T-44
According to a book about tanks that I got for Christmas from my dad (he knows exacly what I like!), this is to be read about the T-44 medium tank:
"The medium tank T-44 was introduced during the last months of the war and was originally thought of as a replacement for the T-34/85. It was the result of a designproject called T-34M. The project was activated again in 1943, after at first have been given up. After further development the T-34M was re-designated T-44. It was a new design, even though it looked very much like the old T-34/85, with far better protection against the heavier German' tankguns.
The production was started in August 1944 and the first tanks were given to three tank brigades in September 1944, where they were used for training new crews, while gathering enough T-34/85 tanks for the big push towards Berlin. About 150 T-44 were ready to be used in May 1945, but technical diffuculties prevented them from seeing combat during WW2. The T-44 went off the production lines towards the end of 1945, after 965 tanks had been produced, of which some were used in the Soviet' invasion of Hungry in 1956."
The way I look at it, every production model is proceeded by a pre-production model, and the tank designers I'd imagine would very much like to see how their new tank performes during actual combat, and not just how it looks like on the drawingboard.
That's why I've made some changes with the T-44. I've added one T-44 Pre-prod., available between August 1944 and October 1944 and changed the actual T-44 Prod. to be available between August 1945 and December 1945. The gap between the two models is there do reflect the historical technical problems that plaged this tank, that - had it seen action in late 1944 / early 1945 - surely had scarred the living daylights out of the German' forces, combined with the IS-II.
Cheers, Taskforce
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