- Yes
- No
Caid’s suggestion # 97
I would like to suggest a pretty interesting tank that was a prototype of the T-34, the A-32
The A-32 was a prototype of a medium tank that was built in parallel with the A-20. The tank’s main difference is the 76.2mm L-10 gun and the incapacity to convert the tank on a wheel drive. The A-32 show serial malfunction during the trial which causes it to be tested with 3 times less time than the A-20 but it show similar performance. Those defects were mainly due to the poor quality of certain parts rather than the bad design itself. Having been tested on 235 km while the A-20 was tested on 872 km in 1939, the A-32 was still ordered for production as the T-32 which the gun was replaced by the L-11 offered more firepower. However, the experience of the Spanish Civil War led to the development of the T-32 with more armor which gave birth to the T-34.
Firepower
The main armament of the A-32 was the 76.2mm L-10 gun. This gun is used notably on the T-28 model 1940 and T-28E, and has a lower penetration than the L-11 used on the T-34 but still offers firepower fit for the early rank 2. The penetration ranging from 65 to 55mm at combat distance with APHE would make it comparable to the 75mm Kan M/41 used by the Swedish Strv m/42. Capable of an elevation of -5°/+25° this gun would fall in the Russian standard for flexibility which isn’t exactly good for the depression but pretty good for the elevation. The turret can turn on 360° with the speed of 25° sec which makes it a pretty decent tank to use in close combat. the ammo load is assuredly the same as the T-34 1940 shall have at least 77 rounds for the 76mm. a coaxial 7.62mm DT machine gun and a hull machine gun were installed on the tank for the defense against the infantry.
Mobility
The tank will feature great mobility. It’s a light T-34 that instead of weighing 26 tonnes, it weighs only 19 tonnes. The 7-tonne reduction of weight is making the tank capable of reaching an impressive speed of 65 km/h. The tank is still powered by the same 500 hp engine found on the early T-34. This makes the power/weight reach 26.32 hp/t which makes it closer to the light tank than a medium tank on the mobility. The A-32 would be faster than the T-50 for example.
Protection
The protection of the A-32 is a lot weaker than the T-34, it is even weaker than the T-50. The protection was the same as the A-20 which was a parallel development. The armor being heavily sloped on all sides was still better than the Russian tank before 1940. The armor reaching 25mm at the thickest part is rather thin and would only protect against HMG effectively. A tank gun or auto-cannon would penetrate its armor fairly easily. The crew of 4 men included 2 men in the turret and 2 men in the hull, which allowed a decent chance to survive a first hit.
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