. According to the combination of characteristics, it is the Soviet T-70 tank that is the best of the light category. Sometimes the T-50 is given the palm, but taking into account that their release was limited to only 7 dozen (design complexity), compare with the T-70, more than 8000 pieces, the second most massive result is second only to. Who cares here =>> , back to the end of 41 years.
Already at the end of October 1941, N.A. Astrov in the Design and Experimental Department (DED) of GAZ started developing a new light tank armed with a 45 mm cannon. In its design, it was supposed to use the T-60 components and assemblies to the maximum extent, read assembling as much as possible using automotive components and components. It was quite obvious that without a significant increase in the power of the engine plant, the further development of light tanks was practically impossible. But in 1941, increasing the power of a mass-produced engine by forcing it seemed a difficult task, except for the long term.

Alabino T-70 tank biathlon opening photo 2013

It was supposed to solve the problem more realistically by creating two autonomous drives from two engines with a gearbox, each for its own track. For confident rectilinear movement, it was only necessary to connect the engines to each other through friction clutches. But then there were no comprehensive tests, and the hidden flaw of such a scheme was revealed later.
after four failed attempts install two NA engines Astrov proposed a series direct connection of the engines in single file, transmitting the power developed by the rear engine through the coupling to the crankshaft shank of the front working engine. And such a “spark”, consisting of two GAZ-M1 engines, was created at plant No. 37 on the eve of the war.

Tank T-70 power unit GAZ-203 consisted of two GAZ-202 engines (GAZ-70-6004 front and GAZ-70-6005 rear)

Now, in November, the first version of the paired unit of two GAZ-11 engines was made in metal and put on the stand. It soon became clear that important role plays the rigidity of the rubber "barrels" in the elastic coupling connecting the engines. Not trusting the instruments, the selection of stiffness (elasticity) was carried out by the chief designer himself - Lipgart, assessing the stiffness of rubber by pressing his fingernails into it. Rubber bands that were too soft allowed hard impacts in the inter-engine connection, and rubber bands that were too hard led to an overload of the main bearings of the engines. We were looking for the middle. Found that the relative position of the crankshafts does not play any role.

Short description lung structures tank T-70

The reliability of the 4-speed gearbox turned out to be insufficient, it was necessary to replace it with the ZIS-5 gearbox, making a new output shaft and changing the gear lever. This box had four gears forward and one reverse. Both the cooling system fan and its drive have been improved - a gear drive has been introduced instead of a V-belt.
At the same time, a frame was developed on which the complete power unit was mounted, which was installed in the tank hull on rubber cushions. The GAZ-203 power unit consisted of two GAZ-202 engines (GAZ-70-6004 front and GAZ-70-6005 rear) with a total power of 140 hp. The main friction clutch is a two-disk, semi-centrifugal type.

Padded seventy, street fighting for Stalingrad 1942

From the power unit search for new constructive solutions spread to the entire transmission, and then to the chassis. The number of track rollers of the undercarriage of the tank was increased to five per side.
The hull configuration has changed significantly. The upper frontal sheet with a thickness of 35 mm was set at an angle of 60 degrees. The lower frontal sheet was 45 mm thick. In the top sheet there was a driver's hatch with an armored (folding up) lid equipped with a viewing device (with a slot closed with triplex on the machines of the first release). In the lower part on the right, as on the T-60, a hatch was made for access to the main gear of the transmission.

A column of T-70 light tanks on the outskirts of Krasnoye Selo

In a single faceted turret with an armor thickness of 35 mm (for comparison, the T-34 is 10 mm thicker) a 45-mm tank gun mod. 1932-1938 with vertical wedge gate. A 7.62 mm DT machine gun was paired with the cannon. Vertical aiming angles - from -6° to +20". Direct fire range was 3600 m, maximum - 4800 m. it was located on the left, and the lifting mechanism - on the right of the commander.Sights - telescopic or periscopic (partially), as well as mechanical.In the roof of the tower there was an entrance hatch for the commander.In the armored cap was mounted a periscopic observation device for all-round viewing.
The large length and mass of the power unit, reinforced components and assemblies of other systems, as well as more powerful armor protection led to an increase in the combat weight (compared to the T-60) of tanks of the first releases to 9.2 tons (later - up to 9.8 tons) .

