T-28
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The Soviet T-28 was among the world's first medium tanks. The prototype was completed in 1931 and production began in late 1932. It was an infantry-support tank intended to break through fortified defenses. The T-28 was designed to complement the heavier T-35, with which it shared many components.
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Production history
The T-28 had one large turret with a 76.2 mm gun and two smaller turrets with 7.62 mm machine guns. A total of 503 were built over a period of 8 years from 1933-1940.
Variants
- T-28
- T-28A - With thicker armour.
- T-28B - Longer gun. (From 16.5 calibres to 26 calibres)
- T-28C - Improved armour.
- OT-28 - Flamethrower version.
Combat history
The T-28 was used during the Winter War against Finland and against the Japanese in 1939. During the initial stages of the Winter War with Finland, the tank was used in direct fire missions against Finnish pillboxes. In the course of these operations it was found that the armour was inadequate and programs were initiated to upgrade it. Frontal plates were upgraded from 50 mm to 80 mm and side and rear plates to 40 mm thickness. With this up-armoured version the Red Army broke the main Finnish defensive fortification: the vaunted Mannerheim Line. Shortly thereafter, production was halted to focus on the new T-34 medium tank. Most T-28s were lost during the first two months of the German invasion, where they fared poorly against the Panzers.
Evaluation
Although the T-28 was rightly considered ineffective by 1941, it is worth remembering that when the Red Army was fielding the first T-28s in 1933, the French Army was still largely equipped with the FT-17, and the Wehrmacht had no tanks at all. No Army would have a series-production medium tank comparable to the T-28 for several years.
The T-28 had a number of advanced features for the time, including radio (in all tanks) and anti-aircraft machinegun mounts. Just before the Second World War, many were upgraded with 80 mm of frontal armor and 50 mm of side armor, giving it firepower and protection about as good as the early Panzer IV.
The T-28 had significant flaws. The plunger-spring type suspension was poor, but many of the better suspension designs used in WWII tanks had not yet been developed. The engine and transmission gave a lot of trouble. Finally, the design was not flexible. Although the T-28 and early Pzkw-IV were comparable in armor and firepower, the good basic design of the Pzkw-IV allowed it to be significantly upgraded, while the T-28 was a poor basis for any upgrade.
Unfortunately for the Red Army, by the time the T-28 saw combat in 1939, events had overtaken it. The 1930s saw the development of the first reliable high-speed suspensions, the first purpose-designed antitank guns, and a gradual increase in the firepower of tanks. The Spanish Civil War showed that Infantry units with small, towed anti-tank guns could defeat most contemporary tanks, and made the under-armoured tanks from the early 1930s particularly vulnerable.
See also
| Soviet Armored fighting vehicles of World War II | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Light tanks | Fast tanks | Amphibious tanks | |
| T-26 | T-50 | T-60 | T-70 | T-80 | BT-5 | BT-7 | BT-8 | T-37 | T-38 | T-40 | |
| Tankettes | Medium tanks | Heavy tanks | |
| T-27 | T-28 | T-34 | T-44 | T-35 | KV-1 | KV-2 | IS-2 | IS-3 | |
| Self-propelled guns | Anti-aircraft | ||
| ZiS-30 | SU-5 | SU-76 | SU-85 | SU-100 | SU-122 | SU-152 | ISU-122 | ISU-152 | T-60Z | T-70Z | T-90 | ||
| Armored tractors | Improvised AFVs | Experimental | |
| T-26T | Komsomolets | KhTZ-16 | IZ | NI | SU-14 | A-40 flying tank | SU-100Y | PPG | |
| Armored cars | |||
| D-8 | D-12 | D-13 | FAI | BA-10 | BA-11 | BA-20 | BA-21 | BA-3 | BA-6 | BA-27 | BA-64 | BA-I | LB-62 | LB-23 | |||
| Amphibious AC | Half-tracked AC | Aerosans | |
| PB-4 | PB-7 | BAD-2 | BA-30 | ANT-IV | NKL-16 | NKL-26 | RF-8 | ASD-400 | |
| Soviet armored fighting vehicle production during World War II | |||
| List of armoured fighting vehicles of World War II | |||
cs:T-28 de:T-28 fr:Char T-28 he:T-28 ja:T-28中戦車 pl:T-28 (czołg radziecki) fi:T-28