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T-27 Tankette

Already during the Great War, in addition to heavy tanks designed to break through defensive lines, there was a need for lighter, maneuverable and high-speed vehicles capable of accompanying infantry and cavalry in the further development of a breakthrough operation already in the depths of the enemy’s broken defenses. The first examples of such machines were the French Renault FT-17 and the English Mk.A "Whippet" . However, in addition to high-speed and light long-range tanks, there was a need for a small ultralight tank for reconnaissance and communications.

French Colonel J. Etienne and British Major J. Martel dreamed of “swarms of armored skirmishers” - light and cheap armored vehicles with a crew of one or two people. Such ultra-small cars were called “chenillette” in French and tankette in English, and "tanketa" "wedge" in Russian, from the French diminutive of the English word "tank".

The term "wedge" from the military denotes a lightweight high-speed machine. Why is this term used for women's shoes? Exclusively for external similarity (looking at the shoes from the side) with the tracked part of the military machine: the principle of the location of the sole of the shoe is solid, thickening from toe to heel. To the joy of fashionistas, unlike a bulky tank, wedge shoes are elegant and light.

After the end of the war, the idea of their creation and combat use was developed by the English military theorist J. Fuller. It was assumed that thanks to the armor and self-propelled, the wedge would be able to replace the foot machine-gun crew. But practice has shown that the platform without a turret is ineffective in battle.

One of the first tankettes was built in 1924 by the English major of engineering troops J. Martel from spare parts of ordinary civilian cars in his own workshop. It was a single, easily armored vehicle, armed with a machine gun and equipped with a low-power car engine. On tests, she has developed a speed of up to 24 km / h.

Almost simultaneously with Martel, a small single wedge was built by an English engineer, J. Cardin . This was a car in which the driver-arrow was located in the prone position. The first samples had too many flaws and "childhood diseases", in connection with which they were not built in series and were not accepted for service.

Taking into account the shortcomings of the first models, the designers began work on double machines that were built, and entered the tests in 1927. The choice of the double version of the tank shoes was explained by the doubts of the designers and the military, whether one person could combine the functions of a driver, an arrow and an observer at the same time.

The most successful was a double wedge, which went through a number of improvements and finally took shape only in 1929 as the wrist-wrist "Cardin-Loyd" Mk IV . It was produced by the Vikkers-Armstrong plant . Tankettes were very popular. Carden-Loyd Mk IV purchased sixteen countries of the world, including Poland, Italy, Czechoslovakia, France, Japan, Canada, Belgium and Egypt.

In France, in the mid-twenties, little attention was paid to the creation of tanket shoes. However, the obvious success of the British in this matter forced French engineers to become more active. In 1929, a single-seat wedge "Sabat" was created in state workshops in Reil . Under normal conditions, this single-seater was transported on a truck or trailer, and in combat it moved under its own power, controlled by the driver-gunner, who was in the prone position and controlled the wedge shoes with the help of foot pedals and manual gas.

In the absence of enemy fire, the driver could drive the wedge and sitting, using the second set of pedals. The acquisition of a license for the production of carpen-loyd tankettes in England determined a new trend in the development of tankettes in France. So, in 1933, the Renault UE "supply tank" was made, which was then turned into a typical wedge heel.

The Italian army was armed with a wedge, called a small tank CV29 (the number "29" means the year the machine was adopted). This machine is actively used in the Spanish Civil War. In Poland, a reconnaissance tank TK-3 (1931) was developed and built with a large series , and then, from 1934, the TKS . In Czechoslovakia, the company "Skoda" produced a wedge MU-4 .

In Russia, the project of the first tankette, called the Shingonace, was developed in 1919 by engineer Maximov . In the car, armed with one machine gun, the shooter was located in the prone position.

The program principles for the construction of armored vehicles adopted in the late 20s included the development and production of a small reconnaissance tank (tanket) designed for joint operations with T-18 tanks , as well as reconnaissance and communications. In the 1927-1930's Union CB-gun Arsenalnoye association (VOAO) based on tank T-16 (precursor tank MS-1) were designed tancík T-17 , T-21 (draft), T-23 and T-25 (draft ). T-23 was provided in two versions - turretless and with a tower of circular rotation. The T-25 tank platform then designed was a further development option for the T-17 tankette.