Unitary 45-mm rounds for the 20-K tank gun
From left to right, 1. UBR-243P with a BR-240P sub-caliber armor-piercing projectile
2. UBR-243SP with a solid armor-piercing projectile BR-240SP
3. UBZR-243 with armor-piercing incendiary projectile BZR-240
4. UO-243 with fragmentation grenade O-243
5. USCH-243 with buckshot Sch-240

Thus, the substantially modernized T-70, conceived in October 1941, came close in terms of parameters to the T-50 tank. In January 1942, the first prototype was ready. The leading engineer of the machine was V.A. Dedkov. After eliminating the identified shortcomings, a new sample was put into production at the GAZ and No. 38 plants (Kirov).
Since September 1942, the production of an improved T-70M with reinforced undercarriage(increased the width of the rollers and caterpillars, etc.), as well as with an increased thickness of the frontal armor (up to 45 mm, that is, the frontal armor became like that of a thirty-four). The combat weight was 10 tons. With power power plant 140 HP his maximum speed reached 45 km / h. Replaced with 12 volt onboard system, originally used 6 volts.

The best light tanks of the second world war T-70 photo and T-70M were assembled until the middle of 1943. The entire workshop was left 8.3 thousand such machines.
For the development of the design of the T-70 and its subsequent improvement in 1943, N.A. Astrov, A.A. Lipgart, V.A. Dedkov and other designers of GAZ were awarded the Stalin Prize II degree.

T-70 with landing on the armor on the Stalingrad front

The T-90 tank, which was created under the leadership of N.A. Astrov from September-October 1942, could be considered as a mobile means of conducting aimed machine-gun fire on ground and air (anti-aircraft) targets, operating in close cooperation with other light tanks.

light tank t 90 photos

On the tank, made on the basis of the T-70M, they installed a turret open from above and shifted to the port side, armed with coaxial 12.7-mm DShKT machine guns. The absence of an armored roof in the octagonal turret, made of 35 mm rolled armor, ensured free observation of air targets and firing at them. From above, it could be closed with a tarpaulin awning.
Machine gun aiming angles ranged from -6° to +85°. used red dot sight for anti-aircraft fire and telescopic - for ground targets. Sighting range was 3500 m, the maximum - up to 7000 m.
The most advanced light tank T-80 of the family .
In the second half of 1942 - the first half of 1943, work to improve the T-70M was carried out in several directions. So, there were designs of a cast, and then a double welded tower, which made it possible to free the tank commander from the functions of a gunner. The number of crew increased to 3 people. The increase in the volume of the tower required the introduction of additional viewing devices. To the left of the gun was the gunner, to the right - the commander-loader. On the roof of the tower above the commander's seat there was a fixed commander's turret with an entrance hatch, closed by a lid, equipped with an all-round periscope viewing device. A hatch was made above the gunner's place, which was also closed with a hinged lid. In front of him were a periscope viewing device and a collimator sight with folding armor. The gunner's sights remained the same as on the T-70.
In addition, the collimator sight was used to fire at air targets or at the upper floors of buildings.
The welded tower was made multifaceted, with increased angles of inclination of the front sheets with a thickness of 45 mm. Handrails were welded to the sides of the tower.
Elevation angles of the 45 mm gun mod. 1938 ranged from -8e to +65°. A DT machine gun was paired with a cannon. The direct fire range reached 3600 m, the maximum - 6000 m. The gun ammunition consisted of 94 rounds.
The tank used a power unit of increased power. Forced 6-cylinder GAZ-80 engines developed a power of 85 hp. every. The start was carried out either with the help of two electric starters, or a manual crank. The armor protection of the hull was strengthened by replacing the armor plates of the sides with a thickness of 15 mm with 25 mm sheets. As a result, the combat weight increased to 11.6 tons.
The tank was accepted for production as the T-80 at Mytishchi Factory #40. After the release of 81 cars, their production was discontinued.

Bridgehead at Peskovatka. Tank T-70 and Sd.Kfz.250. 3rd Motorized Division photo August 1942

The best light tank of the second world war T-70 photo on the battlefield .

Combat use of light tanks of the T-70 family. The bulk of the vehicles ended up in the southwestern direction, where they suffered heavy losses. And what tank formations did not carry them that year. Estimates of combat activities vary to the exact opposite. Someone complains about weak armor, someone about weak weapons. Although the 45-mm tank gun 20K arr. 1932 of the year was quite enough for 1942, she could successfully fight all types of Wehrmacht tanks at a distance of up to 500 m. More advanced ones and the Panther began to be produced in 43, when meeting with which the chances of the seventies were equal to zero. But these heavyweights were not enough even in the 43rd. The tank regiment of the Red Army of that time consisted of 23 T-34 And 16 T-70 or 70M.

Tank T-70 with troops on board, in the background and destroyed Pz.KpfwIV

For some reason, German tanks of the latest modifications are always compared, and certainly head-on, a kind of tank battle. In fact, knocking out tanks was almost always assigned to anti-tank artillery. And for a direct comparison, not everything is so sad for the T-70, about the PzKpfw I with machine-gun armament and a weight of 5 tons with a penny, we will modestly keep silent (bulletproof armor, and even then it did not always fulfill its functions). Next comes our classmate, a 9-ton PzKpfw II with an automatic 20 mm cannon, almost the same as on our T-60 (in the 42nd, production was curtailed just because of weak weapons). Then comes the more serious medium PzKpfw III, almost 20 tons, on which a decent gun appeared far from immediately. Pz.Kpfw. IV is already a serious car, only truly mass production was launched just in 43, and before that they were crying. And for some reason, the tank sorakopyaty is treated as dismissively as the anti-tank forty-five, forgetting that the Germans had the Pak 35/36 caliber 37 mm as the main anti-tank gun of World War II.

