T 24 - 1930
The medium tank T-24 was created after improvement of a design T-12. In September 1929 assembly at once of three machines began. In July 1930 the first tank was sent on tests. Accepted by the army for duty, serial production began the same year. The 1930/31 plan was production of 200 units, but only 25 were made in all, due to difficulties with the financing. In the fall of 1941 only one complete T-24 tank was left and possibly sent to the front.
T 32 (M II) - 1930-31
The first heavy tank in the Red Army was the T-32, also called M-II. It appeard in 1930-31 and was inspired by the brittish A-1 "Independent". The interior arrangement was identical to that in the T-28. It had 5 turrets mounting a 76.2mm gun, two smaller sub-turrets mounting 37 mm antitank-guns, and two additional turrets with machineguns. The chassis was both riveted and welded. With the great firepower and the thick armourplates made it possible for the T-32 to attack heavily defended areas with pillboxes, with help from the infantry, attacking behind the vehicle.
It should not be confused with the T-32 from the late 1930s.
T 26 - 1931-37
The T-26 light tank was the Soviet version of the Vickers 6-ton tank. The m/1931 had twin 7.62 mm machine gun turrets. The final model, T-26S had a 45 mm gun. It had many conversions. First seeing action in the Spanish Civil War, the T-26 then continued in the "Winter War" against Finland in 1939-1940. Few survived the first years of the war in 1941 when a number of 3.436 ordinary vehicles were in service plus 126 units with flame throwers. The production was in Stalingrad and Leningrad.
TG - 1931
TG (tank Grote or Grotte after the constructor) was a medium weight tank designed in the summer of 1931 in Leningrad, when the prototype was ready for test. This tank had an unusual almost futuristic design with the turret rounded even on top, a feature that was 15 years before its time and then came in the famous JS 3. With the main gun pointing forward it had machine guns pointing to both sides and backwards, plus the rotating cupola turret with gun number two. It performed quite well at the tests but it wasn't approved of and thus did not go into production. Following Stalin's wishes the effort was instead put in the heavier so called "Leningrad monsters" T-35, T-100 and SMK.
T 27 - 1932-1941
In 1930/31 the Russians bought a number of the Carden-Loyd VI tankettes from UK. It became the T-27 tank. Licence built it quickly entered production. Basically three models were built: the first was a slightly changed British version. The two other models, (A/1932) and (B/1933).The working space in the T-27 was extremely poor, with a cramped fighting compartment, and the heat therein beeing almost unbearable. At the start of the war 38 vehicles were in service.
T 33 - 1932
The T-33 was a prototype of a light amphibious tank. It was based upon the Carden-Loyd tankettes (T-27) purchased from England. The only unit was completed in 1932 designated "Morskoi 33".
It had a 360 degree moving turret placed in the centre line of the hull, and a crew of two men, whose only weapon was a machine gun. The speed (on land only) was quite good. In 1933 a second unit, fully amphibious and with new suspension, became the T-37.
BT 2 - 1932-33
The BT tank was produced (ca 7.000 units) from 1932 to 1941 in basically 4 models with increasingly thicker armour. They were able to go on railroad tracks as well as on roads or in the terrain. With their thin armour they were very fast (BT= Bystrochodnij Tank= fast tank) and had the mission to be active in large numbers on the battlefield, supporting infantry. A chassis (without a turret) imported from the USA in 1931 was the prototype and the individual wheel-suspension was to survive in later tank models as well. The last BTs were in action in the winter of 1942-43 in the Leningrad and Finnish front and by then an easy target for the modern anti tank guns. Nicknames were: Betka, Betushka.
T 28 - 1933-1940
In February of 1933, the first ten serial produced T-28 tanks were delivered. The standard production model (m/1934) used the same main and sub-turrets as the T-35 heavy tank. About 600 units were manufactured from 1934 to 1940. The were used in 1939-40 in the Winter War in Finland where they suffered heavily, as they were found to be clumsy, slow and bad armoured.
A project started for up-armoring and many 1938 models were provided with thicker hull. At the German attack in 1941 there were still 232 in army-service for limited use. Several prototypes were based on the T-28 but none was accepted for production.
T 35 - 1933-1939
In 1933 a successor to the earlier T-32 appeard called T-35. Produced from 1933-1939. Five turrets was the best feature with five extra machineguns. The suspension was protected by 10 mm thick armour plates. During 1935 the 37 mm guns were replaced by 45 mm guns.
