T-28

-Sovyetler Birliği T-28 tankını dünyanın ilk orta zırhlı tankı olarak üretti.1931'de prototipi hazırlanan ve 1932'de seri üretimine başlanan T-28 tankı,kuşatmaları yarmak veya direnci kırmak için kullanılan ve fazla personel taşıyabilen bir tanktır.Daha gelişmiş olan T-35 yapılana kadar üretimde ve kullanımda kaldı.

Production history

Production of the T-28

-T-28 tankı İngilizlerin Vickers A1E1 Independent tankı ile benzerdir.Birinci ve ikinci dünya savaşları arasında yapılmış olan orta derece zırhlı bir tanktır.1926'da prototipi üretilmiştir.Leningrad'daki Kirov Fabrikası'nda üretilmiştir.11 Ağustos 1933'te üretilmiştir.Vickers A1E1 Independent tankıda 1932'de üretilmiştir.T-28 76.2 mm'lik silahı ve 7.62 mm'lik iki küçük silahı ile orta derece zırhlı üretilmiştir.1933 ile 1941 arasındaki süreçte 503 T-28 üretilmiştir.

Combat history

Dosya:T28 15.jpg

T-28s in combat in 1941, Note the anti-aircraft machinegun mount on the turret top.

-T-28 tankları Finlandiya'daki Kış Savaşı ve 1939'daki Polonya'nın istilası sırasında kullanıldı.Finlandiya'ya karşı iyi bir perfonmans sergilemesine rağmen savaş kaybedildi ve Finlandiya SSCB 'den ayrıldı.Fİnlandiya siperlerine karşı uzaktan ateş görevinde kullanıldı.Zırh geliştirme ve isabet geliştirme teknikleri sayseinde modifiye edildi.Ön zırh 50-80 mm arttırıldı.Tamponlarda 40 mm kalınlık arttırıldı.Modifiye edilmiş hali ile Kızıl Ordu,Mannerheim Hattı geçildi.

-Rus tarihçilere göre:200 T-28 Finlandiya Savaşı'nda yani Kış Savaşı'nda aşırı hasar görmüştür.200 tane tankın sadece 20 tanesi düzeltilebilir halde savaşı bitirmiştir.2 tankta Fin orduları tarafından kaçırılmıştır.Kirov Fabrikası'nda tamir edilen 20 tank tekrar kullanıma hazır hale getirilmiştir.Fin kaynakları tankların 92'sinin Fin ordusu tarafından yok edildiğini bildirmiştir.

T-28 tanks, with horseshoe radio antennas

The Finns knew the T-28 as the Postivaunu ("mail wagon" or stagecoach), a name which alluded to Finnish troops' discovery of Red Army field mail sacks inside the first destroyed T-28. Another explanation is that the high profile of the tank resembled the old west stagecoaches of the United States. Finns captured two T-28s during the Winter War and five in Continuation War, totalling 7 vehicles.

The Soviets had 411 T-28 tanks when the Germans invaded in June 1941. Most T-28s were lost during the first two months of the invasion, many of them abandoned after mechanical breakdown. However, one T-28 did a spectacular raid (trying to rejoin Soviet forces after encirclement) through occupied Minsk, ramming, firing and smashing trucks, APCs and personnel. This tank nearly escaped but it was hit several times by German 37 mm anti-tank gun and caught fire. Its commander was killed after bailing out, but two surviving crewmen were caught by Belarusian women and went into hiding with their help. Some T-28 tanks took part in the 1941 winter defence of Leningrad and Moscow, but after 1941, the model remained in service mostly in enemy hands.

Today three T-28s remain, two in Finland and one in Moscow. One restored T-28 is on display in Finnish field camouflage in the Parola Tank Museum, Finland.

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 Reichswehr had no tanks at all. No army had 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 machine-gun mounts. Just before the Second World War, many received armor upgrades, bringing its performance on par with the early Panzer IV, although its suspension and layout were outdated.

The T-28 had significant flaws. The plunger-spring type suspension was poor, but many of the better suspension designs used in World War II tanks had not yet been developed. The engine and transmission were troublesome. Worst of all, the design was not flexible. Although the T-28 and early PzKpfw IV were comparable in armour and firepower, the good basic design of the PzKpfw-IV allowed it to be significantly upgraded, while the T-28 was a poor basis for improvement.

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.

Despite heavy losses, in the Winter War the Red Army's 20th Tank Brigade, equipped with T-28s, fulfilled its mission to break the defensive Mannerheim Line. As an infantry-support tank, designed to support infantry in breakthrough operations, the T-28 in general was successful for an early 1930s design.

Variants

• T-28 Model 1934 or T-28A — main production model with the same machinegun turrets, and similar main turret as the T-35 heavy tank and Model 27/32 76.2mm gun.
• T-28 Model 1938 or T-28B — version with improved L-10 76.2 mm gun (from 16.5 calibres to 26 calibres), improved gun stabilization system and improved Model M-17L engine.
• T-28E or T-28C — 1940 addition of appliqué armour in response to poor performance in Finland. Total front armour was increased to 80 mm, weight to 32 t, and road speed dropped to 23 km/h
• T-28 Model 1940 — the final batch of about twelve tanks had the same conical turret as late-production T-35 tanks.
• OT-28 — flamethrower version.

Experimental models

Several self-propelled guns, the IT-28 bridging tank, and an engineering vehicle with mine rollers were tested on the T-28 tank chassis, but none was accepted for production. The T-29 was a prototype medium tank, a modernized T-28 with Christie suspension — a later version of this vehicle was considered for the competition of prototypes which led to the T-34, but by then it was outdated (not to be confused with a Grotte tank project also called T-29). The T-28 also served as a testbed for the KV tank suspension.