Just why? Why stow the ammo like this in the most likely place to be hit? What am I supposed to do, reverse at the enemy with my anaemic British reversing gear? Its not even like the Conway with a nice, armoured high turret which you can get hull down relatively easily. This tank has a nice, low profile sleek turret, the sort of turret that makes it extremely difficult to get hull down effectively.
Why cant it be like the T-34-57 and fill the ammo store nice and low in a hard to hit location first, behind an extra 20mm of drive wheel? Because that side hull and front plate is literally the same thickness just with a slope. A slope which makes no difference against most opponents when matchmaking at 7.3. Against up tier tanks which can pen everywhere anyway, it reduces the chance of a direct or spalding hit on the ammo. Again down tier it actually provides superior protection against explosive penetration style shot.
In this tank it seem like it deliberately fills the worst stowage area first just to make it worse.