T-50

## **Description**

The **T-50** is a Russian light tank part of the Moscow Allies' garage. It is an effective light tank with great sloping armour and an adequate 45 mm cannon.

### **General Info**

Like its big brother, the T-34, the T-50 has sloped frontal armour that can bounce all available tank guns in the Moscow Campaign. The armour is especially capable at stopping rounds fairly easily even without proper angling. The only tank that can penetrate the T-50 frontally is the Premium Pz. IV E's HEAT. The T-50's gun is more than capable of defeating all available german tanks. It has excellent armour for a light tank and its sloping makes it very effective, even more if angled properly, the commander's cupola remains a weak spot that can easily be shot at by 50 and 75mm cannons.

#### Armor Type

* Rolled homogeneous armor (Hull, turret)
* Cast homogeneous armor (Cupola)

40 mm (55°) *Cheeks*
45 mm (53°) *Lower glacis*
40 mm *Bottom*
40 mm (9°) *Centre part*
40 mm (28°) *Lower par*
 Turret
40 mm (9-54°) *Gun mantlet*
 Cupola

#### Notes

* Suspension wheels and tracks are 15 mm thick.

### Mobility

#### Machine Gun Overview

The DT machine gun is a decent machine gun, having a sufficient rate of fire and no risk of overheating due to the magazine size. Having 2 DT's gives the T-50 more killing power.

 Coaxial

### Pros and Cons

#### **Pros**

* Great mobility.
* Good penetration and good rate of fire.
* Excellent armour.
* Provides a good learning curve for T-34's.
* It is easy to rush an enemy tank and catch it by surprise, giving a first shot advantage.
* APHEBC shell has explosive filler, making it very effective.
* Unlike most tanks, it has two 7.62 mm machine guns in the turret. This allows for more effective killing of infantry nearby.

#### **Cons**

* Slow turret traverse speed.
* Cramped interior, one penetration can knock out the majority of the crew.

## History

### Development

The Spanish Civil War gave the Soviets insight on the future of tank warfare, and the knowledge led to an attempt to upgrade or replace their tank forces that consisted mainly of the T-26 light tanks. The development started in 1939 to create a replacement for the T-26 and BT light tanks.

The prototypes created for this development were the T-126 and T-127, which were similar to a previous T-46-5 project earlier abandoned. The T-126 was selected for further development and was to have two prototypes built and tested in Leningrad after the original design bureau was decimated by Stalin's Great Purge.

The design, now finalised as the **T-50** light tank, used innovative features in its introduction, using well-sloped welded armour, a torsion-bar suspension, diesel engine, a commander's cupola, and a three-man turret. It was also arranged for all of the tanks to accommodate radios. The T-50's design plan was completed by January 1941, and production was authorised after setting up in April. However, technical difficulties prevented this from happening. While its production was on standby, another tank with superior specifications was being tested and produced, which will end up as the T-34 medium tank.

### Combat usage

Despite the low numbers, the ones available were sent to Leningrad where they saw most of their service. Some were also used in the Continuation War against Finland as the Finnish were able to capture one up-armoured version in 1944. After that, its role was largely replaced by the more numerous and capable T-34 tanks, and it was relegated to reconnaissance roles when available.

Today, two T-50 tanks survive, one basic in the Kubinka Tank Museum, and the up-armoured variant in Finland at a museum in Parola.