BA-10 at the Height of Power

It was not a surprise that armoured cars quickly made way for tanks in the food chain of the battlefield. The problem with an armoured car is its chassis. Even the best car falls short of a tank, especially when it comes to cross-country terrain. Because of this armoured cars were relegated to reconnaissance and signals duties. The Red Army was no exception.

It just so happens that there are no aces among armoured car crews due to the special place they occupy on the battlefield. However, that was not always the case. For instance, BA-10 armoured cars played an important part in the battle for Bain-Tsagan and not as a method of reconnaissance.

Porsche and Militarism

It's no secret that the same people often build tanks and peaceful vehicles. For instance, the Kirovets K-700 tractor was designed by the same people who designed heavy tanks at the Kirov factory (including the IS-7). The same designers also produced the KT-12 skidder immediately after the war, and they were pulled off of military projects to do so. Harry Knox, the creator of American light and medium tank chassis, was a successful car designer before going into tanks. Even the famous John Walter Christie worked on (and drove) race cars as well as fire engines before building his tanks. There are plenty of examples where the same person created military and civilian vehicles.

Ferdinand Porsche reaching to touch his Tiger tank.

Ferdinand Porsche is perhaps the best known German tank designer. He is usually remembered for the Tiger (P), Maus, and other fighting vehicles that never made it into mass production. He is also well known for the "Beetle" (also known as the kDF-Wagen or Porsche Typ 60) and sports cars. While the former category of vehicles was unsuccessful, the latter is tremendously popular. Because of this, some claim that Porsche intentionally sabotaged the Third Reich. Let's take a look at what kind of pacifist Ferdinand Porsche turned out to be.

Foreign Aid

"GBTU Tank Directorate report on the amount of imported tanks received from 1941 to January 1945

March 10th, 1945

	Crom-well	Chur-chill	Matil-da	Valen-tine 3-5	Valen-tine 7	Valen-tine 9-10	M4-A2	M4-A4	M3 med	M3 lt	M5-A1	Bridge-layer	Tetrarch	Total
1941	-	-	145	216	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	361
1942	-	84	626	636	323	-	36	-	812	977	-	-	20	3514
1943	-	174	147	430	709	637	469	2	164	255	5	-	-	2992
1944	6	-	-	82	9	290	2345	-	-	-	-	25	-	2757
January 1945	-	-	-	-	-	-	289	-	-	-	-	-	-	289
Total	6	258	918	1364	1041	927	3139	2	976	1232	5	25	20	9913

	Mk.1	M3A1	M2	SU-57 (T48)	SU-76 (T70)	SU-76 (M10)	SU M17	SU-37 (M15)	ARVs
1941	330	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1942	903	261	83	-	-	-	-	-	-
1943	403	608	30	251	-	-	-	-	-
1944	351	1954	-	409	5	52	1000	100	127
January 1945	16	180	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Total	2003	3003	113	650	5	52	1000	100	127

Deputy Chief of the GBTU TU, Engineer-Colonel Muravich

Chief of the 5th Department of the GBTU TU, Engineer-Colonel Biletkin"

CAMD RF F.38 Op.11355 D.3016 L.118 

Printed in Glavnoye Bronetankovoye Upravleniye Lyudi, Sobytiya, Fakty v dokumentakh, 1944-1945 p.429