Experience from the Finnish Winter War 1939-40 necessiated alterations in armament with two machinegun turrets removed and the minor front turrets mounting a 45 mm gun and a machine gun. The final production models were welded throughout. At the start of the war 48 vehicles were still in service but the fighting abilty of this tank was limited due to its slowness and thin armour.
T 37 - 1933-1936
Light amphibious tank developed from the T-33. It had both track- and propeller drive systems with a single propeller and rudder fitted at the rear. Encased in sheet metal, balsa-wood floats were fitted in form of trackguards to provide additional buoyancy to the watertight hull. The sprockets and final drives were at the front, drive being transmitted from the engine at the rear. A total of 250 units was built and mainly used for scouting missions for units of the infantry.
T-100 - 1933
A super-heavy T-39 tank was designed in 1932-34 and another prototype, T-100 (Izdieliyc 100) was also made, but was not approved of by the army. These were members of the "Leningrad Monsters", a group of heavy clumsy multi-turret tanks made at the Leningrad Locomotive Works. This production was initated by Stalin himself who once expressed his point of view in favour of very heavy combat vehicles. They all turned out to be to immobile, slow and easy to hit and thus was a compleately flop in combat. The data of this prototype is likelly to be basically like as those that came into a small production like the SMK tank in 1939.
BT 5 - 1933-34
The BT tanks were mass produced (ca 7.000) from 1932 to 1941 in basically four models who all got thicker armour with time. They were able to go on railroad tracks as well as on roads or in the terrain. With their thin armour they were fast (in Russian BT= Bystrochodnij Tank= fast tank) and meant to be active in large numbers on the battle field and transported there by railroad on their own. The BT 5 model saw just a low production.
Interesting thread. If I am not mistaken most of these machines were very compact compared to American designs.
The machine with the immense wheels really tickled my fancy. Sure would have liked to get a close look at that one!
Look how tall it is. Those wheels have to be more than 30 feet high going by the men in the picture. Imagine trying to keep the thing from tipping over - big wheels are too close together for high center of gravity. Looks like over she goes at about 25 degrees side tilt. Looks like something out of Jules Verne.
The thread reminds me that the Renault FT tank at the Patton Museum has laminated wooden front wheels, riveted and bolted onto steel and iron hubs and outer rim. Amazing. Reminds you of how long ago a hundred years can be.
On This Day In History
Birthdates which occurred on September 06:
1711 Heinrich Melchior Muhlenberg founder of US Lutheran church
1729 Moses Mendelssohn German englightened philosopher (Haksalah)
1757 Marie Joseph du Motier, Marquis de LaFayette, French soldier and statesman who aided George Washington during the American Revolution.
1766 John Dalton chemist, developed atomic theory of matter
1817 Sir Alexander Tilloch Galt a Canadian founding father
1881 Leo Carrillo LA Calif, actor (Pancho-Cisco Kid)
1883 Lord Birkett England, judge (Nuremburg Trials)
1888 Joseph P Kennedy financier/diplomat/bootlegger, father of JFK, RFK & Teddy
1904 Maxie Rosenbloom light heavyweight boxing champ (1930-34)
1915 Franz Josef Strauss Germany, minister of defense (1956-62)
1925 Jimmy Reed Mississippi, blues singer (Bright Lights Big City, Big Boss Man)
1928 Evgeny Svetlanov Moscow Russia, conductor (Siberian Fantasy)
1934 Jody McCrea LA Calif, actor (Ben Matheson-Wichita Town)
1937 Jo Anne Worley Lowell Indiana, comedienne (Laugh-in)
1939 David Allan Coe country musician (Mysterious Rhinestone Cowboy)
1944 Linda Kaye Henning Cal, actress (Betty Joe-Petticoat Junction)
1944 Swoosie Kurtz Omaha Nebraska, actress (Slap Shot, Garp)
