the walkie-talkie moved to a place next to the tank commander.
KV-85 became the first Soviet serial tankwho could fight with the new German armored vehicles at distances up to one kilometer inclusive. This fact was appreciated by both the Soviet leaders and the tankers themselves. Despite the fact that the muzzle energy of the 85 mm D-5T gun was 300 m higher than that of the Panther’s KwK 42 gun (205 mt) and was not much inferior to the Tigr’s KwK 36 gun (368 mt) , the manufacturing quality of Soviet armor-piercing ammunition was lower than that of German shells, therefore, in armor penetration, the D-5T was inferior to both of the above guns. The conclusions of the Soviet command from the combat use of the new 85-mm tank gun were mixed: the effectiveness of the D-5T gun was not in doubt, but at the same time, its insufficiency for arming heavy tanks, which should have exceeded similar ones in this indicator, was noted combat vehicles the enemy. As a result, it was subsequently decided to equip the 85-mm cannon of T-34 medium tanks, and new heavy tanks were supposed to receive more powerful 100-mm or 122-mm guns.
Despite the fact that the KV-85 hull still allowed the deployment of more powerful artillery systems, its modernization potential was fully exhausted. The designers of the plant number 100 and ChKZ it was clear even in relation to the tank KV-1s. This mainly concerned the impossibility of enhancing the reservation of the tank and improving its engine-transmission group. For this reason, in the light of the planned imminent launch into serial production of new tanks of the IS family, the KV-85 heavy tank was considered from the very beginning as a temporary solution to the problems. Although the production process of the KV-1s tank (and then the KV-85) was perfectly debugged at Soviet enterprises, the front needed new tanks with more powerful armor and weapons.
Organizationally, the KV-85 tanks entered service with the OGvTTP - separate guards heavy tank regiments. The tanks went to the front literally from the factory, they began to arrive in units in September 1943. Each such regiment included 21 heavy tanks - 4 companies of 5 combat vehicles plus one tank of the regiment commander. In addition to tanks, each regiment had several unarmored support and support vehicles — trucks, jeeps and motorcycles — with a staff of 214 regiments. Lack of front-mounted units of heavy self-propelled guns SU-152 led to the fact that in some cases the KV-85 tanks could be routinely introduced into separate heavy self-propelled artillery regiments (OTSAP), where they replaced the missing self-propelled guns.
Around the same time, at the end of 1943 - the beginning of 1944 (with some delay necessary for the formation of new units and sending them to the front), the KV-85 heavy tanks fought with the enemy, they were mainly used in the southern directions of the front. Somewhat inferior in their characteristics and capabilities to the new German heavy tanks, the battles involving the KV-85 went with varying success, and the result of the confrontation with the enemy was largely determined by the training of tank crews. At the same time, the main purpose of the KV-85 at the front was not tank dueling, but a breakthrough of the enemy’s prepared defense lines, where the main danger was not the enemy’s armored vehicles, but their anti-tank weapons, engineering and minefields. Despite the insufficient reservation for the end of 1943, the KV-85 tanks performed their task, albeit at the cost of tangible losses. Intensive use at the front and a small volume of mass production led to the fact that by the autumn of 1944 there were no KV-85 tanks in combat units. This was caused by irretrievable losses and the cancellation of faulty machines. Any mention of the combat use of KV-85 tanks later than the fall of 1944 has not survived to this day.
The performance characteristics of the KV-85:
Overall dimensions: body length - 6900 mm, width - 3250 mm, height - 2830 mm.
Combat weight - 46 tons.
Power plant - a diesel 12-cylinder engine V-2K with a capacity of 600 hp
The maximum speed is 42 km / h (on the highway), 10-15 km / h on rough terrain.
Cruising range - 330 km (on the highway), 180 km (on rough terrain).
Armament - 85-mm gun D-5T and 3x7.62 mm machine gun DT-29.
Ammunition - 70 shells.
Crew - 4 people.
Sources of information:
http://www.aviarmor.net/tww2/tanks/ussr/kv85.htm
http://tanki-v-boju.ru/tank-kv-85
http://pro-tank.ru/bronetehnika-sssr/tyagelie-tanki/117-kv-85
Open Source Materials
Is War Chronicle free?
Yes, like all other modes in the game.
War chronicles is a mode for solo players?
In this mode, you can play alone or in company with a friend.
What happens if I invite a friend who goes through a different part of the story to play with me in the War Chronicles?
The platoon commander who sends the invitation can connect the new player to any of the chapters in which he commands.
Can I use crew change coupons after a single use?
Can I change the tank I'm playing with using various equipment, camouflage and / or emblems?