It was a good machine for its time, but it took a lot of time to eliminate their "childhood diseases" before launching into mass production, which, as always, did not exist. In this regard, it was decided to purchase a license abroad for the production of mass-produced "Cardin-Loyd" mk VI tankettes.

In 1930, the USSR purchased the Cardin-Loyd mk VI winches in England (about 26 pieces), which in the Soviet Union received the designation 25-B (or K-25 ), as well as a license for their large-scale production. According to the plan, during the years 1930-31, 290 tank shoes were to be built, and later their production should have been 400 pieces per year. The main producer was the Avtozavod No. 2 BATO (All-Union Auto-Tractor Association) in Fili (from 1932 - Plant No. 37 named after S. Ordzhonikidze, which was structurally part of the Spetsmashtrest association). Soviet tank builders were not limited to simply copying the English machine. Before the start of the large-scale production, engineers of the Design Bureau of Plant No. 37 (chief engineer N. Kozyrev, leading engineer K. Sirken ) significantly reworked the wedge construction. The dimensions of the hull were increased, the track was extended, the chassis was changed.

Was designed for the installation of the machine gun and made a number of improvements and changes. When making changes in the design, the views of the Soviet military on its combat use, geographical and climatic conditions of our country were taken into account.

Due to the fact that the design of the tank shoes has changed significantly, it was given a new designation "T-27", and it was adopted by the Red Army by order of the Revolutionary Military Council of the USSR of February 13, 1931. Wedges produced at several factories. The main manufacturer was the plant number 37. In addition, the tank shoes were manufactured by the Bolshevik plant in Leningrad and the newly built automobile plant in Nizhny Novgorod, now GAZ.

The body of the tankette consisted of armored rolled sheets, connected by rivets and partially by electric welding. For the landing of the crew on the roof there were two rectangular hatches, closed from the inside with covers. Observation of the battlefield was conducted through the observation slits located in the upper frontal and side hull sheets. Sheets of the hull, at a height of up to 400 mm from the bottom, were combined with the use of canvas pads, which ensured the water resistance of the machine body when overcoming the ford. The wedge was armed with a 7.62-mm machine gun DT model 1929. Stores for the machine gun were located on the racks installed in the cartridge boxes, and were fed for loading with a special cable mechanism. No external or internal communication; communication between individual machines in the unit was maintained using signal flags.

A four-stroke four-cylinder carburetor engine of liquid cooling GAZ-AA (Ford-AA) with a power of 40 hp was installed on the flywheel in front of the car at 220 rpm The crew consisted of two people: the commander-gunner and driver.

The first Soviet flamethrower tank HT-27 was created on the basis of the tanket. Ognesmes was thrown out with the help of compressed air at a distance of up to 25 meters. In the mid-thirties, light self-propelled artillery mounts, armed with a 76-mm Kurchevsky dynamo-reactive cannon, were created on the basis of the wedge, but did not go into the series, as, by the way, all of the “brilliant” works of Kurchevsky. Attempts were made to install even more powerful weapons on the T-27, including the Hotchkiss 37-mm cannon and the 76.2-mm cannon, but they had to be abandoned because the chassis could not withstand the increased mass of the vehicle. Moreover, tests have shown that a light (less than 3 tons) wedge just lost stability when firing guns of this caliber. In addition, there was not enough room for storing ammunition to the cannon in the tiny tanket case. But what to say, the designers could not find a place to house the radio station, and it seemed that the reconnaissance vehicle was prevented from transmitting proven data. Wedges entered service with intelligence units of the mechanized forces of the Red Army. By the end of 1932, according to the directive of the Revision Council of March 11, 1932, 65 battalions of tankettes were formed (about 50 units in the battalion). Subsequently, the number of battalions decreased to 23.

In the initial period of saturation of troops with armored vehicles, the T-27 wedges played a large role, which further decreased due to its technical shortcomings, as well as due to the adoption of more sophisticated models of combat vehicles. On January 1, 1937, there were 2,547 T-27 tanks in the troops. In 1935, the air transportation of T-27 tank shoes, suspended from heavy TB-3 bombers, was tested. The device with which the suspension was carried out was developed by the inventor A. F. Kravtsev. With the help of this device, the T-27 tankettes were not only suspended under the aircraft, but also dropped from low altitude to the ground. In the early 1930s, tankettes were very successfully used in Central Asia (Karakum desert, Guriev region) in the fight against the Basmachis. In the late 1930s, tankettes were brought out from the first line and used mainly for training tankers. In addition, a number of tanket shoes were transferred to OSOAVIAHIM. After a slight rework, the T-27 was used as a tractor for guns of 37 and 45 mm calibers.

