| T-60/T-70 |
| T-70 Light Tank Crew: 2 Armament: one 45mm gun, 1 DT mg Armor: 60mm maximum, 10mm minimum Weight: 10,000 kg Performance: 32mph road speed, 279 miles range History: In service with Red Army 1941-1948 After the development of the T-26 light tank, the USSR set about developing a new series of light tanks that had amphibious capability, and were to support the heavy KV tanks. What were developed were the T-37 and T-40. But as quickly as these came into production they were declared obsolete, although many did serve during WWII. To replace them came the T-60. It was decided that the T-40 lacked mainly in the armor department, so the armor, and subsequently weight of the T-60 was increased over the T-40. Because of this, the T-60 had no amphibious capability. The T-60 was armed with a 20mm ShVAK cannon, which used special ammo that allowed it to penetrate as much as a standard 37mm gun. However even this was not enough, and new tank, the T-70 was built around a 45mm gun. By the time the T-70 came into production in 1942, the Soviets realized that light tanks just couldn't compete on the modern battlefield. However, because not enough T-34�s and KV�s were available at the time, production of the T-70 pushed on. Eventually 6,000 T-60�s and 8,000 T-70�s were made. They served throughout the war, and some of their chassis were converted to carry Katyusha rockets or 57mm anti tank guns. |
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