Yes, your tanks in the War Chronicles can be changed once when you unlock customization in the mode (this happens during the progress in the War Chronicles).
Will the battles in the Military Chronicles activate the daily x2 experience bonus for the first victory on the tank?
Yes, your tanks in the Military Chronicles will receive x2 experience, and this bonus will be activated when you complete the chapter. After the mode of increased complexity is unlocked, this condition will also be fulfilled for other tanks (not only those assigned to the Military Chronicles).
Can the crew involved in the Military Chronicles be used in a multiplayer game?
Yes! Tanks from the War Chronicles are tied to this game mode, and the crew has a different story. You can use it in a multiplayer game for free by attaching it to a tank from a branch (after which a regular fee will be charged for re-assigning the crew). By the way, each crew in War Chronicles is provided with the Sixth Sense skill pumped.
Are there any time limits for each chapter?
The battles in the Military Chronicles can last much longer than online battles. But there may also be a time frame due to the course of events of the battle, when, for example, you need to fulfill some goal for a certain period of time.
Will the passage of the chapters of the Military Chronicles campaigns affect my statistics?
Military Chronicles will not affect your personal statistics.
Can I replay chapters?
Can I spend gold and silver in War Chronicles?
Can I get access to the technology branch in the Military Chronicles to research and buy new cars?
Yes, after unlocking the mode of increased complexity.
In addition to recent posts about soviet tanks during the Second World War
In the year of the 70th anniversary of the great victory, discussions of scientists and military history lovers about the ratio of the combat qualities of Soviet and German armored vehicles will more than once flare up. In this connection, it will be interesting to recall how our opponents, the German military leaders, saw and evaluated the Soviet tanks. These opinions could hardly have been completely objective, but the assessment of the enemy is without a doubt worthy of attention.
“If this tank goes into production, we will lose the war.” - German about T-34
Equal to "tiger"
By the beginning of the campaign against the Soviet Union, the German military had vague ideas about the Soviet armored forces. In the upper circles of the Third Reich, it was believed that German tanks were superior in quality to Soviet ones. Heinz Wilhelm Guderian in his Memoirs wrote: “By the beginning of the war against Russia, we thought that we could count on the technical superiority of our tanks over the types of Russian tanks known to us at that time, which could to some extent reduce the significant numerical superiority of the Russians known to us ".
Another famous German tanker, German Goth, evaluated Soviet armored forces before the start of World War II:
“The Russian armored forces were consolidated into mechanized brigades and several armored divisions. There were no tank corps yet. Only some rifle divisions were given obsolete tanks. Hence the conclusion that Russia has not yet learned the experience of the operational use of large tank formations. "Whether our tank gun exceeded the penetration ability and firing range of the guns of Russian tanks, this question could not be answered definitely, but we hoped for it."
And yet, one circumstance made the Germans think that the Red Army could have more advanced tank designs than the samples that were in service with the Wehrmacht. The fact is that in the spring of 1941 Hitler allowed the Soviet military commission to inspect German tank schools and tank factories, ordering everything to be shown to the Russians. It is known that, while inspecting the German T-IV tank, our specialists stubbornly did not want to believe that the Germans did not have heavier tanks. The insistence of the commission was so great that the Germans thought seriously and came to the conclusion that the USSR had heavier and more advanced tanks. However, the euphoria from easy victories in Poland and the West drowned out the lone voices of some experts, indicating that the combat potential of the Soviet army, including its armored forces, was greatly underestimated.
“The Russians, having created an exceptionally successful and completely new type of tank, made a great leap forward in the field of tank building. Due to the fact that they managed to classify well all their work on the production of these tanks, the sudden appearance of new vehicles at the front made a big effect ... With their T-34 tank, the Russians convincingly proved the diesel’s exceptional suitability for installing it on a tank ”(Lieutenant General Erich Schneider )
Tank fear
Guderian tanks first encountered the T-34 on July 2, 1941. In his Memoirs, the general wrote: “The 18th Panzer Division received a complete picture of the Russian strength, for they first used their T-34 tanks, against which our guns were too weak at that time.” However, then the T-34 and KV were used for the most part, without the support of infantry and aircraft, so their individual successes were lost against the general background of the sad situation of the Soviet troops in the first months of the war.