Tank T-70M of the guards crew of the summer I. Astapushenko takes a position December 1942

It's all about skill, examples: a tank under the command of Lieutenant B. Pavlovich, knocked out three German medium tanks and ... Panther, somehow they did it. Another out of the ordinary case. Ours are advancing, they are squeezing the Fritz. they gather forces, organize a counter-attack. Ours fight back, and the Germans begin to retreat. A. Dmitrienko saw a retreating German tank, lined up behind him in the dead zone, he wanted to shoot out of the cannon. But he saw an open tower hatch (which is typical, the Germans often left the hatch in the tower open), he jumps on a German tank and throws a grenade into the hatch. The crew was destroyed, the tank, after minor repairs, is used as a trophy in battles. The crew, consisting of a driver, Art. sergeant Rostovtsev and tank commander Lt. A. Dorokhin, destroyed two PzKpfw III. And there are a lot of such examples, there are also cases of ramming, “The crew of senior sergeant Krivko and art. lieutenant Zakharchenko when repulsing the attack of the 100th flamethrower tank battalion special purpose, having rammed 2 German Pz.II and captured the chief of staff and the battalion commander.

Southwestern Front December '42 light tank T-70M

And here is the course of the battle on July 9, 1943 for the village of Izotovo. Two T-70 tanks meet up with three Tigers advancing. the lead German vehicle knocks out one T-70. The second, under the command of Trubin, actively maneuvering, enters the rear of the Tiger and close range puts an armor-piercing projectile into his side, lights up, continuing the maneuver, the T-70 has already begun to get close to the next Tiger. Wanting to avoid the fate of the lead vehicle, the remaining two began to retreat. As proof, the wrecked "Tiger" was delivered to Moscow and was exhibited in Gorky Park at an exhibition of captured weapons.

Interesting facts, if the T-34 tank was damaged, about 60 percent could not be restored (detonation of ammunition), for the light T-70 tank, this figure is lower, 40 percent. Due to its low noise and mobility, it was used in reconnaissance, although the lack of a radio station in the tank reduced its effectiveness. In the 43rd year, it was decided to stop production, from the middle of the year the car ceases to be produced. The plant switches to the production of SU-76 and SU-76M, built on the basis of the T-70 chassis. Interestingly, the number of manufactured self-propelled guns of all types (light, medium and heavy) during the war years amounted to 22.5 thousand units, 12.6 thousand of them SU-76 and SU-76M.

At the beginning of the Great Patriotic War Soviet light tanks had to play a role much more significant than the one that was originally intended for them. Back in December 1939, the light (according to the then classification - “small”) T-40 tank was adopted by the Red Army. It was a small car with a crew of two, armed with two machine guns (a large-caliber DShK and a regular DT). The T-40 was floating, had good mobility, and the armor protected it from fire. small arms. The purpose of the tank was reconnaissance, and no serious combat functions were assigned to it. However, the war decreed otherwise.

A column of T-70 tanks on the outskirts of Krasnoye Selo. 1944 (author's collection)

Three days after the German attack, plant number 37, which produced the T-40, was ordered to curtail the production of these machines. Reconnaissance tanks, of course, are always needed, but at that moment the country needed conventional, linear tanks more. Now plant No. 37 was instructed to use the freed capacity for the production of the T-50 infantry escort tank. The chief designer of the plant, Nikolai Alexandrovich Astrov, raised an objection - the T-50 was fundamentally different in design from the T-40 and was much more difficult to manufacture. The plant, which had previously dealt only with light floating machines, would have taken an unacceptably long time to master it. Instead, Astrov proposed an alternative course of action - to improve the T-40, making it more suitable for the battlefield, and to maximize its output. This, of course, was a half-measure - a light machine-gun reconnaissance, no matter how you improve it, will not become a full-fledged replacement for a normal tank - but anyone understands that in a desperate situation, at least some tanks are better right now than good ones, but someday later, in indefinitely distant future.

