T-70
Russian light battle tank

T-70

T-70
Type: Russian light battle tank.
History: Work on the T-70 by N. Astrov's team began towards the end of 1941. The basic aim was to increase the frontal arm our up to 45mm in order to protect the tank from 37mm guns, and to increase the main gun at least to a 45mm gun so as to give the crew a slight chance if enemy tanks were encountered. As debilitating as was the two-man turret crew on the T-34, the one-man crew on the T-60 and T-70 light tanks made platoon co-ordination virtually impossible to all but the most skilled. However, this feature went unchanged. Like that of the T-60, the hull of the new T-70 was kept simple for ease of manufacture. The engine layout was peculiar, consisting of two GAZ-202 lorry engines, one on each side of the hull, each engine powering one track by means of separate, unsynchronized lorry transmissions. The aim was to use as many available components as possible, but this was to prove a fiasco. The turret was conical like that on the T-30, with a standard 45mm tank gun. A small number of T-70 were produced in the heat of the moment, but even before they could be issued, it was evident that the powertrain layout was completely unacceptable. The Astrov team redesigned it by placing the two engines in a row and using a conventional transmission and differential arrangement. To ease assembly, the turret was also redesigned to use flat armour plate, and it was moved to the left, with the engines to the right.

The T-70M was accepted by the GKO for Red Army service in March 1942, but is usually called simply the T-70. Some of the first machines still used the old conical turret, but this was replaced by the flat panel turret after April 1942. T-70 production took place at Zavod Nr. 37 and alongside T-60 production at GAZ and Zavod Nr. 38. It completely supplanted the T-60 in September 1942. The T-70 remained in production until the end of October 1943, by which time some 8,226 had been manufactured.
The final production series (T-70A from mid-1943) used the more powerful GAZ-203 engine and had other hull improvements such as a traversable MK-4 periscope for the driver in place of a simple view-slit. In service, the T-70 proved competent but unexceptional.

Russian soldiers in snow camouflage move off from a column of light T-70 tanks.

In 1942, the Astrov team began redesigning it to accommodate a two-man turret crew. This appeared as the T-80 in the autumn of 1943. The T-80 was essentially similar to the T-70 except for the new larger turret, strengthened suspension, wider track and electrical turret traverse. While a very sound light tank design, by this point in the war, Soviet tank troops desired a more heavily armed tank to cope with newer German types, like Panther, Tiger and up-gunned Panzer IV. The resources devoted to a T-80 could be better spent on manufacturing the SU-76 which used the same components but had heavier firepower. Moreover, by this time, adequate numbers of Lend-Lease light tanks like the Valentine had become available for use in roles earlier satisfied by the T-70 and T-60. Only about 120 T-80s were completed before production was halted. This was the last light tank adopted by the Red Army during the war, although towards the war's end, work began on a new amphibious light tank, the K-90.

Users: Red Army (for all variants).

3d model of T-70.

This 3d model is a current element of the WW2 game WW2 Total. The data for production, movement and combat of the Axis and Allies units are here !

T-70 of the Polish forces wich fought alongside the Russians from 1943.