1946 Bryan D O'Connor Orange Cal, Col USMC/astronaut (STS 61B, STS 40)
1947 Jane Curtin Cambridge Mass, actress (SNL, Allie Lowell-Kate & Allie)
1947 Roger Waters singer (Pink Floyd)
1954 Jon Erikson US, 1st to triple cross English Channel (1981)
1955 Anne Henning US, 500m speed skater (Olympic-gold-1972)
1958 Jeff Foxworthy (comedian: You Know You're a Redneck, The Jeff Foxworthy Show; author: No Shirt, No Shoes ... No Problem)
1960 Michael Winslow actor/comedian (Police Academy)
1974 Justin Whalin LA, actor (Charles in Charge)
Deaths which occurred on September 06:
0394 Eugenius linguistic/anti emperor of Rome (392-94), dies in battle
0972 John XIII Crescentii, pope (965-72), dies
1635 Adrian A Metius, mathematician/fort architect, dies at 63
1701 James II king of England (1685-88), dies at 68
1939 Arthur Rackham, artist/illustrator (Grimm's Fairy Tales), dies at 71
1944 Robert Lejour Belgian lawyer/resistance fighter, murdered
1959 Kay Kendall British actress, dies at 32
1966 Dr Verwoerd South African PM, assassinated in assembly
1966 Margaret Sanger, US feminist/birth control pioneer/racist, dies at 86
1984 Ernest Tubb singer ("Walking the Floor Over You"), dies at 70
1985 Jane Frazee singer/actress (Alice-Beulah), dies at 67 of pneumonia
1985 Johnny Desmond singer (Your Hit Parade), dies of cancer at 65
1990 Tom Fogerty rocker (Creedence Clearwater), dies of tuberculosis at 48
1994 James Clavell (69), Australian-born author and director (King Rat, Shogun), dies
1998 Akira Kurosawa, film director (The Seven Samurai, Tora! Tora! Tora! (1970) (Japanese sequences) (uncredited)
Ran), died at age 88
Take A Moment To Remember
GWOT Casualties
Iraq
06-Sep-2004 12 | US: 12 | UK: 0 | Other: 0
US Private 1st Class Devin J. Grella Qayarrah Hostile - hostile fire - IED attack
US Captain John J. Boria Doha Non-hostile - vehicle accident
US Specialist Tomas Garces Baghdad (near) Hostile - hostile fire - IED attack
US Staff Sergeant Elvis Bourdon Baghdad Hostile - hostile fire
US Specialist Brandon Michael Read Qayyarah (near, S. of Mosul) - Ninawa Hostile - hostile fire - IED attack
US Lance Corporal Lamont N. Wilson Fallujah (9 mi. N of) - Anbar Hostile - hostile fire - car bomb
US Corporal Mick R. Nygardbekowsky Fallujah (9 mi. N of) - Anbar Hostile - hostile fire - car bomb
US Lance Corporal Joseph C. McCarthy Fallujah (9 mi. N of) - Anbar Hostile - hostile fire - car bomb
US Lance Corporal Quinn A. Keith Fallujah (9 mi. N of) - Anbar Hostile - hostile fire - car bomb
US Lance Corporal Derek L. Gardner Fallujah (9 mi. N of) - Anbar Hostile - hostile fire - car bomb
US Private 1st Class David Paul Burridge Fallujah (9 mi. N of) - Anbar Hostile - hostile fire - car bomb
US Lance Corporal Michael J. Allred Fallujah (9 mi. N of) - Anbar Hostile - hostile fire - car bomb
Afghanistan
A GOOD DAY
http://icasualties.org/oif/ Data research by Pat Kneisler
Designed and maintained by Michael White
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Go here and I'll stop nagging.
http://soldiersangels.org/heroes/index.php
On this day...
0394 Theodosius becomes sole ruler of Italy after defeating Eugenius at the Battle of the River Frigidus.
1422 Sultan Murat II ends a vain siege of Constantinople.
1492 Columbus' fleet sails from Gomera, Canary islands
1522 Juan Sebastian Elcano (Del Cano), Magellans second in command, returns to Spain with 18 men and one ship, the Vittorio, laden with spices. Completing Ferdinand Magellan's circumnavigation of the globe
1620 Pilgrims set sail from Plymouth England to the New World
1622 Spanish silver fleet disappears off Florida Keys; 1,000s die
1776 The Turtle, the 1st submarine invented by David Bushnell, attempts to secure a cask of gunpowder to the HMS Eagle, flagship of the British fleet, in the Bay of NY but got entangled with the Eagles rudder bar, lost ballast and surfaced before the charge was planted.
1791 Mozarts last opera "La Clemenza di Tito," premieres in Prague. Composed for the coronation festivities of the King of Bohemia.
