Fascist Germany knew how to make tanks. The most important role of this type of military equipment in the Second World War was realized by Adolf Hitler himself. He personally oversaw their development and production. But the Soviet Union also knew how to create such equipment. And largely thanks to his formidable combat vehicles, he was able to win this war.
Tanks were the most important instrument of warfare in World War II. But nowhere then was this formidable weapon used so intensively as on the Soviet-German front.
The first year of the war
Some historians mistakenly or deliberately overestimate the Soviet tank potential at the beginning of the war, while operating with statistical data. Indeed, if you look at the numbers, the USSR had about 7 times more tanks than the enemy - 23, 5 and 3, 5 thousand, respectively. But the overwhelming majority of units of this Soviet armored vehicle were hopelessly outdated and almost could not withstand modern enemy tanks in battle.
There were less than two thousand modern combat vehicles of the T-34 and KV-1 type. In almost all characteristics, they were superior to German tanks. But the models of Soviet military vehicles were completely new, still technically unfinished, which often made them very vulnerable. In addition, the lack of radio communications among their crews made it impossible for well-coordinated interaction in battle.
On the German side, at the beginning of the war, 3,610 tanks were involved. Approximately 2,500 of them were machines of the last two designs PZ III and PZ IV. Outdated PZ I and PZ II, as well as French and Czech captured tanks, were also involved.
The results of battles with tanks in 1941 were disappointing for both belligerents. The Red Army (Workers 'and Peasants' Red Army) has only 1,558 vehicles left, and the Wehrmacht has 840.
Tank arms race
The presence of the T-34 tank in the USSR was a very unpleasant surprise for the Germans. The German tank genius General Heinz Guderian, not afraid of the Fuhrer's wrath, dared to openly admit the superiority of this Soviet tank over the Wehrmacht tanks.
As a result, at the beginning of 1942, the modernized PZ IV model appeared in the German army. This tank was equipped with a larger caliber long-barreled cannon, and the frontal armor thickness was increased by 10 mm.
At the same time, the Germans were working on the creation of a new heavy supertank "Tiger". The first 4 vehicles of this type appeared on the Leningrad front in November 1942 and made a very unpleasant impression on the Soviet soldiers. The stamillimetre frontal armor made the Tiger almost invulnerable to the guns of Soviet tanks, and the power of the gun, the ultra-precise aiming system and the range of aimed fire turned it into a real steel monster.
In the summer of 1943, the first formidable Panther rolled off German tank conveyors. This tank was comparable in its combat qualities to the Soviet thirty-four. But his armor was thicker and the weapon was more powerful.
The Soviet leadership could not ignore these enemy actions. In 1943, the T-34 was modernized. A more powerful cannon is installed on it, capable of penetrating the armor of the "Tiger" and strengthening the stern protection. The production of heavy tanks KV-2 and IS-1 also begins. Their main function was to be able to fight the new German tanks.
And already at the very end of the war, the production of a new heavy tank IS 2 was mastered in the USSR. Its merits are evidenced by the fact that it was removed from service in the Russian army only in 1994.