Astrov's proposal was given the green light, and the production of the tank began, which initially had the designation T-60, but later became known as the T-30 (from the factory designation of the project - "030"). The T-30 differed from the T-40 in a number of simplifications that made it possible to speed up and reduce the cost of its production. The most significant of these were the abandonment of the ability to swim and the transition to a more easy-to-manufacture homogeneous (uniformly hardened) armor instead of surface hardened armor. Subsequently, the weapons also changed - DShK machine gun turned out to be in short supply in the summer of 1941, as it was produced in quantities of only a few hundred per month. Instead, the T-30 received a 20-mm TNSh automatic gun, created on the basis of aircraft gun SHVAK. Contrary to popular belief, this almost did not increase the firepower of the tank, but it solved the problem with the lack of weapons.

Tankers rest near the T-70 (author's collection)

The next logical step was to simplify the shape of the tank. The hull of the T-30 carried the heritage of the floating T-40 - it had excessive volume to provide positive buoyancy, high sides for stability, and its front part had a rather complex shape to reduce drag when moving in water. All this increased the mass of the tank, its dimensions (which means visibility and vulnerability) and, most importantly, complicated production. A tank with a simplified hull and reduced dimensions was designated T-60M, in some documents it is called T-70, but in the end the name T-60 stuck, under which it went down in history.

It was the T-60 that shouldered the brunt of the fighting at the end of the forty-first and the beginning of the forty-second. The catastrophic losses of the summer campaign led to the fact that there were practically no medium and heavy tanks left in the troops, and due to the evacuation of industry, it was not possible to make up for this shortage in the foreseeable future. It was the “sixties” who had to plug the gap with themselves. In some cases, they amounted to a third or even half of the tank fleet of the Red Army in certain sectors of the front.

German prisoners of war pass by the T-70 tank, which changed hands twice - it was captured by the Germans and used by them, then the Soviet troops recaptured it. Kyiv, 1944 (author's collection)

Of course, the T-60, like any emergency improvisation, had significant drawbacks. The most significant of these were the weakness of weapons and insufficient armor. The TNSh gun in terms of real combat value, in fact, was not much different from heavy machine gun- armor penetration was enough for her only to fight with weakly armored vehicles, such as armored personnel carriers and light armored vehicles. The high-explosive action of the shells was practically zero, so it was difficult to destroy infantry and field fortifications with them. It was necessary to install a more powerful gun with a caliber of at least 37 mm. Booking, although it was brought up to 30-35 millimeters in the frontal part of the hull, was still insufficient - according to the experience of using the military, they noted that the T-60 is extremely vulnerable and is affected by almost any anti-tank weapons at actual combat distances.

Back in October 1941, in parallel with the deployment of T-60 production, Astrov, sent to the Gorky Automobile Plant, together with a number of other local designers, began work on an improved version of the tank, which received the designation "070" or GAZ-70. The main advantage was enhanced armament - a 45-mm 20-K cannon, which was used on most tanks and cannon armored vehicles of the Red Army, was installed in a new cast streamlined turret. Also, instead of the GAZ-202 engine, a significantly more powerful GAZ-203 was installed - in fact, it was two GAZ-202 engines connected in series. Last modified required an increase in the hull - it was lengthened, and another pair of road wheels was added to the undercarriage.

An echelon with T-70 tanks is preparing to be sent to Stalingrad. 1942 (author's collection)

The work of modernization dragged on despite repeated demands to speed it up from the top leadership, including Stalin personally. The prototype GAZ-70 was submitted for testing only at the end of February 1942. On the military new tank, however, did not make much of an impression. They noted that the armor of the GAZ-70 is the same as that of the T-60, that is, clearly insufficient, and the crew is still insufficient for a full-fledged combat vehicle. The GAZ-70 was driven by two tankers - this was the legacy of its ancestor T-40, not affected by any of the previous alterations and remained so on both the T-30 and T-60. Two people were enough for a reconnaissance tank: the driver drove the vehicle, and the commander, located in the tower, played the role, in fact, of an observer - he had to use weapons only in those few cases when reconnaissance came into fire contact with the enemy. For a combat vehicle, a single turret was a big minus: the commander had to actively participate in the battle - to detect the enemy, make decisions about moving the tank and transfer them to the driver, fire from weapons and reload it. This load was too great for one person, as a result, the effectiveness of the tank was significantly reduced. It was required to increase the crew to three people and, accordingly, to expand the tower to a double one in order to remove at least the duties of a loader from the commander.

Astrov promised to eliminate the noted shortcomings as quickly as possible. The thickness of the armor was increased to 35 mm in the upper part of the forehead and up to 45 mm (as in the medium T-34 tank) in the lower part, where, according to statistics, the largest number of hits falls. The turret was replaced with a welded octahedral turret - the original cast one showed too low resistance (even a 20-mm German tank gun easily pierced it) and, moreover, had no reserves for strengthening the armor. With the expansion of the crew to three people, however, unforeseen difficulties arose. The enlarged tower, according to calculations, was supposed to increase the mass of the machine from nine tons to eleven and a half. The designers had doubts that the undercarriage elements would withstand such a load - after all, they were originally created for the T-40, which weighed half as much. As a result, it was decided to take the tank into service in its current form, and on March 6, 1942, this was done - the GAZ-70 went to the troops under the designation T-70.

