Soviet Tank Battalion 22 June 1941 - 8 May 1945

[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.