Red Army myths

"Some", as in one tank per company?
The truth is that Soviet engineers didn't feel the need for radio communications; that was also a reason for T34's simplicity of design, IMO.

...can only speak of numbers I know... I am referring to T-34 tanks send from the factory to the troops with or without radios... my numbers are only about Harkov Plant (Ukraine) no. 183 produced T-34 tanks from january to october 1941... from 1560 tanks send to the troops, 612 had radios, that's about 39% of them all... But from other readings I must confirm that I know that the installation of radio stations on tanks was halted from july 1941, after german invasion... so I doubt "that Soviet engineers didn't feel the need for radio communications" as you said!

OK, then WHY wasn't the radio equipment available in all T34's?
Oh, in other Soviet models (and French, and Czech) there was the same problem...

I know that it's unpolite to answer one question with another question but I think that question includes a default response... why most T-34 units almost completely lacked 76mm antiarmor projectiles in summer 1941? Why spare parts for T-34 tanks were also missing? Why over 60% of all T-34 tanks lost in summer 1941 were actually abandoned and not destroyed in battle (that's what the Germans claimed!)...

Well, it's not about politeness or rudeness, but I fail to see the point in your questions. Perhaps the armor projectiles were "missing" because they weren't meant to be there, much like the radios... perhaps the mighty planners didn't think they'd need such powerful projectiles agaist the German tanks...
I do not know about the spare parts (but the famous efficiency of any communist system could be a reason - you've cetainly lived for a little in it, didn't you?), but on the issue of abandoning T-34's, that might have happened because of lack of fuel (now please don't ask me "why") or some other theories, on which you should consult Suvorov and Solonin on this very forum...
Search "Mark Solonin", ok?

This post has been edited by MMM on July 13, 2012 03:27 pm

MMM, I have no need to consult this forum on Suvorov theory as I took an active part in that discussions... the point is that the middle way (and not the extremes) should always be carefully analyzed! The middle way is to analyse in a balanced manner the performance of Soviet heavy weapons of WW2 recognizing their qualities as well as weaknesses... I don't like the idea (that is surely wrong) to underestimate the Soviets ...and here we talk about the weapons produced by them... T-34 as a famous exemple... that, beyond the myth which it created, was superior to all tanks the world have seen in 1941! Is another conversation the reasons for what it didn't prove his superiority! But the lack of T-34 radios was an element who become chronical in late 1941 and was caused by the necessity of production as large as possible (which created many other problems!) and backwardness of soviet technology compared to the west... they produced as many tanks they could, as simple as they could, without radios and other "advanced" equipment...
The Germans widely used captured T-34 in 1941-1943 and not only temporary... is certified the use of platoons and even whole T-34 companies by the 1st, 8th and 11th Panzer Divisions taking into account that utilisation of captured T-34 tanks was dangerous because most gunners fired on silhouette instead of markings... The germans produced the highly valuated Panthers who were upgraded and modernised versions of the T-34...
I am not falling into the other extreme to overestimate this tanks, but the problem with the radios was definitely not the cause to the disaster of summer 1941... read Solonin book and you can have a picture if you want! And again the radio missing is later than summer-autumn of 1941!

This post has been edited by ANDREAS on July 13, 2012 05:41 pm

About 76mm antitank ammunition, some words.

The 76mm gun was the main soviet divisional gun. The 1939 model and the 1941 ZIS3 were the best field guns of their time. However, little thought was given in the pre-war period to making them AT capable. The soviets considered the 45mm to be enough. The ammunition was produced accordingly, lots of 76mm HE but very few AT.

In may 1941 in the Kiev district they had 19,000,000 HE 76mm shells and only 132,000 AT shells. The load for the tanks was 25 AT 76mm for KV1 and 13 for a T34.
Is it too little ? I don't think so. What happened was that the war didn't start as planned and from the looks of it, most units didn't receive their planned combat loads. Some tanks had to fight other tanks with only 76mm HE.

Hey, do you know something I don't? Was it translated in some other language? Because I don't know Latvian and / or Russian and neither do I plan to learn them!
Later edit: ebook at Polirom, in Romanian!!!!!

This post has been edited by MMM on August 07, 2012 06:39 pm

MMM, I bought the book several months ago, in a bookstore Carturesti, romanian language of course, who is called Butoiul si Cercurile 22 iunie 1941 sau cand a inceput Marele Razboi pentru Apararea Patriei, Polirom 2012. You probably have found the digital edition!

Yeah, I found later the printed version as well; I'll get it this weekend... I never thought it'll appear in Romanian before English!
Lately I read mostly some other foreign books (see the topic) so I never checked Solonin's site again...

We native-English speakers tend to prefer the Western European Front for some odd reason. Can't imagine why.



Truth be told, even the fighting in Southern Europe (i.e. Italy) doesn't get the attention that it deserves in the West. And don't get me started on Africa or the Pacific land campaigns (i.e. Burma, China, etc...). There's a massive amount of focus on the fighting in France to the detriment of every other theater that Western Allied troops participated in.

This post has been edited by junior on August 29, 2012 06:23 pm

Well, I can: because it was "closer" to you, because this was the main front for English-speaking troops, because most of the books were written, published and read by authors and public from there etc.
But the problem is the real slaughter was on the Eastern Front... Like it or not, the Red Army actually did pay the highest price. (And I cannot believe I'm saying that, as I am no fan of USSR and / or Red Army)

This post has been edited by MMM on August 29, 2012 07:04 pm