Soviet Armor Programs

by Andrew W. Hull

While attempting to formulate the defense aspects of the second five-year plan, Defense Minister Marshal Voroshilov gathered the most experienced tank designers and armor commanders and assigned them the task of defining the operational and technological requirements for new armored vehicles. The result of this exercise was the 1931-32 program that categorized existing types of Soviet armored vehicles, defined the tactical roles of future vehicles, and established five classes of future armored vehicles. Significantly, this classification scheme also shaped the functional specialization among tank design bureaus for the next thirty years. Once the general parameters of the program were fixed, designers were expected to create new tanks in keeping with these general tactical-technical specifications. The resultant tanks first appeared in 1939 when a state commission tested five prototypes, three heavy tanks and two medium tanks.

Another round of major decision-making in 1940-41 constitutes the second Soviet armor program. Just as in 1931-32, high-ranking military and political leaders gathered to examine weapons production, military organization, and troop utilization. Presumably these discussions, held in the context of the unsuccessful Finnish war and the impending conflict with Germany, shaped tank design and development just as the previous program had. This program, however, did not have as definitive an impact on subsequent tank development as its predecessor, since immediate post-1941 tank design was strongly influenced by battlefield lessons and by the enemy's accelerated introduction of new equipment. Nevertheless, the decisions of 1940 and 1941 were a conscious attempt to direct the course of armor development and its utilization.

 

Marshal Kliment Yefremovich Voroshilov, 1937.