The best of Russia's WWII light tanks, the T-70 was designed as a replacement for the T-60. The primary difference was the installation of the good (at the time) 45mm Model 1938 anti-tank gun. The T-70 entered production in early 1942 and discontinued in late 1943, after some 8,000 had been built. Its service record was quite undistinguished, performance suffering from the commander also having to serve as gunner and loader for the weapons. T-70's were primarily used for close infantry support and reconnaissance and were frequently supplied to units that normally would not have recieved tanks otherwise. The turret was offset to the left, with two 52 kW engines hooked in tandem on the right.
Subassemblies: Small Tank chassis +3, full rotation Small Weapon
turret with mild slope +2, tracks +3
P&P: 104 kW gasoline w/tracked drivetrain, 2x4000 kWs batteries,
116 gallons gasoline (fire chance: 10) in standard fuel tanks, 223 mile
range (road)
Occ: 1 CS body (driver), 1 CS turret (commander/gunner)
Cargo: 2.4 Body, 0.2 Tur
| Armor | F | R/L | B | T | U |
| Body | 4/110 | 4/40 | 4/40 | 4/25 | 4/25 |
| Turret | 5/125 | 4/110 | 4/110 | 4/25 | 0/0 |
| Tracks | 4/35 | 4/35 | 4/35 | 4/35 | 4/35 |
Weaponry
50mm Medium Tank Gun/45mm Model 1938 [Turret:F] (30 HE, 64 APCR)
Ground LMG/7.62mm DT coaxial [Turret:F] (945 solid)
Equipment
Turret: Short range radio and reciever
Statistics
| Size: 14'x8'x7' | Payload: approx. 3300 lbs | Lwt: 20,608 lbs (10.3 tons) |
| Volume: 108 | Maint.: 78 hours | Price: $6,528 |
HT: 10
HP: 1000 [body], 400 [each track], 120 [turret]
| gSpeed: 28 | gAccel: 2 | gDecel: 20 | gMR: 0.25 | gSR: 5 | GP: very low (4/5) |
Design Notes
The turret can rotate completely in 15 seconds (24 degress per second).
Armor was converted at DR 82 per inch.
Variants
T-70A: In mid-1943, this uparmed version was introduced. Increase
turret front DR to 225. Externally, it can be identified as having the
rear of the turret squared off (the original model was rounded).
Sources
Armored Fighting Vehicles, Phillip Trewhitt, 1999, Barnes &
Noble
http://www.wwiivehicles.com/html/ussr/t70.html
After the tank battles of 1942 showed how useless light tanks were, a decision was made to modify the proven T-70 hulls to carry a larger tank gun in a superstructure, as the Germans had done with many of their tanks, and use the vehicle as a tank destroyer. The basic T-70 hull was widened and lengthened (with an extra road wheel added on each side). The engines and transmission were moved forward and a large superstructure was placed over the rear half of the hull. Inside, the capable 76.2mm ZiS-3 cannon was installed. Crew was increased to four. Initially, the vehicle was designated the SU-12.
The SU-76 was horribly cramped and uncomfortable, even by Russian standards, leading to the vehicle being referred to as the the 'Suka' ('Bitch') by it's crews. By late 1943, the 76.2mm gun was losing it's effectiveness against the latest German armor and the SU-76 was increasingly used as close support for infantry. Some 12,600 were built, many lasting long enough to be used by the North Koreans in the 1950's.
Subassemblies: Small Tank chassis +3, Medium AFV +2, tracks +3
P&P: 104 kW gasoline w/tracked drivetrain, 2x4000 kWs batteries,
116 gallons gasoline (fire chance: 10) in standard fuel tank, 223 mile
range (road)
Occ: 1 CS body (driver), 3 CS superstructure (commander,
gunner, loader)
Cargo: 1.4 Body, 1.6 Tur
| Armor | F | R/L | B | T | U |
| Body | 4/110 | 4/40 | 4/40 | 4/25 | 4/25 |
| Superstructure | 4/125 | 4/35 | 4/35* | 4/25 | 0/0 |
| Tracks | 4/35 | 4/35 | 4/35 | 4/35 | 4/35 |
Weaponry
75mm Long Tank Gun/76.2mm ZiS-3 [Superstructure:F] (20 HE, 40 APCR)
Ground LMG/7.62mm DT coaxial [Superstructure:F] (945 solid)*
* The LMG was not present in most SU-76's
Statistics
| Size: 16'x9'x7' | Payload: approx. 3300 lbs | Lwt: 23,320 lbs |
| Volume: 108 | Maint.: 61 hours | Price: $10,603 |
HT: 8
HP: 1000 [body], 400 [each track], 200 [superstructure]
| gSpeed: 28 | gAccel: 2 | gDecel: 20 | gMR: 0.25 | gSR: 5 | GP: very low (4/5) |
Design Notes
Armor was converted at DR 82 per inch. The SU-76 was not reliable,
so HT has been dropped by 2. All crew stations are very cramped, with 4
VSP each.
Sources
Armored Fighting Vehicles, Phillip Trewhitt, 1999, Barnes &
Noble
http://www.wwiivehicles.com/html/ussr/su_76.html