T-50 tank

Infobox Weapon
name=T-50 light infantry tank


caption=
origin=Soviet Union
type=Light tank
is_vehicle=yes
crew=4
length=5.20 m
width=2.47 m
height=2.16 m
weight=14 tonnes
armour=12–37 mm
primary_armament=45 mm Model 1938
secondary_armament=1×DT 7.62 mm machine gun
engine=diesel model V-4
engine_power=300 hp (220 kW)
suspension=torsion bar
speed=60 km/h
pw_ratio=21 hp/tonne
vehicle_range=220 km

The T-50 light infantry tank was built by the Soviet Union at the beginning of World War Two. This design had some advanced features, but was complicated and expensive, and only a short production run of 69 tanks was completed.

Production history

The T-50 was a light tank developed on the eve of World War II for the Red Army. The experience of the Spanish Civil War led to an effort to upgrade or replace the large Soviet tank fleet. Prior to 1939, most tanks in Red Army service were improved versions of foreign designs. For example, the most numerous tank, the T-26 light infantry tank, was a copy of the British Vickers 6-Ton tank with a Soviet-designed turret and 45 mm gun. However, just prior and during the war the USSR developed new light, medium and heavy tanks of wholly indigenous design. The T-50 light tank was intended to replace the T-26 infantry tank; in prewar planning the T-50 was intended to become the most numerous Soviet tank, operating alongside the BT fast tank.

Development of the T-50 started as the SP project ("Soprovzhdeniya Pekhoty", ‘Infantry Support’) in 1939 at the OKMO design bureau in the S.M. Kirov Factory no. 185 in Leningrad, under the direction of S. Ginzburg and L. Troyanov. Initial prototypes called T-126 and T-127 were not much improved over the T-46-5 project abandoned earlier that year, but the heavier T-126 was selected for further development. The bureau was gutted during the Great Purge and was unable to continue the project, so it was transferred to the K.E. Voroshilov Factory no. 174 in May 1940. Troyanov completed the T-50 design in January 1941 and production was authorized, but due to technical problems it was unable to proceed.

In the meantime, a replacement for the BT fast tanks was developed and built at the KhPZ factory in Ukraine which exceeded its original programme. The result was the very capable and economical T-34 medium tank.

After the German Invasion in June, tank factories were ordered to be transferred to the Urals. Part of OKMO was moved to Omsk after September, and production was finally begun. The T-50 was an excellent design, but still suffering from technical problems, and at this time was found to be as expensive to produce as the more capable T-34. [Zaloga 1984, p 130.] Much simpler T-60 light tanks were already being mass produced. A total of 69 T-50 tanks were built (only 48 of them armed), before production ended in January 1942.

Some further infantry tank design work on a prototype called the T-45 continued at Factory no. 174 and the Kirovskiy Factory no. 100. But faced with the need to accelerate T-34 production and a lack of interest from troops in the field, the Soviet infantry tank concept was abandoned.

Description

It was an advanced design for its time, with torsion-bar suspension, diesel engine (in common with all the new Soviet tanks) and well-sloped all-welded armor. An excellent feature was the three-man turret with commander's cupola. Commander's cupolas would not appear on other Soviet tanks until 1942. Most Soviet tanks of the 1939-43 era had one or two-man turrets, which are far less efficient in combat than three-man turret crews. All T-50s had radios.

The T-50 had several weaknesses. Like many Soviet tanks it was very cramped inside.

The main problems, however, were related to the new V-4 engine developed specifically for this tank. The V-4 engine was unique to the T-50, unlike other Soviet light AFVs which used standard truck engines. For example, the T-60 and T-70 light tanks and the SU-76 self-propelled gun used standard GAZ truck engines. Specialized tank engines, more expensive to produce, were reserved for higher-performance AFVs. The very mobile BT-8 fast tank, the T-34 medium tank, KV-1 and IS-2 heavy tanks, and their derivatives all used variants of the same standard 12-cylinder model V-2 diesel engine.

The V-4 engine was extremely unreliable and the design bugs could not be worked out. Its low reliability and high cost contributed to the demise of the T-50.

Variants

There were two variants; a basic model and an up-armored model. Just prior to the German invasion of the USSR, many Soviet tanks had their armor reinforced with welded or bolted add-on plates. Some Kliment Voroshilov heavy tanks, T-28 medium tanks and T-26 light tanks received add-on armor fittings. A few T-50s also received these add-ons. This up-armored variant is recognizable by the bolt heads that hold the armor added to the turret sides and hull front. The normal T-50 is a very 'clean' looking vehicle by comparison. Ironically, the armor add-ons were in response to erroneous reports of powerful German antitank and tank guns. The uparmored T-50 had 57 mm of armor at its thickest points.

Combat history

The few T-50s available were deployed on the Leningrad front. Few in-service photos survived and not much is known of their combat record. One uparmored T-50 was captured by Finnish forces and was used by them in 1944. On paper, the T-50 should have been easily able to hold its own against any early-war German tank, however, paper specifications cannot always predict real-world performance.

Most light tank production in 1941–43 consisted of the less advanced but simpler T-60 and T-70 light tanks. By 1943, the infantry tank role was considered obsolete, and cheaper SU-76 self-propelled guns took over the light infantry support role. Light tanks in tank regiments were being replaced by T-34 medium tanks. The liaison and reconnaissance roles of light tanks were assumed by cheaper armoured cars and Lend-Lease supplies of Canadian and British Valentine tanks and U.S. M3 Stuart light tanks.

Surviving T-50s

Today, at least two T-50s survive. One is at the Finnish tank museum at Parola. This is a later model with bolted-on appliqué armour. A standard T-50 is on display at the Kubinka armor collection outside Moscow.

Notes

References

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