The development of a three-seater version of the tank began immediately after the adoption of a two-seater. Having tested a serial vehicle, weighted with special loads to the expected mass of the new tank (11.5 tons), the designers were convinced that their fears were not in vain - the chassis really could not cope with the increased mass. Tracks broke, torsion bars burst, the transmission wore out abnormally quickly. The work to strengthen the chassis was successful, but by the time they were completed, the management decided that the creation and production of the three-seat version should be entrusted to another plant so as not to distract GAZ from the production of SU-76 self-propelled guns, which the troops needed in all large quantities. As a result, the three-seater T-70, after making several more improvements, went into production at factory No. 40 in Mytishchi under the name T-80. GAZ, in order not to be lost, made the developed changes to the chassis of the T-70, and the tank was produced with the designation T-70M from October 1942. At the cost of a slight (about six hundred kilograms) increase in weight, the T-70M received noticeably better throughput due to wider tracks and a significantly longer suspension and transmission resource. In the end, though, it turned out to be more bad than good. It was technically impossible to upgrade the existing T-70s to the T-70M, so the troops ended up with two almost identical tanks with incompatible chassis parts. For maintenance personnel and repairmen, for obvious reasons, this did not cause joy.

T-70 of the 1st Ukrainian Front crossing the Spree River. 1945 (author's collection)

The combat career of the T-70 was bright, but short-lived. For the first time they went into battle on the Southwestern Front in June 1942. It immediately became clear that, despite all the efforts of the designers to improve the characteristics of the vehicle, the combat value of light tanks was not great. In the year that has passed since the beginning of the war, light tanks PzKpfw.I and PzKpfw.II have practically disappeared from the ranks of the Panzerwaffe, and medium tanks have significantly increased in armor thickness. As a result, the 45-mm 20-K cannon, which was quite enough to fight enemy armored vehicles in the summer of 1941, became largely useless by the summer of 1942. Also, the T-70 turned out to be too vulnerable - although the tank’s forehead was well booked and the armor plates in it were located with a large slope, which increased protection, the armor on the sides was only 15 mm thick and was located vertically, so it was only able to protect against bullets. In addition, both new modifications of the PzKpfw.III and PzKpfw.IV tanks, armed with long-barreled guns, and powerful 75-mm PaK.40 anti-tank guns appeared on the battlefield more and more often - it was not difficult for them to break through the T-70 armor from any angle throughout the range of aimed shooting. It was noted, however, that on average, other things being equal, the survival rate of the T-70 is slightly higher than that of the T-34 and KV due to its smaller size. Positive feedback was given to the good reliability of the tank, ease of use and low weight. The latter not only facilitated the evacuation of wrecked tanks from the battlefield, but also allowed the "seventies" to pass where other tanks could not pass, and take the enemy by surprise with strikes from unexpected directions. This was facilitated by the low noise level of the T-70 in motion - according to eyewitnesses, it was no more noisy than a truck, which made it easier to covertly move into position and approach the enemy.

The most massive was the use of the T-70 in the Battle of Kursk - for example, the tank forces of the Central Front consisted of almost a quarter of it (369 vehicles out of 1487 available on July 4, 1943). As a result of the operation, it was concluded that, due to the rapid development of armored vehicles and anti-tank weapons, the T-70 finally lost even the small combat value that it had at the time of creation. In addition, the situation with the production of full-fledged, non-ersatz tanks was no longer as acute as two years ago, so in October the forty-third T-70 was removed from production, and the freed resources were directed to the production of self-propelled artillery mounts SU-76M based on its chassis. The vehicles that remained in service went to training units, or were used as commanders in units armed with SU-76M. Some returned to the original role of their distant ancestors, taking up exploration. Many of them survived until the end of the war - at the beginning of 1946, the Soviet armed forces had 1502 T-70 and T-70M tanks (out of 8231 produced).

T-70 in winter camouflage. Leningrad Front, 1944 (author's collection)

T-70 became the most massive light tank Soviet Union in World War II. Despite the fact that he most often had to be used in a role that was completely inappropriate for his characteristics, he honestly performed the task to the best of his ability. For open combat, it was of little use even at the time of its appearance, not to mention the later stages of the war, but with proper use it could still be useful, especially in the absence of a strong anti-tank defense of the enemy. There are also cases of successful combat of the T-70 with enemy armored vehicles. For example, in January 1943, the crew of Senior Lieutenant Zakharchenko, having used up ammunition, went to ram and rammed two German tanks out of action. The type of tanks is not indicated in the documents, but since the 100th Special Purpose Tank Battalion acted as the enemy, these were, with all evidence, PzKpfw.II - conventional or flamethrower. As a result of the battle, the commander and chief of staff of the German battalion were captured by the crew. There is a known case when the T-70 of the 3rd Guards Tank Army destroyed two heavy tank"Panther". The story may seem incredible, but the side armor of the Panther was relatively weak, and immediately behind it was an ammunition rack - at close range, even a 45-mm cannon had every chance of coping. IN skillful hands trained and cold-blooded crew of the T-70 could be extremely formidable - which once again confirms the validity of the old truth: "It's not weapons that fight - people fight."