1839 Great fire in NY
1848 National Black Convention meets (Cleveland)
1853 Women's Rights Convention met (NYC)
1861 General Grant occupies Paducah Kentucky
1862 Stonewall Jackson occupies Fredrick, Maryland
1863 After 59 day siege, confederates evacuate Ft Wagner, SC
1869 1st westbound train arrives in SF
1869 Mine fire kills 179 at Avondale Pennsylvania
1876 Race riot in Charleston SC
1876 Southern Pacific line from LA to SF completed
1898 Lord Kitchener destroys Mahdi's tomb in Omdurman
1899 Carnation processes its 1st can of evaporated milk
1901 Pres William McKinley, shot by anarchist Leon Czolgosz at Pan American Exposition in Buffalo NY, died eight days later -- and vice president Theodore Roosevelt assumed the presidency. Leon Czolgosz put to death by electrocution 45 days later.
1903 Start of Sherlock Holmes "The Adventure of The Creeping Man" (BG)
1905 Atlanta Life Insurance Company established
1909 Word received, Adm Peary discovers North Pole 5 months earlier
1913 The first aircraft makes an aerobatics loop-the-loop (Adolphe Pegoud-France)
1914 Battle of the Marne; Germans prevented from occupying Paris
1917 French pilot Georges Guynemer shot down 54th German aircraft
1920 1st radio broadcast of a prizefight
1928 USSR signs Briand-Kellogg-pact
1936 Aviator Beryl Markham flew the first east-to-west solo flight across the Atlantic Ocean
1939 1st German air attack on Great-Britain in WW II
1941 All Jews over age 6 in German territories ordered to wear a star
1941 Jews of Vilna Poland are confined to a ghetto
1943 "Congressional Limited" train derails near Frankfort Pa, kills 79
1946 All-American Football Conference plays 1st game (Clev 44, Miami 0)
1948 Juliana becomes queen of the Netherlands
1951 William Burroughs (1914-1997), American writer, shoots and kills his wife Joan Vollmer (27) in Mexico City. He claimed to be trying to shoot a glass off her head, a la William Tell, during a day of drinking and drugs but shot her in the head.
1953 The last American and Korean prisoners are exchanged in Operation Big Switch, the last official act of the Korean War.
1954 Yankees use a record 10 pinch hitters
1963 Church bombed in Birmingham AL, kills 4 black girls
1963 Major league baseballs 100,000th game
1966 "Star Trek" premiers on NBC TV (Geeks of the world rejoice!)
1966 Race riot in Atlanta Georgia
1968 Swaziland gains independence from Britain (National Day)
1970 Palestinian guerrillas seized control of three jetliners which were later blown up on the ground in Jordan after the passengers and crews were evacuated.
1972 Summer Olympics massacre in Munich Germany when Palestinian terrorists attacked the Israeli compound, kidnapping nine team members.
1975 6.8 quake along Anatolian Fault kills over 2,000 in Lice Turkey
1976 Russian pilot defects to Japan in a Mig 25 jet
1978 Begin & Sadat meet at Camp David to discuss peace
1980 College football longest losing streak of 50 games ends for Macalaster U of St Paul, Minn beating Mount Senario 17-14
1982 Polish dissidents seize the Polish Embassy in Bern, Switzerland
1983 USSR admits to shooting down KAL 007 on 9/2
1984 Today Show begins live remote telecasts from Moscow
1986 Barbra Streisand's 1st live concert in 20 years (300 invitees pay $5,000 to hear Barbra Striesand's benefit concert)
("Nobody ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American public."
H. L. Mencken)
1986 USSR charges correspondent Nicholas Daniloff with spying
1986 Attack on synagogue in Istanbul, 23 killed
1988 Lee Roy Young becomes the first African-American Texas Ranger in the force's 165-year history.
1988 Crippled soviet Soyuz TM-5 lands safely with 2 cosmonauts aboard
1989 Amateur Atheletic Fed strips Ben Johnson of all track records
1989 Police computer accuses 41,000 Parisians of murder/prostitution
1991 USSR recognizes independence of the 3 baltic republics
1995 Cal Ripkin breaks Gehrig's record, plays in 2,131 straight games
1995 Senate Ethics committee votes 6-0 to ask for expulsion of Bob Packwood
1997 USS Hopper DDG 70 comissioned Named after Rear Admiral Grace "Amazing Grace" Murray Hopper (Coined the term debugging after she pulled a moth from a computer.)
