Chapter 372： Cover the sky with one hand

The lessons of the Spanish Civil War made Soviet tank designers work tirelessly.

At the same time, according to the previous progress, around 38 years ago, two test models of the Soviet Union, the SMK and T100 heavy tanks, began trial production and equipped with Red Army troops.

Among them, the SMK "Kirov" heavy tank was designed by Kotin, at least, at this time, the multi-turret tank is the mainstream.

Therefore, this tank has two turrets, just like the Land Cruiser. The main turret is equipped with a 76.2mm main gun, and the lower front turret is equipped with a 45mm gun. It has 7 crews and a total combat weight of 55 tons.

It sounds like an absolute heavy tank, but because it has multiple turrets, the armor thickness is only 20 to 60 mm, which is difficult to meet the protection needs on the battlefield.

Moreover, 55 tons is already the upper limit of the tank design. If you want to improve the protection, you can only change to a single turret layout.

Therefore, last year, Kotin personally presided over the development of a new single-turret heavy tank based on the SMK heavy tank.

Last year, Order No. 45 of the Soviet Ministry of Defense officially decided to start the project and named the new tank after Marshal Krimu-Voroshilov (KV).

Because this tank inherited the body shape, internal structure, suspension system, transmission mechanism, etc. of the SMK tank single, it only changed the turret and increased the thickness, so the progress was very fast. With the stimulation of Germany, it has now produced samples The car is coming.

However, in fact, the original SMK tank is a test product, and there are a lot of mechanical problems that have not been solved. Therefore, the new KV tank is also the same.

Historically, in the 39-year Soviet-Finnish war, KV-1 participated in the actual combat, and the effect was good, but the comprehensive test was not over yet.

When the KV-1 was continuously tested at the Kubinka Proving Ground near Leningrad, it was found that there were many problems with the transmission, gearbox, and running mechanism during the 2,648-kilometer driving test.

As a result, it was originally planned to produce 200 KV-1 tanks in 1940, but the first production KV-1 did not ship until the end of the year.

And now, the KV-1 tank, of course, still has many technical problems, but facing the pressure of Germany, the Soviet Union has no choice but to put this tank into production as soon as possible!

Hearing Stalin's question, Marshal Voroshilov immediately proposed the KV-1 tank. Now, there is no choice but to put this tank into production immediately!

That is the tank designed by my son-in-law, and we must fully support it!

Hearing Voroshilov’s words, Stalin recalled the previous meeting in his mind, and couldn’t help asking: “Kharkov factory, there seems to be a tank project, right? How is that project going?”

Hearing this question, what Maryshev was about to say just now was taken over by Marshal Voroshilov: "The A-32 project has already fallen behind. Their tank is unable to compete. The Germans’ latest tanks competed, and their tanks are said to still have a lot of malfunctions, and they simply cannot reach the state of being equipped with troops."

Hearing what Marshal Voroshilov said, Mareshev could only swallow what he just wanted to say.

The Great Purge campaign killed many marshals. The few remaining marshals who have achieved great results are the ones that Stalin trusts most. Since Voroshilov has published one, Maryshev can’t refute it. He doesn’t want to give it to himself. Ask for trouble.

Hearing this, Stalin nodded: "The progress of tanks can't be delayed any longer. If the finalization requirements are met after inspection, then it will be put into production as soon as possible."

Thinking of the overwhelming German tanks, Stalin was upset. He must expand the Soviet tank force as soon as possible. Only in this way can he be able to fight against Germany.

The meeting ended hastily. Mareshev conveyed the spirit of the meeting. Hearing the news, Koshkin was full of anger.

"Our project is much better than Kotin's project." Koshkin said: "Now, our prototype car has the ability to participate in the test, Comrade Stalin, we also affirmed our plan. We must let Comrade Stalin know the progress of our tanks!"

When Koshkin handed over his plan, Stalin was certain. Now, the prototype has been built and is waiting for testing. As a result, Marshal Voroshilov, who is covering the sky with only one hand, was shot. Up!

How does this work? Has the hard work these days been wasted? Koshkin is definitely not reconciled!

The weight of the KV-1 is too large. Under such weight, mechanical failures will occur frequently. Koshkin has already made investigations. A 30-ton tank is the most suitable one, and his A-32 project, It is the most suitable!

At the same time, after learning about the progress of the German tanks, Koshkin also plans to further expand the size of the gun circle and insert larger tank guns. Since the German tank guns are all 75 mm, it is simply his own tank. , Just use the 85mm tank gun!

But now, everything hasn't been seen yet, and Marshal Voroshilov has taken the space to survive!

No absolutely not!

Standing in the cold factory building, looking at the hard work in front of him, Koshkin suddenly had an idea in his mind: "Simply, let's drive this tank from Kharkov to Moscow!"

How to show the good mechanical performance of your own tank? Of course it is a long journey!

KV tanks, needless to say, run thousands of kilometers, hundreds of kilometers, there will be various mechanical failures, and his current A-32 tank, absolutely no problem!

Compared with the history, the progress of the Kharkov plant project has also advanced a lot. Although there is still a certain distance between the A-32 tank and the T-34, he has sufficient reliability in terms of the most critical reliability. Of confidence.

As for the power system, the most important thing is the engine. For this tank, Koshkin's assistant, Morozov, successfully developed a 12-cylinder 39-liter V-2 diesel engine with a power of 500 horsepower.

This excellent engine makes the A-32 tank guns very fast, with a road top speed of 55km/h, and at the same time, it is quite fuel-efficient.

This tank has a fuel tank capacity of 460 liters, and a reserve fuel tank with a capacity of 39 liters is hung on each side of the body, and the range can reach 540 kilometers.

The German tanks also use diesel engines, which is exactly what the heroes see.

In contrast, the current KV tanks still use aviation gasoline engines!

(In history, Kotin saw that the T-34 diesel engine was good, and then installed it on the KV tank. Now history has advanced, Kotin has not had this opportunity.)

"I personally participated in this test and drove to Moscow to let Comrade Stalin see our tanks!" Koshkin made up his mind.

Outside, snowflakes are flying.