Chapter 308 A-32 Tank

"Their tanks are 20-ton tanks with 50mm guns. The performance is quite good, especially the protection ability. Our existing tanks simply cannot penetrate them. We must have new tanks. ' said Major Belotov first.

As a tank commander who came back from the Spanish Civil War and has not been cleaned out, Belotov is naturally highly valued. In the Spanish Civil War, the Soviet tanks were simply a complete defeat, and the entire Soviet high-level commander Officers are quite shocked.

"So, we suggest that our tanks must resist the direct fire of 50mm artillery at close range and the oblique fire of 75mm artillery at medium and long distances." Belotov continued.

The short distance is within 500 meters, and the medium and long distance is 500 meters away. The opponent is equipped with 50mm tank guns and a small amount of 75mm guns. Therefore, our own tanks must follow these indicators. Only by developing new tanks can the tank soldiers have confidence.

"It seems that we have to develop new tanks." Stalin, who was holding a big smoke pot, looked gloomy: "Do you have a good plan?"

Also present at this meeting are the designers of the tank industry.

In the 1930s, the Soviet Union had 2 tank production bases, both under the leadership of the General Administration of Auto Armored Tanks of the Red Army, headed by I.A. Halevsky.

One of them is located in Leningrad, which is a production base consisting of the Kirov Factory and the Red October Factory; the other is the Kharkov Locomotive Factory.

The former is responsible for the production of tanks such as T-28, T-35 and T-26, and the latter is responsible for the production of BT series fast tanks.

Hearing Stalin's question, Kotin spoke first.

Joseph Yakovlevich Kotin, now titled chief designer of the Kirov factory in Leningrad. The three factories in Leningrad, namely the Voroshilov factory, the Bolshevik factory and the Kirov factory, and the leader is the Kirov factory.

"We think that if we want to increase the protection of our tanks, we must increase armor protection." Kotin said: "So, we decided to replace the existing T-28 tank with a new engine, and at the same time Increase our armor protection."

Kotin talked eloquently, as a famous tank designer, his advantages are unique, for example, he is the son-in-law of Soviet Marshal Voroshilov! He often met with Stalin and was highly regarded by Stalin.

Now, after hearing Ke Jing's plan, Stalin also nodded his head, increasing armor protection, increasing the weight of the vehicle, and replacing the engine. These are all on the right path.

Ke Jing reported for a full two hours. He had a total of three plans, each of which was introduced in great detail.

It was not until he finished his introduction that it was the Kharkov factory's turn.

Mikhail Ilyich Koshkin, who became the chief designer of the tank design office of the Kharkiv factory last year, has a very different thinking than Kotin.

"We believe that just increasing the weight will lead to other problems. For example, our current T-35 tank has a total weight of 52 tons. However, various mechanical failures emerge one after another. We believe that the weight of the tank is controlled within three Within ten tons, it is in line with our current technical level."

This statement made Ke Jing quite dissatisfied.

In fact, Koshkin was right. The T-35, a heavy multi-turret tank, was the pride of the Soviet Union. Every time the Moscow military parade, it caused a sensation in the Red Square.

However, that's all, the total output of this tank is less than 100. Except for attracting attention during the military parade, it has no combat capability and has many failures. It can be said that this kind of tank is just to put on airs, showing the advanced nature of the Soviet tank, which is almost the same as the Pe-8.

Koshkin is still relatively young, and he doesn't speak that way in the officialdom. He doesn't know that just his remarks have already made him on the blacklist of Koshkin.

"So, our design plan is to increase the protection with sloping armor through the bulletproof shape. We observed that the German tanks use sloping decks. Under the same weight, sloping armor can have better protection. capability, we intend to do the same, and we want to use the casting method to get a better bulletproof shape.”

Koshkin submitted his own design plan, codenamed A-32. After Major Belotov got the design plan, he agreed with it in his heart, but it was inconvenient for Koshkin to express his opinion immediately due to Koshkin's face. .

It is definitely better to change the shape just by increasing the weight!

"Our tank is a universal tank. It combines the high speed of the BT series tanks, the firepower of the T-28 and the compactness of the T-26. The emergence of the universal tank can completely save the cost of the troops." Koshkin continued said.

"The tank you designed doesn't seem to have dual-purpose wheels?" Koshkin suddenly discovered something and asked Koshkin.

In this era, the dual use of wheels and treads is still advocated. All the BT fast tanks in the Soviet Union are like this. When the track is removed, it is a wheel. Walking on the road, with the track installed, it can be off-road. It seems to be an all-rounder, but in reality On, it is tasteless.

The army seldom uses the wheel pattern of the BT tank, it is too cumbersome, and at the same time, this design will increase the complexity of production and its own weight.

Koshkin said all his thoughts: "We have observed that German tanks have abandoned the dual use of wheels and tracks, and all use tracked chassis. We think this is our development direction."

The person listening to the side shook his head, a member of the Soviet People's Commissariat of Defense, Marshal Voroshilov, firmly opposed the pure crawler type: "We must not give up the high-speed travel of the wheel, which will make our troops lose the ability to move quickly. !"

Stalin drank the cauldron and did not speak.

In all fairness, Stalin was not particularly in favor of pure crawler. However, now that the Germans are all crawlerized, it means that this method is beneficial, otherwise how can the Germans use it like this?

However, what is suitable for Germany may not be suitable for the Soviet Union. After all, the territory of the Soviet Union is too vast. Before entering the theater, a high-speed wheeled solution is also indispensable.

"Comrade Koshkin, I need you to prove the superiority of the pure track solution." Stalin said: "You can make a combination of wheel and track at the same time, and compare the two."

In this way, Stalin made a final decision, and Koshkin also frowned, the combination of wheels and shoes? There is no space reserved for this part of your own tank! Such improvements are meaningless.

You can agree first, but the focus is still on the crawler!