1997 Weeping masses gathered in Calcutta, India, to pay homage to Mother Teresa, who had died the day before at age 87.
1999 Mass slaying of 25 East Timorese takes place in Suai, West Timor. 3 Roman Catholic priests were among the dead
1999 Moammar Khadafy unveils plans for a new, safe, 5-passenger "Rocket of the Jamahiriya" automobile
2000 The Millennium Summit, the largest gathering of world leaders in history, convened at the United Nations.
(Win a sensational prize, guess what 3 things they accomplished)
2000 Thousands of pro-Indonesian militiamen and supporters stormed a U.N. office in West Timor, killing three foreign staffers
2001 The Justice Department reversed an earlier decision and said it would no longer seek to split the Microsoft Corp. into more than one company or pursue the claim that the company had illegally tied its network browser to its operating system.
2002 US freezes the assets of Wa'el Hamza Julaidan "alleged" al Qaeda financier. Still living in Saudi Arabia.
2002 Salvatore "Sammy Bull" Gravano is sentenced to 20 years in prison.for dealing drugs
(
http://www.crimelibrary.com/gangsters_outlaws/mob_bosses/gravano/index_1.html) 2003 In Taiwan thousands of pro-independence activists marched in the capital, demanding that the island's official name be changed from the Republic of China to Taiwan
Holidays
Note: Some Holidays are only applicable on a given "day of the week"
Pakistan : Defense Day
Swaziland : Somhlolo Day/Independence Day (1968)
Namibia, South Africa : Settlers' Day ( Monday )
US, Canada, Guam, Virgin Islands : Labor Day (1894) (Monday)
Co-Ed College Day
Kiss a Bald Head Week (Day 3)
Fight Procrastination Day......tomorrow...if you find time.
Library Card Sign-Up Month
Religious Observances
Christian : Feast of St Zachariah
RC, Ang : Feast of the Transfiguration
Religious History
1812 Colonial American missionary Adoniram Judson, 24, en route to the mission field, converted from Congregationalism to become a Baptist. He later translated the Bible into Burmese and authored a Burmese dictionary (1849).
1907 Pius X issued the encyclical "Pascendi dominici gregis," in which he condemned the "modernist" movement within the various branches of Christendom. The document also established councils to combat these "modern errors."
1938 The movie "Boys Town" was first released by MGM studios. Starring Spencer Tracy, the award-winning film depicted the founding of the famous vocational institution in Nebraska in 1917 by parish priest Father Edward J. Flanagan, 31.
1940 The National Christian Council of Japan organized its churches into a single body, with complete autonomy from Western church control. The single Protestant structure thus formed was named the United Church of Christ in Japan.
1974 American Presbyterian missionary Francis Schaeffer wrote in a letter: 'Only the one who has been hurt can bring healing. The other person cannot. It is the one who has been hurt who has to be willing to be hurt again to show love, if there is to be hope that healing will come.'
Source: William D. Blake. ALMANAC OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. Minneapolis: Bethany House, 1987.
Duck Club Uses Pigs to Keep Seagulls Away
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) - With an oink oink here and an oink oink there, four weaner pigs seemed to have scared seagulls away from a duck hunting club.
The Rudy Duck Club, which borders the Salt Lake International Airport in the marshland of the Great Salt Lake, has been using the young pigs for the past five years. Members put the pigs up in shelters on the four islands - two per island so they have company - in the 1,900-acre club, and the animals do what comes naturally.
"The seagulls were taking over the islands," said Lane Jensen, a member of the duck club board. Their nesting habits were "messing up the airport, it was killing off the island for any other nesting."
Hunters who couldn't shoot the gulls had to come up with a backup plan.
"It's the state bird," Jensen said.
After other methods failed to be anything more than a temporary fix, a rancher near the club suggested the pigs would root in the gull nests for eggs and disrupt the breeding cycle. The pigs were turned loose every April and roamed the islands until mid-June.
The pigs stay away from geese, which are twice as big as the weaners and have a frightening hiss.
This year, gulls didn't try to nest on the islands, Jensen said.
"So it worked," he said.
Thought for the day :
"If you ever start feeling like you have the goofiest, craziest, most dysfunctional family in the world, all you have to do is go to a state fair. Because five minutes at the fair, you'll be going, 'you know, we're alright. We are dang near royalty.'"
Jeff Foxworthy
The US Chassis referred to in the article was the famous suspension system developed by Walter Christie, and turned down by the U.S Army. If I recall correctly, the Russians bought two chassis from Christie. His suspension system has been in use on every Soviet and Russian tank since the BTs. Needless to say, the Soviets ignored his patent, and never paid him the royalties he was due, which, considering the number of tanks they built that used it, would have been a pretty penny [or ruble, if you prefer].