Slippery Slope

"Award Order

1. Name: Popov, Semyon Yakovlevich
2. Rank: Guards Sergeant
3. Position, unit: assistant driver, 83rd Guards Tank Regiment, 18th Dniester Guards Mechanized Brigate, 9th Dniester-Rymninskiy Guards Order of the Red Banner Mechanized Corps
   is nominated for the Order of Glory 3rd Class.
   

Multicyclone Performance

The air filter was the Achilles' heel of early T-34 tanks. The early Pomon air filters were inefficient and had to be cleaned often, which was not always possible in the heat of battle. These filters were later replaced in production with Cyclone and later Multicyclone filters. These filters proved themselves to be superior, as reports from the 2nd Guards Tank Army during the Berlin Offensive Operation indicate.

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

Welding thick high hardness introduces a large number of problems into the manufacturing process. As a result, a significant number of early T-34s had manufacturing defects, chiefly cracks in the armour near the welding seams. Defective hulls and turrets as well as one complete tank assembled from defective parts were shot up in order to determine the effect of cracks on the toughness of the armour.

"Plan of trials of a hull and turret of a T-34 tank

Basis: BTU KA chief's letter #76105 on August 28th, 1940

1. Goal of trials

To determine the resistance of the design to shells, reliability of the joints between various parts and components of the hull and turret (welds and attachments of removable parts, hatches).

End of the Superheavies

"I order:

1. My deputy, Chief of the Main Tank Directorate, comrade Maksarev, and Director of the Kirov factory in Chelyabinsk, comrade Zaltsmann:
1. Cease further production of the IS-4.
2. Correct defects discovered in the design of the IS-4 listed in attachment 1, then transfer all technical documentation and blueprints for the IS-4 to the mobilization reserve.
3. Present 12 IS-4 tanks for trials to the Ministry of the Armed Forces of the USSR by May 1st, 1949, with defects corrected in accordance with the decree issued by the Council of Ministers. 2 tanks will be put through 1000 km driving trials, 10 tanks will be put through army trials according to a program approved by the Minister of the Armed Forces of the USSR.
4. Correct defects on other tanks, present at both the factory and in the armed forces, with changes introduced as a result of the trials before January 1st, 1950.

Medium Assault Tank for the British

When the British Military Mission arrived in the United States in late 1940, they expected production of British tanks to begin in American factories. The plan was to repeat the situation in WWI, where the USA built British and French designs. However, in the 20 years that passed the USA turned into a powerful industrial nation, which could develop weapons that were, at the very least, no worse than British ones. The idea to produce British tanks was declined, which didn't stop the British from ordering the Grant I, a British take on the American Medium Tank M3. Special assault tanks were also ordered by the British. Let's take a look at the Assault Tank T14 and its companion, the A33 Excelsior.

BS-3 Sight Adjustment

"Directorate of Artillery

3rd Guards Tank Army

Department of Artillery Supply

January 31st, 1945

#0170

To the Commander of the 367th Field Artillery Regiment

100 mm model 1944 guns are equipped with drum sights with the following scales: Fragmentation Grenade, Armour Piercing, and mils or Fragmentation Grenade, Armour Piercing, Fragmentation Grenade (reduced charge) and mils. Due to imprecise markings of ranges only use the mils scale with 250K sight tables and the attached labels until drums are replaced.

Present these instructions to the gun crews.

Deputy Commander of Artillery of the 3rd GTA, Guards Lieutenant Colonel Yefimov

Chief of Artillery Supply, Guards Engineer-Major Telnov"

Via Andrey Ulanov.

Drive Me Closer

"Award Order

1. Name: Shunkov, Sergei Petrovich
2. Rank: Guards Sergeant
3. Position, unit: assistant driver, 45th Guards Tank Regiment
   is nominated for the Order of the Patriotic War 1st Class

Rules of Conduct

"Top Secret

Cipher #1141-1143

From 65th Army

Submitted August 10th, 1944, 21:00

Accepted August 10th, 1944, 21:41

Received by Ciphers Office on August 10th, 1944, 22:20

Special priority

#5270/Sh

To commanders of the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Belorussian Fronts and the 1st Ukrainian Front

All corps and division commanders of the above Fronts

CC: Politruk Zharov, comrade Vladimirov, comrade Bulganin, comrade Hrulev

During the liberation of Polish territory from German occupants, some units, formations, and trophy teams do not understand the specifics of our friendship with the Committee of National Liberation and entirely incorrectly include property belonging to Polish organizations, private citizens, and municipal governments as trophies. According to the agreement between the USSR and the Polish Committee of National Liberation, the Stavka of the Supreme Command orders that:

1. On Polish territory, defined as all land west of the Curzon line, "trophy" is taken to mean all armament, ammunition, military vehicles, military intendant and military technician equipment, fuel and lubricants of all types, general and special purpose transport, military warehouses, and other property of the enemy's armies.
2. Warehouses filled with property looted by the Germans from Polish citizens and Polish organizations (food, livestock, building materials, medicine, factory tools, transport, civilian goods, etc) are to be guarded and transferred with a receipt to the Polish government.
3. Any kind of possessions, transport, or equipment whatsoever belonging to private citizens, cooperative organizations, industrial organizations, or municipal governments does not count as trophies and cannot be taken.
4. Possessions without a lawful owner (including those who fled to Germany along with retreating Germans) and abandoned goods (grain or other food, livestock, prepared products, equipment, raw materials, goods at factories, etc) must be guarded and transferred with a receipt to the Polish government.
5. All complaints regarding unauthorized seizure of food or livestock from the population (including swapping horses) will be investigated. If the fact is confirmed, the possessions must be returned or compensation paid even if a specific culprit could not be identified.
6. All personnel, regardless of rank or position, are to be harshly punished up to and including judgement by a military tribunal for unauthorized seizure of possessions from civilians.
   Commanders and superiors who do not prevent unauthorized actions of their subordinates or assist in these acts must also be held criminally responsible.
7. All officers, NCOs, as well as commanders of trophy units and formations must be familiar with this order.

#220138
Stalin

Antonov"

Via Yuri Pasholok.

T-34-85 Reliability, 1945

The service life of the T-34 tank continued to increase throughout the war. The engine could be expected to put out 250 hours of service by 1945, with individual drivers able to get to 300. These were not individual occurrences, as the 2nd Guards Tank Army's experience shows.

Pocket Fury

British tank building developed differently from other nations. For instance, the British built tanks in one weight category that had vastly different characteristics. It is no less interesting that the while the core of the British tank fleet was made up of light tanks, production of light tanks as a class ended in 1940. Although, the British later returned to the topic of light tanks. One light vehicle was designed and even released in small series at the end of the war. This is the Alecto I: an SPG that was too late for the war, but managed to serve in the British army nevertheless.