Search results for ""Author Peter Samsonov""

This illustrated study pits Germany's PzKpfw III against the Soviet Union's T-34 in the wake of Hitler's 1941 invasion of the Soviet Union.This book evaluates the PzKpfw III and T-34 medium tanks fielded by Germany and the Soviet Union during 1941. Both designs were intended to be the primary medium tanks of their respective armies, but owing to manufacturing difficulties, neither was available in quite the numbers intended. Even though both tanks were relatively new, neither was deemed entirely satisfactory, and replacements for both were already on the drawing board. Nevertheless, it was these tanks that clashed in what the Soviet Union called the Great Patriotic War.While the T-34 rapidly established a fearsome reputation only sometimes borne out by its actual performance, the PzKpfw lII was smaller, lighter, and not as well armed as its Soviet opponent but benefited from the support of a more seasoned and better structured army. Full-colour artwork, archiv

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The first encounter between British armour and the Red Army was not on friendly terms with the British sending surplus tanks to reinforce the pro-monarchy White Army in the Russian Civil War. When the Reds won, war trophy Mark V heavy tanks as well as medium Mk.A Whippets and Mk.B Hornets entered service with the RKKA. As the political landscape changed during the 1920s, the Red Army assessed British designs available for export and a licensed copy of the Vickers Mk.E entered production in 1931 as the T-26.During the early days of the German invasion of the Soviet Union, armour losses were huge and the Red Army once again looked abroad to acquire new fighting vehicles. A large-scale programme of military aid to the USSR began in August 1941, with the US and Britain offering help under separate terms though not for free. A deal was struck and Convoy PQ-1 with the first 20 British tanks for the Red Army left for Arkhangelsk on September 29, 1941. These tanks arrived in time to take pla

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