T-34 and KV began to be massively used only at the beginning of October 1941 in the battle for Moscow. On October 6, Katukov’s armored brigade, equipped with T-34s and KVs, struck the 4th German Panzer Division, which was part of Guderian’s 2nd Panzer Army, causing it to survive “several bad hours” and inflicting “sensitive losses” on it. Without developing initial success, Katukov retreated, prudently deciding that maintaining the brigade was more important than its heroic death in the fight against an entire tank army of the enemy. Guderian described this event as follows: “For the first time, the superiority of Russian T-34 tanks appeared in a sharp form. The division suffered significant losses. The planned rapid attack on Tula had to be postponed. ” Guderian makes the next mention of the T-34 in two days. His lines are full of pessimism: “Especially disappointing were the reports we received about the actions of Russian tanks, and most importantly, about their new tactics. Our anti-tank weapons of that time could successfully operate against T-34 tanks only under particularly favorable conditions. For example, our T-IV tank with its 75 mm short-barreled cannon was able to destroy the T-34 tank from the rear, hitting its engine through the blinds. It required a lot of art. ”
Another fairly well-known German tankman, Otto Carius, in his monograph Tigers in the Mud. Memoirs of a German tankman ”also did not skimp on T-34 compliments:“ Another event hit us like a ton of bricks: Russian T-34 tanks first appeared! The amazement was complete. How could it happen that there, above, they did not know about the existence of this excellent tank? The T-34, with its good armor, perfect shape and magnificent 76.2 mm long-barreled weapon, thrilled everyone, and all German tanks were afraid of him until the end of the war. What were we to do with these monsters, many thrown against us? At that time, the 37 mm gun was still our strongest anti-tank weapon. If we were lucky, we could get into the epaulette of the T-34 tower and jam it. If you are even more lucky, the tank after that will not be able to operate effectively in battle. Of course, not a very encouraging situation! The only way out was the 88 mm anti-aircraft gun. With its help, it was possible to act effectively even against this new Russian tank. Therefore, we began to respect the anti-aircraft gunners with the highest respect, who until then had only condescending smiles from us. "
Engineer and Lieutenant General Erich Schneider even more expressively describes the T-34's advantage over German tanks in his article “Technique and development of weapons in war”: “The T-34 tank made a sensation. This 26-ton tank was armed with a 76.2 mm cannon, the shells of which pierced the armor of German tanks from 1.5-2 thousand meters, while German tanks could hit Russians from a distance of not more than 500 m, and even then if the shells hit the side and stern of the T-34. The thickness of the frontal armor of German tanks was 40 mm, the side -14 mm. The Russian T-34 tank carried frontal armor of 70 mm and side armor of 45 mm, and the effectiveness of direct hits in it was reduced due to the strong tilt of its armor plates. ”
Soviet colossi
In the pre-war period, German military leaders did not know that the USSR had heavy tanks KV-1 and KV-2 with a large turret and a 152-mm howitzer, and the meeting with them was a surprise. And the IS-2 tanks turned out to be worthy rivals of the Tigers.
Some of the shortcomings of the famous Soviet tank didn’t hide from the Germans: “Nevertheless, the new Russian tank had one major flaw,” wrote Schneider. - His crew was extremely cramped inside the tank and had poor visibility, especially from the side and rear. This weakness was soon discovered during the inspection of the first tanks killed in battle and was quickly taken into account in the tactics of our tank troops. ” We have to admit that to a certain extent the Germans were right. To achieve high tactical and technical indicators of the T-34, had to sacrifice something. Indeed, the T-34 tower was cramped and uncomfortable. However, the tightness inside the tank paid off for its fighting qualities, which means that it was saved by the lives of its crew members.
The following words of General Gunter Blumentrit testify to the impression on the German infantry: “... And suddenly a new, no less unpleasant surprise came upon us. During the battle of Vyazma, the first Russian T-34 tanks appeared. In 1941, these tanks were the most powerful of all then existing tanks. With them could only fight tanks and artillery. The 37- and 50-mm anti-tank guns, which were then in service with our infantry, were helpless against the T-34 tanks. These guns could only hit Russian tanks of old designs. Thus, the infantry divisions were faced with a serious problem. As a result of the appearance of this new tank in the Russians, the foot soldiers were completely defenseless. ” He confirms these words with a concrete example: “In the Vereya area, the T-34 tanks passed through the battle formations of the 7th Infantry Division as if nothing had happened, reached artillery positions and literally crushed the guns located there. It is clear what effect this fact had on the morale of the foot soldiers. The so-called tank fear began. ”
It wasn’t harder
At the initial stage of the war, the medium tank PzKpfw IV (or simply Pz Iv) remained the heaviest German tank. Its 75-mm gun with a barrel length of 24 calibers had a low initial projectile velocity and, accordingly, lower penetration of armor than a gun of the same caliber mounted on the T-34.
Heavy argument
German generals and officers wrote much less about Soviet heavy tanks KV, IS, than about T-34. This was probably due to the fact that they were released much less than the "thirty-four."