Already in October 1941 it became clear that new lightweight the T-60 tank, whose serial production began a month earlier, is almost useless on the battlefield. His armor was easily penetrated by all Wehrmacht anti-tank weapons, and his own weapons were too weak to deal with enemy tanks. Strengthen both without fundamental change construction was not possible. The engine and gearbox were already overworked. The increase in the mass of the combat vehicle, inevitable with increased armor and armament, would simply lead to the failure of these units. A different solution was required.

In September 1941, the Design Bureau of Plant No. 37, at that time the leader in the production of the T-60, proposed a variant of its modernization, which received the T-45 index. In fact, it was still the same T-60, but with a new turret, in which a 45-mm gun was installed. This vehicle was supposed to use a new 100 hp ZIS-60 engine, which would make it possible to increase the thickness of the tank's frontal armor to 35-45 mm. However, the ZIS plant could not master the production of the engine due to the evacuation from Moscow to the Urals, to the city of Miass. The attempt to install the ZIS-16 engine with a power of 86 hp did not save the situation. With its development, not everything went smoothly either, and time did not wait.

In parallel with plant number 37, work on the creation of a new light tank was launched at the Gorky Automobile Plant. There was nothing unusual in such a development of events - this enterprise already had experience in the production armored vehicles, engaged in the serial production of tankettes T-27 and small amphibious tanks T-37A in the 1930s. A number of prototypes of armored vehicles were also designed and manufactured here. In September 1941, the plant received the task of organizing the mass production of the T-60 light tank, for which a separate structural unit of tank production and the corresponding design bureau were created at GAZ. In early September, the chief designer of plant No. 37 N.A. Astrov overtook on his own from Moscow to Gorky a prototype of the T-60 tank, which was to be used at GAZ as a standard. N.A. Astrov himself was also left at GAZ to help organize the production of tanks.

It was Astrov who presented to the GABTU of the Red Army a draft of a new light tank with reinforced armor and weapons, created on the basis of the T-60. As a power plant on this machine, it was supposed to use a pair of GAZ-202 automobile engines. Prototypes of twin power units, which received the GAZ-203 index, were manufactured by the end of November. However, at the very first tests of the twins, after 6-10 hours of operation, the crankshafts of the second engines began to break, and only thanks to the efforts of the designers under the guidance of A.A. Lipgart, the resource of the twin power unit was brought to the required 100 hours. The design of the new tank at the GAZ design bureau began at the end of October 1941. It was carried out very quickly, using the technique adopted in the automotive industry, unusual for tank designers. General views combat vehicles were drawn in full size on special aluminum plates measuring 7x3 m, painted with white enamel and divided into squares measuring 200x200 mm. To reduce the drawing area and improve its accuracy by main view- longitudinal section - a plan was superimposed, as well as full and partial transverse sections. The drawings were made as detailed as possible and included all the components and parts of the internal and external equipment of the machine. These drawings later served as the basis for control during the assembly of the prototype and even the entire first series of machines.
At the end of December 1941, for the tank, which received the factory designation GAZ-70, an armored hull was welded and a turret designed by V. Dedkov was cast. Along with the cast, a version of the welded turret was also developed. The assembly of the tank began in January 1942 of the year and, for a number of reasons, was rather slow. It was completed only on February 14, after which the tank was sent to Moscow, where it was shown to representatives of the GABTU. The military did not arouse much enthusiasm for the new car. In terms of armor protection, the tank was only slightly superior to the T-60, and the nominally increased, thanks to the installation of a 45-mm gun, the power of weapons was leveled by the placement of one person in the tower, a master of all trades - commander, gunner and loader. However, N. A. Astrov promised to eliminate the shortcomings as soon as possible Quite quickly, it was possible to increase the armor, bringing the thickness of the lower frontal hull plate to 45 mm, and the upper one to 35 mm. under the symbol T-70. Two days later, the GKO decree on the production of the tank was also published, according to which plants No. 37 and No. 38 were involved in its production from April. However, reality did not allow these plans to be fully realized. For example, the new tank required twice as many engines as the T- 60 It was not possible to establish the production of a cast tower, and GAZ had to hastily provide other plants with documentation for a welded tower. As a result, the April plan for the production of the T-70 was fulfilled only by GAZ, which assembled 50 vehicles. Plant No. 38 in Kirov managed to produce only seven tanks, while Plant No. 37 failed to assemble them either by April or later.

