- Yes
- No
caid’s suggestion #132
I will suggest here the T-40 light tank for Russia
The T-40 was a Soviet amphibious reconnaissance light tank. The tank was a development of the T-37 and T-38 with major improvements such as all-welded armour and new armament. The tank was produced from 1940 to 1941 and offered the Russian army a tactical advantage on reconnaissance missions as the tank was fully amphibious. It could cross the river and lake without the need for a bridge making it perfectly capable of sneaking behind the front line to report the enemy’s movement. However, the armament of a 12.7mm machine-gun was lacking in anti-tank capacity which led to the development of the T-30 with the 20mm auto-cannon. The T-40 and T-30 served for a time together as reconnaissance tanks before being replaced by the T-60 which was cheaper and more potent. The T-40 saw combat and one of the major known uses was during the defence of Moscow during Operation Barbarossa. The T-40 didn’t fare so well in combat, especially against armoured targets, but was perfectly suitable against infantry. Following the Battle of Moscow, the T-40 became very rare in the Russian operations as there were heavy losses while production was halted in 1941 and his replacement by the T-60 was only available in small numbers. The T-40 remained in service until 1946 where the last few T-40 wer used as trainers.
Firepower
The firepower of this tank is rather light but not useless. The main armament is a 12.7mm DShK heavy machine gun. This machine gun is a Russian equivalent to the 12.7mm M2HB with mostly similar performance. It has a 50-round belt and a 600 rounds per minute fire rate. The penetration would range around 30mm at combat distance. The elevation of -8°/+25° makes it pretty useful and even allow it to fire at some annoying aircraft once in a while. The turret rotates at 360° at a speed that is unknown but should range somewhere between 10 to 20 °/sec. 500 rounds are carried. A coaxial 7.62mm DT machine gun is placed on the left of the main gun.
Mobility
The tank is pretty mobile without being a speedy boy. The 45 km/h top speed is good for an early tank. The tank is pretty light at only 5.5 tons. The GAZ-11 model 201 engine offers 85 hp although some early models had a Dodge engine providing 76 hp due to difficulty producing the GAZ-11 Model 201 on time. The transmission was a 4-speed + reverse manual gearbox from the GAZ-AA truck. This is what I suspect, as the T-60 should still use the same transmission. The tank is also amphibious with a propeller in the rear. The tank can reach 6 km/h in the water. Overall, the mobility will be pretty good and not feel any real limitations.
Protection
The protection is light. The armour ranges from 9 to 13 mm in the exposed surface. It will be enough to stop LMGs and shrapnel but a little more will be dangerous. The tank is small which allows it to hide easily and not get noticed. The crew is limited to 2 men. The small size and good mobility will be the main protection of this tank.
Sources
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