Operation tankets in the army showed that it was quite simple and unpretentious machine. But because of its small size, the T-27 was not distinguished by good maneuverability, for the same reason, the undersized soldiers had to be selected for the tanket crews. In addition, the experience of its use in maneuvers has shown that a rotating tower with armament installed in it is necessary for machines of this class, the ability to overcome water obstacles by swimming and a less dense layout.

The military tried to expand the tactical capabilities wedges. In 1931, small self-propelled artillery mounts (SAU), armed with Hotchkiss 37-mm cannons, were created at its base . From the base machine, they differed slightly modified body and chassis. In the first version of the ACS, one gun was mounted in a fixed wheelhouse, in the second, a gun and a machine gun. In view of the small internal volume of the vehicle for transporting ammunition, a special tracked trailer was used. This small batch of SAU was released at the Bolshevik plant in Leningrad.

In 1932, in a pilot order, a flamethrower installation was installed on the wedge in place of a machine gun, in which the fire mixture was ejected with the help of compressed air. The range of flame throwing was 25 meters. The model was tested in 1932, and in 1935 a series of 164 flame-throwing tankettes was released.

During 1933-1934, the special design bureau of the Krasny Putilovets plant designed a self-propelled unit with a 76 mm Q gun based on the T-27 tankette. The gun was mounted on the same wedge, and the ammunition and gun crew was transported to another.

The project and 5 prototypes were made to create a self-propelled regimental gun for motorized connections. The gun was installed in it openly or behind shield shield. For firing it was required to fold back the stops (legs). The car was overloaded and could not move under the roads because of engine overheating. Works have been stopped.

In 1933, the ACS was designed and manufactured with the 76-mm dynamo-active Kurchevsky gun . In this installation, all parts except the nozzle and the tray were covered with armor. She tested the ground tests and was admitted to the military, but the latter gave negative results, as the gun had poor ballistic qualities, strongly unmasked itself during firing and was unsafe to handle.

In addition, Grokhovsky Design Bureau has developed a project for the armament of T-27 tankettes with two unguided rockets. The shells were fastened along the sides of the hull, the launch was carried out from inside the fighting compartment. Several tanket shoes were sealed and equipped with a set of instruments to overcome water obstacles under water.

In March 1930, by order of M.N. Tukhachevsky , the first freelance motorized airborne detachment (airborne assault landing party) was formed. The squad consisted of tanks MS-1, in the future they were replaced by the T-27. In 1933, each of the four airborne battalions consisted of one company of T-27 tankettes.

In 1935, military maneuvers demonstrated transportation by air of T-27 tank shoes suspended from heavy bombers TB-1 and TB-3 . The device with which the suspension was carried out was developed by the engineer A.F. Kravtsev. With the help of this device, the T-27 tankettes were not only suspended under the aircraft, but also dropped from low altitude to the ground.

According to some data, as of January 1, 1941, there were still 2,157 T-27 tankettes in the army, some of which took part in the hostilities of the initial period of the Great Patriotic War, some of them "survived" to the Moscow battle. In particular, on December 1, 1941, several T-27 tankers supported an attack by one of the battalions of the 71st separate naval rifle brigade in the Yakhroma area.

By 1941, the T-27 were considered obsolete and removed from the front. There is evidence of their use in battles in 1941, but these were simply attempts to use everything that was at hand. The combat capabilities of the T-27 tanket were small. The armor was punched from a distance of about 200-300 m with 7.92-mm German armor-piercing rifle bullets, moreover, such a bullet could easily put the wedge out of action.

However, the T-27 wedge by June 1941 was not a useless machine. It could easily be used for patrols, headquarters protection, as an armored tractor and transporter (for example, the Wehrmacht widely used outdated German and French tanks to guard bridges, airfields, etc., as well as to fight partisans). The low silhouette of the T-27 contributed to its disguise, which allowed it to be used effectively in defense.