The layout of the new machine did not fundamentally differ from that of the T-60 tank. The driver was located in the bow of the hull near the left side. The rotating turret, also shifted to the port side, housed the tank commander. In the middle part of the hull along the starboard side, two engines were installed in series on a common frame, which made up a single power unit. The transmission and drive wheels were located in front. .
The hull of the tank was welded from rolled armor plates with a thickness of 6,10,15, 25, 35 and 45 mm. Welded seams were reinforced with riveting. Frontal and aft hull plates had rational angles of inclination. In the upper frontal sheet there was a driver's hatch, in the lid of which the tanks of the first releases had a viewing slot with a triplex, and then a rotary periscope observation device was installed.

The welded faceted tower, made of armor plates 35 mm thick, was mounted on a ball bearing in the middle part of the hull and had the shape of a truncated pyramid. The welded joints of the turret walls were reinforced with armored corners. The frontal part had a cast mask with loopholes for the installation of a gun, machine gun and sight. An entrance hatch for the tank commander was made in the roof of the tower. A periscopic mirror observation device was installed in the armored hatch cover, which provided the commander with a circular view. In addition, there was a hatch for flag signaling in the cover.

On the T-70 tank, a 45-mm tank gun mod 1938 was installed and, to the left of it, a coaxial DT machine gun. For the convenience of the tank commander, the gun was shifted to the right of the longitudinal axis of the turret. The length of the gun barrel was 46 calibers, the height of the line of fire - 1540 mm. firing was 3600 m, maximum - 4800 m When using a mechanical sight, only direct fire at a distance of no more than 1000 m was possible. The rate of fire of the gun was 12 rounds per minute. . The trigger mechanism of the gun was foot, the gun was lowered by pressing the right pedal, and the machine gun - by pressing the left one. The ammunition included 90 shots with armor-piercing and fragmentation shells for the cannon (of which 20 shots were in the store) and 945 rounds for the DT machine gun (15 disks). starting speed armor-piercing projectile weighing 1.42 kg was 760 m / s, fragmentation weighing 2.13 kg - 335 m / s. After firing an armor-piercing projectile, the cartridge case was ejected automatically. When firing a fragmentation projectile, due to the shorter recoil length of the gun, the shutter was opened and the cartridge case was removed manually.

The power plant GAZ-203 (70-6000) consisted of two four-stroke 6-cylinder carburetor engines GAZ-202 (GAZ 70-6004 - front and GAZ 70-6005 - rear) with a total power of 140 hp. The crankshafts of the engines were connected by a coupling with elastic bushings. The crankcase of the flywheel of the front engine was connected by a rod to the starboard side to prevent lateral vibrations of the power unit. The battery ignition system, lubrication system and fuel (except tanks) system for each engine were independent. Two gas tanks with a total capacity of 440 liters were located on the left side of the aft compartment of the hull in a compartment isolated by armored partitions.
The transmission consisted of a two-disc semi-centrifugal dry friction main clutch (ferrodo steel), a four-speed automotive-type gearbox (4 + 1), a main gear with a bevel gear, two side clutches with band brakes and two simple single-row final drives. The main clutch and gearbox were assembled from parts borrowed from truck ZIS-5.

The composition of the tank propulsion unit for one side included a drive wheel with a removable lantern gear ring, five single-sided rubber-coated track rollers and three all-metal support rollers, a steering wheel with a crank track tensioning mechanism and a small-link caterpillar of 91 tracks. The design of the guide wheel and the track roller were unified. The width of the cast track track was 260 mm. Suspension - individual torsion bar.
Commander tanks were equipped with a 9R or 12RT radio station located in the turret and an internal intercom TPU-2F Na linear tanks installed a signaling device for intercom commander with a driver and internal intercom TPU-2.
During production, the mass of the tank increased from 9.2 to 9.8 tons, and the cruising range on the highway decreased from 360 to 320 km.

At the beginning of October 1942, GAZ, and since November, Plant No. 38 switched to the production of T-70M tanks with an improved undercarriage. The width (from 260 to 300 mm) and the pitch of the tracks, the width of the road wheels, as well as the diameter of the torsion bars (from 33 .5 to 36 mm) suspension and gear rims of the drive wheels The number of tracks in the caterpillar was reduced from 91 to 80 pcs. In addition, support rollers, stopping brakes and final drives were reinforced. The mass of the tank increased to 10 tons, and the cruising range on the highway decreased to 250 km. Gun ammunition was reduced to 70 shots.

