World War II Database

1.  Bill says:
3 Jan 2013 05:01:44 PM

FOR MOTHER RUSSIA:

During the annual May Day Parade a formation of T-35s looked impressive. The T-35 was also influenced by the British Vickers multi-turret tank design. Even before WWII, the large, multi-turret tanks were to become obsolete.

HAPPY ON THE OUTSIDE, CRYING ON THE INSIDE:

From the outside, the T-35 looked large, but inside it was very cramped. The multi-turret
design separated the fighting compartments from each other.

YOUR ON YOUR OWN:

Each turret was separted from one another the gunners were on their own, it must have been a nightmare for the commander to give commands and control the firing all the turrets and he had a crew of eleven men!

THE T-35 ITS BIG, REALLY BIG:

If its big and its slow, its a big slow moving target 10 feet wide, eleven feet high
with five turrets, powered by a 500hp gasoline engine able to make 19mph

HOW MUCH IS ENOUGH:

The T-35 carried 100 rounds of 76.2 ammo for the main gun, 226 rounds of 45mm ammo and a whopping 10,080 rounds for the 7.62mm machine guns...not counting sidearms for the crew.

BIGGER IS BETTER:

The Russians even looked into the idea of a 100 ton, four-turret tank called the TG-5 it was to be armed w/a 107mm naval gun, but the design ran into to many problems and the project was dropped.


Britain, France and Germany had multi-turret designs on the drawing board or working prototypes, but the German Army opted for Panzer forces that could move fast and cover more ground supported by air and artillery.

SOLE SURVIVOR:

One T-35 is on display at the Kubinka Tank Museum in Moscow Russia.