Quality Control

"American Embassy in Moscow, Military Mission 

January 13th, 1944

To the Tank Directorate

M4A2 Medium Tank

For your information, we attach the aforementioned list of difficulties encountered by our personnel with M4A2 tanks of the latest type. We also send you methods of resolving these issues.

1. Turrets of many tanks are poorly fitted, therefore turning them in order to fire on the move is difficult. This usually happens due to incorrect installation of the turret ring and due to incorrectly assembled liners of the traverse mechanism. There should be a liner between the mount of the case and the turret wall. The thickness is chosen such that the space between the gear teeth is minimal, 0.002"

Heavy Tank, Italian Style

In the mid-20th century heavy tanks were a sign of membership in an elite club of tank building nations. Many nations attempted to make these tanks, but failed. Even if a heavy tanks was made, it did not always make it to the war, like the American Heavy Tank M6. Only four nations mass produced heavy tanks that made it to the battlefield: USSR, Germany, Great Britain, and Italy. The British Churchill was officially an infantry tank, and the Italian Carro Armato P 40 was only heavy on paper. The Italians never even got to use their tanks in battle, as they fell to the Germans.

"Tiger" or "Elephant"?

The Tiger tank first saw battle in the USSR in the fall of 1942, but its debut was unnoticed. The Red Army first inspected one of these tanks in early 1943, but verifiable information was rare. For the time being its name was not "Tiger", but "Elephant", named after the elephant emblem painted on its armour.

"April 20th, 1943

To the commander of the anti-tank rifle company

In addition to the description of the "Elephant" German tank sent earlier, find attached photographs of the "Elephant"

Chief of the [illegible] 48th Independent Mechanized Brigade

Captain [signature]

Comrade Sherman

"Award Order

1. Name: Sherman, Yevgeniy Grigoryevich
2. Rank: Jr. Lieutenant
3. Position and unit: T-70 tank commander, 2nd tank battalion, 120th Orsha Independent Tank Brigade.
   Is nominated for the Order of the Patriotic War 1st Class (posthumously).
4. Year of birth: 1924
5. Nationality: Jewish
6. Party affiliation: none
7. Participation in the Civil War, subsequent combat in defense of the USSR: Patriotic War, Western Front, as of August 13th, 1943
8. Wounds or contusions in the Patriotic War: did not have any
9. In the Red Army since: March 6th, 1942
10. Recruited by: Samarkand recruitment office
11. Prior awards: none

Night Rider

"To the Deputy Chair of the State Committee of Defense of the USSR, comrade Molotov

August 2nd, 1942

#408027s

According to GOKO decree #175ss issued on May 15th, 1942, the Special Design Bureau of the All-Union Electrotechnical Institute produced and presented by July 15th, 1942, one sample of a device for driving tanks at night.

The device was installed on a T-34 tank and tested at the Research Proving Grounds of the Main Auto-Armour Directorate of the Red Army..

The results of the trials showed that the tank can be driven at night with a closed hatch on a highway or on a dirt road at a speed of 10-12 kph.

The sensitivity of the fiberoptic elements in the prototype is insufficient and the IR lights (headlights) do not proving a sufficiently wide beam which does not offer sufficient visibility through the device.

The night driving device based on the principle of transforming IR light into visible light has one significant drawback in that the light from signal lights (stoplights) can only be seen in one colour.

All colours (red, yellow, blue, white) can be seen through the device from a long distance away, but only as bright green dots.

These drawbacks limit the usefulness of this device for driving tanks.

In order to read a final judgement regarding the use of this device in the military it is necessary to produce a trial batch of the devices with the aforementioned defects corrected. 

Attached is a draft GOKO decree to order the production of a trial batch of devices for night driving. I ask you to approve it.

GABTU Military Commissar, Army Commissar 2nd Class, Biryukov"

Via Padikovo Museum.

Never Penetrated in Combat

Fans of German armoured vehicles often claim that the Tiger II was the ultimate in armoured vehicles of WWII. Particularly, one claim is often made: its upper front plate was never penetrated in combat (even though it was penetrated in testing by several types of guns). Indeed, as this vehicle is rather rare, few photos of them with battle damage exist at all, let alone ones with a visible hole in the UFP. There is one, however.

Workhorse of the Italian Army

Stereotypically, Italian tank forces were filled with antiquated designs that broke down constantly. Reality is somewhat more complicated. It's true that Italy fell behind in the arms race, but this happened closer to 1942 or even 1943. In 1940-41 Italian tanks were on par with British tanks, or sometimes even surpassed them. The Carro Armato M 13-40 was comparable to British cruiser tanks that it shared the front line with.

Designing the T-34

My first book, Designing the T-34: Genesis of the Revolutionary Soviet Tank is available for purchase! It is currently available at the publisher's website or Amazon. Some regional Amazon sites still have it listed as a preorder, but Morton's is already shipping copies. An ebook is planned, but there is no concrete release date, so for now your only chance to get it is a good old fashioned paper copy.

It is printed in A5 format on 92 pages of glossy paper with 100 images, including full colour modern photos, blueprints, and black and white archive photo, plus 8 colour profiles by artist Thierry Vallet. 

What's In A Name?

When the T-44 was created, the 85 mm gun was already insufficiently powerful. One solution was to install a 100 mm gun, but a widened turret ring was required. The result was the T-44B tank, which eventually evolved into the T-54.

"To the People's Commissar of Tank Production of the USSR, comrade Malyshev

Factory #183 developed a modernization of the T-44 tank with reinforced armour and a 100 mm gun installed on a 1800 mm wide turret ring.

According to my information the lead designer of factory #183 comrade Morozov has already arrived in Moscow with the project materials.

I ask you to instruct comrade Morozov to deliver the materials to the Tank Directorate for review and evaluation of the T-44B project.

Deputy Commander of the Motorized and Armoured Forces of the Red Army, Colonel-General of the Tank Forces, Korobkov.

November 2nd 1944"

CAMD RF 38-11355-2210 p.151

HEAT Issues

"TO: Commanders of Artillery of Rifle Corps, Rifle Divisions, and Artillery Regiments

29th Rifle Corps only

On the causes of premature detonation of 122 mm HEAT rounds

Several cases of premature detonation of HEAT (armour burning) ammunition in barrels of model 1938 122 mm howtizers with the subsequent destruction thereof have been recorded in 1944. Investigations show that in half of the cases firing was done with the full propellant charge instead of #4 charge as required by the firing tables for HEAT ammunition.