From the end of December 1942, Plant No. 38 stopped producing tanks and switched to the production of SU-76 self-propelled guns. As a result, starting from 1943, light tanks for the Red Army were produced only at GAZ. At the same time, in the second half of 1943, the production was accompanied by great difficulties. From June 5 to June 14, the plant was subjected to German air raids. 2170 bombs were dropped on the Avtozavodsky district of Gorky, 1540 of them - directly on the territory of the plant. More than 50 buildings and structures were completely destroyed or badly damaged. In particular, the chassis workshops, wheel, assembly and thermal No. 2, the main conveyor, the locomotive depot burned down, and many other workshops of the plant were seriously damaged. As a result, the production of BA-64 armored vehicles and cars had to be stopped. However, the production of tanks did not stop, although it somewhat decreased - only in August was it possible to block the May production volume. But the age of the light tank had already been measured out - on August 28, 1943, a GKO decree was issued, according to which, from October 1 of the same year, GAZ switched to the production of self-propelled guns SU-76M. In total, in 1942-1943, 8226 tanks of the T-70 and T-70M modifications were produced.

The light tank T-70 and its improved version T-70M were in service with tank brigades and regiments of the so-called mixed organization, together with the medium tank T-34. The brigade had 32 T-34 tanks and 21 T-70 tanks. Such brigades could be part of tank and mechanized corps or be separate. The tank regiment was armed with 23 T-34 and 16 T-70. brigades or be separate By the spring of 1944, the T-70 light tanks were expelled from the states of the tank units of the Red Army. Nevertheless, in some brigades they continued to be used for quite a long time. In addition, some tanks of this type were used in self-propelled artillery battalions, regiments and brigades of the SU-76 as command vehicles. Often they were equipped with tank units in motorcycle units. Patriotic war.

The T-70 tanks were baptized by fire during the battles in the South-Western direction in June-July 1942 and suffered serious losses. The first battles revealed low fighting qualities new light tanks, the armament of which did not allow them to fight German medium tanks (the share of light combat vehicles in the Wehrmacht was rapidly declining), and armor protection was insufficient when used as tanks for direct infantry support. In addition, the presence of only two tankers in the crew, one of which was extremely overloaded. numerous duties, as well as the lack of communications equipment on combat vehicles, made it extremely difficult to use them as part of units and led to increased losses.

The final point in the combat career of these tanks was put Battle of Kursk- the possibility of surviving, not to mention emerging victorious, in an open battle with new German heavy tanks for the T-70 was close to zero. At the same time, the positive merits of the "seventies" were also noted in the troops. According to some tank commanders, the T-70 was the best suited for pursuing a retreating enemy, which became relevant in 1943. The reliability of the power plant and chassis of the T-70 was higher than that of the T-34, which made it possible to make long marches. The "Seventy" was quiet, which again differed sharply from the roaring engine and the "thirty-four" rattling with caterpillars, which at night, for example, could be heard for 1.5 km.

In collisions with enemy tanks, the T-70 crews had to show miracles of ingenuity. Much also depended on the crew's knowledge of the features of their vehicle, its advantages and disadvantages. In the hands of skilled tankers, the T-70 was formidable. So, for example, on July 6, 1943, in the battles for the village of Pokrovka in the Oboyan direction, the crew of the T-70 tank from the 49th Guards Tank Brigade, commanded by Lieutenant B.V. Pavlovich, managed to knock out three medium German tanks and one Panther . A completely exceptional case occurred on August 21, 1943 in the 178th tank brigade. When repulsing an enemy counterattack, the commander of the T-70 tank, Lieutenant A.L. Dmitrienko noticed a retreating German tank. Having caught up with the enemy, the lieutenant ordered his driver to move next to him (apparently, in the "dead zone") It was possible to shoot at point-blank range, but when he saw that the hatch in the tower German tank open ( German tankers almost always went into battle with open turret hatches), Dmitrienko got out of the T-70, jumped onto the armor of an enemy vehicle and threw a grenade into the hatch. The crew of the German tank was destroyed, and the tank itself was towed to our location and, after minor repairs, was used in battles.

Soviet light tank T-70

During the fighting, it became clear that “the armament and armor of light tanks remains insufficient. And in the design bureau of the Gorky Automobile Plant, headed by N.A. Astrov (he became deputy chief designer of GAZ) at the beginning of 1942. a new machine is being developed, which received the T-70 index. In fact, it was a further modernization of light tanks. The designers of the armored hull YUN. Sorochkin, A.N. Kirillov and L.I. Belkin designed the front of the tank with 45 mm armor. The main weapon - a 45-mm gun was placed in a cast tower designed by V.A. Dedkov. first used on light tanks. Most of the problems arose with the choice and installation of the engine. Six-cylinder engine GAZ-! I 70 hp was not powerful enough for this tank. ON THE. Astroa suggested installing two of these motors, placing them in series in a line. But during testing, the crankshaft of the second engine began to break almost immediately.