The 1st Panzer Division, which was part of Army Group North, collided with the Air Force three days after the outbreak of war. This is what the combat magazine of this division says: “Our tank companies opened fire from a distance of 700 m, but it turned out to be ineffective. We became close to the enemy, who, for his part, was calmly moving right at us. Soon, we were separated by a distance of 50-100 m. A fantastic artillery duel began, in which German tanks could not achieve any visible success. Russian tanks continued to advance, and all our armor-piercing shells simply bounced off their armor. A dangerous situation arose when Soviet tanks broke through the battle formations of our tank regiment to the positions of German infantry behind our troops ... During the battle, we managed to damage several Soviet tanks using special anti-tank shells from a distance of 30 to 50 m. "
Franz Halder in his "military diary" dated June 25, 1941 made an interesting entry: "Some information was received about a new type of Russian heavy tank: weight - 52 tons, frontal armor - 37 cm (?), Side armor - 8 cm. Armament - 152 mm cannon and three machine guns. The crew is five people. Speed \u200b\u200b- 30 km / h. The range is 100 km. Penetration - 50 mm, anti-tank gun penetrates armor only under the gun turret. The 88-mm anti-aircraft gun, apparently, also pierces the side armor (it is still unknown). Information was received about the appearance of another new tank armed with a 75 mm cannon and three machine guns. ” So the Germans imagined our heavy tanks KV-1 and KV-2. The clearly overestimated data on the reservation of HF tanks in German sources indicate that the German anti-tank guns were powerless against them and could not cope with their main duty.
At the same time, in a note dated July 1, 1941, Franz Halder noted that "during the last days of fighting on the side of the Russians participated, along with the latest ones, completely obsolete types of vehicles."
What types of Soviet tanks were meant, unfortunately, the author did not explain.
Later, Halder, describing the means of fighting against our KV, wrote the following: “Most of the enemy’s heaviest tanks were hit by 105-mm guns, less than 88-mm anti-aircraft guns. There is also a case where a light field howitzer knocked out an enemy 50-ton tank with an armor-piercing grenade from a distance of 40 m. ” It is curious that neither the 37-mm nor the 50-mm German anti-tank guns are mentioned at all as a means of fighting against HF. The conclusion follows that they were helpless against Soviet heavy tanks, for which German soldiers nicknamed their anti-tank guns "army crackers."
The appearance of the first new German Tiger heavy tanks on the Soviet-German front in the fall and winter of 1942-1943 forced Soviet designers to hastily begin work on creating new types of heavy tanks with more powerful artillery weapons. As a result, hastily began the development of tanks, called IP. The IS-1 heavy tank with an 85-mm D-5T gun (aka IS-85, or “Object 237”) was created in the summer of 1943. But it soon became clear that for a heavy tank this gun is not strong enough. In October 1943, a version of the IS tank was developed with a more powerful 122 mm D-25 tank gun. The tank was sent to a testing ground near Moscow, where shelling was fired from a cannon from a distance of 1,500 m german tank "Panther". The first shell pierced the Panther’s frontal armor and, without losing its energy, flashed all the insides, hit the rear of the hull, tore it off and threw it a few meters away. As a result, under the brand name IS-2 in October 1943, the tank was accepted into serial production, which unfolded in early 1944.
The IS-2 tanks entered service with individual heavy tank regiments. At the beginning of 1945, several separate guards heavy tank brigades were formed, including three heavy tank regiments each. Units armed with IS combat vehicles received the guard rank immediately upon formation.
In a comparative analysis of the fighting qualities of the Tiger and the IS-2, the opinions of the German military were divided. Some (for example, General Friedrich Wilhelm von Mellentin) called the Tigers the best tanks of the Second World War, others considered the Soviet heavy tank at least equal to the Tiger. Otto Carius, who commanded the Tigers company on the Eastern Front, also belonged to the second group of the German military. In his memoirs, he noted: “The tank Joseph Stalin, whom we met in 1944, was at least equal to the Tiger. He won significantly in terms of form (as did the T-34). "
Curious opinion
“The Soviet T-34 tank is a typical example of backward Bolshevik technology. This tank can not be compared with the best examples of our tanks, made by the faithful sons of the Reich and have repeatedly proved their advantage ... "
The same Fritz writes in a month -
“I wrote a report on this situation, which is new to us, and sent it to the army group. In understandable terms, I described the clear advantage of the T-34 over our Pz.IV and gave the appropriate conclusions that should affect our future tank construction ...
Who is stronger
If we compare the indicator of the specific power of the engine - the ratio between engine power and the weight of the machine, then the T-34 it was very high - 18hp per ton. PZ IV had a specific power of 15hp PZ III - 14h.s. per ton, and the much later appeared American M4 Sherman - about 14hp per ton.