T-122 – Egyptian Beast

ChieftainWarrior · September 12, 2024, 6:46pm

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T-122

Flag_of_the_United_Arab_Republic_(1958–1971).svg

TL;DR: Egyptian T-34-85 with modified turret housing a 122mm D-30 cannon

History
The T-34-85 began production in the Soviet Union in 1944. Compared to the earlier T-34-76 variants, it featured a larger, redesigned turret, housing an 85mm cannon instead of a 76mm cannon, as well as some minor hull improvements. Soviet T-34-85 production ended after WWII, in 1946. In 1951, Poland and Czechoslovakia begun license production, constructing 1,380 and 3,185 by 1956 respectively.

Egypt was occupied by British forces as a protectorate from 1882 until 1952. Egypt remained officially neutral during WWII, but hosted British troops from the start of the war, and only declared war on the Axis in 1945. Egypt was the location of a number of key battles throughout the war, most notably the First and Second battles of El Alamein.

After the end of the war, the Egyptian Army consisted of British equipment, as well as small stocks of captured Italian or German weapons and vehicles, like the M13/40. Following the Israeli declaration of independence in Mandatory Palestine after the 1947-1948 civil war, Arab forces (Egypt, Syria, Iraq and Transjordan) invaded the territory of Mandatory Palestine, beginning the 9-month first Arab-Israeli War, ending in an Israeli victory.

Egypt was still militarily supported by Britain during this time, and received Archers, as well as Shermans from Italy (in a deal forced by Britain, as Italy wanted to send them to Israel, despite an embargo). In 1952, Egypt underwent a revolution, overthrowing King Farouk and the Kingdom of Egypt, replacing it with the Republic of Egypt under the control of Gamal Abdel Nasser. This shifted Egypt away from Britain and the West, and towards the Soviets and their allies.

This shift allowed Egypt to purchase 230 Czechoslovakian T-34-85s by 1956. After the Suez Crisis, to replace damaged or destroyed equipment, Egypt bought another 820 T-34-85s, as well as substantial numbers of Soviet IS-3Ms, and Czech T-54s.

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Egyptian T-34-85s in Cairo in 1957. The tank has kill marks on the barrel from the Suez Crisis

Egypt received deliveries of around 200 Soviet 122mm D-30 howitzers, ending in 1969. The D-30 entered Soviet service in 1960, and is highly successful, still seeing active service and combat today. Egypt began production of their own D-30 variant – the D30-M (not to be confused with the Soviet D-30M) – in the mid 2010s, first shown in 2016.

At some time around 1967, possibly after, a single T-122 prototype was developed. It followed the development of the T-100 – a similar conversion with a 100mm BS-3 cannon instead, and which had more produced.

Information regarding its conception is very limited, but it appears to have been developed as a relatively simple way of turning the now-obsolete T-34-85s into SPGs. In 1967, the Six Day War (or Third Arab-Israeli War) occurred, seeing Israeli forces occupy the entire Sinai Peninsula. While regular T-34-85s did take part in combat, neither the T-100s nor the singular T-122 did.

Egyptian T-34-85 destroyed during the Six Day War

While the T-100s definitively took part in was the Yom Kippur War in 1973 (or Fourth Arab-Israeli War), where Egypt and other Arab states attempted to reclaim the Israeli-occupied Sinai Peninsula, the T-122 did not appear to. No images appear to exist of the tank prior to being in a museum. It is quite possible the prototype was deemed unsatisfactory (such as problems with recoil) and thus never entered combat and sat in storage all its life. However, at some point, the vehicle had found its way to Britain as part of the (now-defunct) ‘Budge Collection’. How this transfer happened is unclear, but perhaps the T-122 did see service and get captured by Israel, then sold privately. After the collection went bankrupt in the 90s, it sat in a development site in Bolton, UK until 2008, when it was then bought by a Swedish man called Ulrik Jung, and now sits in his private collection.

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T-122 next to the SU-100 at the ‘Budge Collection.’ T-100 next to it.

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T-122 in Sweden

Characteristics
The T-100 has a number of armour plates around the pre-existing turret to expand it to fit the breech of the 122mm cannon. The turret is widened substantially at the rear, as well as vertically, creating a very odd (ugly) shape. The coaxial machine gun had to be removed in the process. The armour thickness is unknown, but appears relatively thin – the standard T-34-85 turret sides have a variable thickness of between 64 to 98mm. The rear of the turret has 4 racks of 8 shells for ammo storage, although the 122mm D-30 uses two-piece ammunition, and this is either just propellant or just the shell case.

Turret bustle

The main armament of the T-122 is its selling point. The 122mm D-30 is a powerful howitzer with good anti-tank capabilities due to its HEAT-FS rounds. It can fire 3BK-6M, with 400mm of penetration, and 3BK-13, with 460mm, as well as various HE and smoke rounds. The gun of the 2S1 Gvozdika is modified from the D-30 and uses the same shells, and so should give a good idea of it’s performance.

T-122 gunner sight

Other than the turret, the hull remains unchanged. The tank has 45mm of hull armour all around, sloped at 60°, 39° and 47° respectively. It is powered by a 500hp engine, and has a top speed of 55km/h. The tank normally weighs 32t – the T-100 is said to weigh 35t, and I expect the T-122 weighs similarly. The T-34-85 has a crew of 5 – machine gunner and driver in the hull, and commander, gunner and loader in the turret. The T-122 probably has the same crew number and layout.

T-122 in Bolton, UK

Conclusion
The T-122 is a famous and unique SPG, that deserves a place in-game. It would probably fit best around 5.3-5.7 (depending on its ammunition), as a worse 2S1 equivalent. It could be added as a tech-tree vehicle for a future Arab League tree, or as a premium or event vehicle for the Soviet tree.

Specifications
Armament