Soviet Tank Battalion 22 June 1941 - 8 May 1945

[MarkSheppard]

Using SPWW2 Long Campaign.

Formed up in June 1941 using a Medium Tank Battalion of 32 x T-26 M1939s.

First battle was a DRAW, lost 12 tanks and 54 men, but destroyed 2 German Tanks, 3 German Mortars/Guns, and 261 men.

The T-26s and BT-7s get a lot of bad press, but in 1941, they really aren't that bad of a tank; everyone fixtates on the mighty T-34, and forgets that the majority of the tank parks for everyone was relatively light vehicles; and in 1941, the Infantry really did not have very good anti-tank weapons, making a charge by a Battalion of T-26s a deadly thing to German Infantry.

[MarkSheppard]

Battle 2: DRAW

1 x T-26 Destroyed, 4 AT Guns destroyed, 43 men lost.

vs

10 x Pz IIIs destroyed, 91 German Troops lost.

I bought a AT-Gun Battery composed of 47mm L3x guns, along with several companies or was it platoons of conscript infantry to support my core tank battalion, and laid them out like so



with my Tank Battalion sitting in reserve, and the conscripts and ATGs screening them.

Final Battle Results:

[PDF]

Nice !
The only problem with those nice little tanks is the poor crew quality if you oppose a significant number of PzIII or better.
In my ongoing pbem (So delay vs Ge advance in 41) all my little tanks are Panzer-fodder as they fire twice and don't def fire when the Panzers fire 4-5 shots in each phase, and with better to hit chances !

[serg3d]

Sadly the poor crew quality is historiacl truth. In the first months of the Barbarossa thousands of light tanks were lost. T-34 and KV were lost too, but they were hard for Germans to crack, and usually delayed Germans considerably. In the rare instaces then new tanks had expirienced crew results were devastaing for Germans.
A single KV-2 stopped 6th panzer division for day at Rossenij crossroad. Latest data hint that it was crewed by Winter War vetreans. Then at winter Katukov 1st tank brigade was formed, and he'd shown what T-34 can really do with good commander.
Another problem of Russian tanks in the first years of the war was not sufficient amount of mech infantry and artillery in tank formations.

[PDF]

Yep, I know it's historical, but soooo frustating when you want to send those Nazis back to their lair and out of the Motherland !

[MarkSheppard]

The most vicious battle I've ever been in so far; the defense of Hill xxx

Link to 500~ kb GIF showing the entire front

My losses:
190 men
5 AT Guns
14 Tanks

German losses
339 men
32 Tanks

[PDF]

How do you manage to *not* get wiped when fighting panzers ?

The last experience I have ('41 Sov defense vs Ge advance) was as follows :
Ge Turn : Panzers advance, Sov tanks that were in ambush don't react, Panzers fire 2-4 times each and smoke Sov tank, repeat.
So turn: Sov tank moves, get a hail of reaction fire as soon as seen, get smoked, repeat.

That was even true with T34s, they were just sturdier...

[MarkSheppard]

How do you manage to *not* get wiped when fighting panzers ?

Two ways:

1.) I lay out a thin screen of infantry and AT Guns in front of whatever I'm defending; and I place my tanks in hidden positions.

This makes the Panzers waste their shots on my thin screen; while a few of them get brewed up by the AT Guns.

If there's a danger of a breakthrough; I send my tanks forth and counter it.

2.) Sheer weight of numbers. If you're attacking 4 Panzer IIIs, attack with at least 10~ or more tanks.

[Cameronius]

I find another good way is defend with reverse slope and point blank tactics. Most german tanks will be brewed up before they get a chance to shoot.

[PDF]

Cameronius said:
I find another good way is defend with reverse slope and point blank tactics. Most german tanks will be brewed up before they get a chance to shoot.

Yeah, I thought that too during my game, but my opponent didn't fall for it and just flanked the hill ... Against AI it should be dreadful though.