In a similar vein, tank divisions of the mechanized corps resembled a skeleton to be fleshed out by muscle over time. The Russian Civil War, less than twenty years in the past, left the Soviet Union a devastated country. Only the draconian measures during the industrialization instituted by Josef Stalin and the Communist Party allowed the country to begin playing catch-up with the western nations. Starting with no tank industry in 1929, the Soviet Union produced almost four thousand of these vehicles during its first economic Five-Year Plan of 1929-1933. Still, by the start of war with Germany, Soviet industrial capacity in producing the required number of tanks fell far short of the desired goal. Combined with a Russian propensity to hoard their old equipment, the seemingly impressive number of almost twenty-four thousand at the start of the war was a mismatched collection of modern new tanks, decrepit older ones, and some in between.
The Soviet tanks fell into three distinct categories: light, medium, and heavy. Depicted in multiple books and film, the T-34 medium tank carved out a niche as a quintessential Soviet tank. However, at the start of Operation Barbarossa:
The mainstay of the tank park of the RKKA consisted of light T-26 and BT tanks of various models, making up nearly 75 percent of total number of vehicles.[15] The new medium T-34s and heavy KVs composed only almost 8 percent. Majority of old tanks, such as early versions of T-26 and BTs, plus the T-28, T-35, T-37, and T-38 were seriously worn out: 9 percent of these machines required major overhaul, and 44 percent, intermediate-level overhaul.[16]
By far, the most numerous armored fighting vehicles of the Red Army at the start of Operation Barbarossa were the T-26 light tanks, developed on the basis of the British Vickers light tank. In the scope of the “Deep Battle” concept, this tank was designated as an “infantry escort tank”—supporting the infantry on the offensive and carrying out limited follow-through attacks in the enemy rear. Starting from late 1931 and up to the start of the war, over 11,200 different variations of this tank were produced, and some 10,268 were still carried on the rosters of the Red Army armored units, representing close to 40 percent of the total Soviet tank park.[17] Many of the very early models, like the two-turreted machine gun–armed versions, while officially designated as “training park,” padded the total numbers, adding practically no value to the overall strength of their units.
Eventually upgraded to mount a 45mm cannon, the T-26 could successfully outshoot all German light tanks. However, a significant weakness in the design of the T-26 rendered this most-numerous Soviet tank an easy prey to German antitank defenses. Endemic to all T-26 versions, it suffered from inadequate armor protection, being able to mainly withstand machine-gun fire, and in some cases, not even that. The frontal armor of T-26, the thickest part of the tank, was only 15mm thick, making it vulnerable even to the most outdated 37mm antitank cannons. This was illustrated time and time again in Spain, Finland, and Mongolia. Attempts to up-armor the T-26 came to naught due to the vehicle engine’s inability to accommodate heavier armor. Still, the basic design of the T-26 proved to be a very versatile basis for many mission-specific purposes. T-26 chassis were used as a platform for such specialist vehicles as flame-throwing tanks, bridge layers, self-propelled artillery, tank recovery tractors, prime movers, and others.
The Bystrokhodniy Tank (fast tank, or BT) series consisted mainly of the BT-2, BT-5, and BT-7 versions. As mentioned previously in this chapter, both the BT series and the T-34 were based on the work of American tank designer J. Walter Christie. The light and fast BT series of tanks were developed to operate as a mobile branch of the “deep battle” concept—striking far into the rear of the enemy. Characteristic to all BT models, these tanks could operate in tracked mode for traversing cross-country and wheeled mode on the road. Successive designs of BT tanks, mainly the BT-7, featured upgraded armor, engine, and armament, plus a series of other vital improvements.
While the BT-2 and BT-5 versions could not successfully contend with medium German panzers, the BT-7 could trump the German Panzer II and Panzer 38(t) tanks and was generally on par with the Panzer III, especially the BT-7s produced after 1937. However, in the upcoming contests, the Germans would almost always come out victorious due to their superior training, command and control, and communications.[18]
Rounding out Soviet light tanks were T-37, T-38, and T-40 swimming reconnaissance tanks, which could be grouped together, being essentially similar in design and purpose. Tanks in this category were developed based on the prototype models of Vickers tanks, created by two British designers Sir John Valentine Carden and Vivian Lloyd, appropriately called the Vickers-Carden-Lloyd Amphibian Tanks. While several other countries successfully experimented with amphibious tanks, the Soviet Union was the only country to ramp up serial production of these vehicles. By the time the war started, over four thousand of these machines were produced, with significant numbers of them still found among Soviet mechanized formations.
The T-37/38/40 family of tanks was, in reality, one short step up the armored ladder above the tankette. The tankette was a small armored vehicle, usually lacking a rotating turret and crewed by two men, sometimes one, armed almost exclusively with one or two machine guns. Its thin armor and light armament proved totally inadequate for survival in the struggle with German panzer formations and their formidable antitanks defenses. Virtually all of the Soviet T-27 tankettes and superlight T-37/38/40 perished within the first several months of the German invasion.
The next weight category, the medium tanks, was represented by the older T-28 and the famous T-34. This category of armored combat vehicle was envisioned to operate in support of infantry breaking through heavily fortified areas and for limited follow-up exploitation. Once again borrowing from the British, the T-28 was based on the Vickers A6E1. Like many contemporary designs of its class, the T-28 sported three turrets and was manned by a crew of six. As the already familiar malady, the early versions of the T-28 suffered from insufficient armor, which had to be upgraded later. Overall, this was not a successful model, and its serial production was discontinued in 1939. Slightly over six hundred tanks of this type were produced between 1932–1939, with a significant portion of them still in service at the start of war.
Sharing its weight category, the vaunted T-34 was the most mass-produced tank of World War II. The basic design by the American Walter Christie laid the groundwork for this versatile combat vehicle. Its thick-sloping armor was virtually impervious to most of the German antitank artillery and tank-based guns except at extremely close ranges. The wide-stable platform and wide tracks gave the T-34 an exceptional mobility on poor Russian roads and in difficult cross-country terrain. Starting in 1940, by the beginning of conflict with Germany, roughly 1,225 T-34s were produced. By the time the war ended, over 35,000 of them took the field. Undiscovered by German intelligence before the war, these combat vehicles came as a rude surprise to advancing Germans.
While the numbers of heavy tanks were relatively low in the Soviet Army, the German Wehrmacht did not have any heavy panzers in serial production, other than several experimental prototypes. The heavy tanks were envisioned by the Red Army commanders as close support for infantry in breaching enemy defensive works. The early Soviet heavy T-35 was a veritable land behemoth, weighing in at forty-four to fifty-five tons, depending on the year of modification, and mounting five turrets. Manned by a crew of ten or eleven, the five turrets, mounted in two levels, were armed with one 76mm cannon, two 45mm cannons, and six 7.62mm machine guns.