"Shell scandals in the Red Army in 1940-1941 that ..." Topic

…went unnoticed

"In the early spring of 1941, two defective hulls with turrets were fired upon tank T-34 tanks were fired to determine the effect of armor plate cracks on their resistance to shelling. The shelling was conducted with 37–76,2 mm caliber guns and various projectiles, including experimental ones.

Firing tests revealed that cracks in the hull and turret plates had minimal impact on their resistance to shells. However, the same tests led to an unexpected conclusion unrelated to cracks: they revealed the poor quality of the standard 45mm armor-piercing rounds (APC). This observation is the focus of the following analysis.

Thus, according to the table below, the through-penetration limit (PSL) of a standard blunt-nosed armored vehicle (standard 0130) when hitting at normal speed was more than 760 m/s for armor sheets 45 mm thick, which gives an armor/projectile coefficient (according to the de Marr formula) of 2890 units…"

link

Armand

Interesting article. "Cemented Armor" is the German term for face hardened armor which is harder and more brittle designed to shatter uncapped AP shells, mostly up to one-second time of flight range. The solution was to put a softer cap over the nose of the AP round to "crack" the face hardening.

The Russians knew the Germans were using face hardened armor on their hull front. A blunt nosed shell performs better against FH armor which is most likely they used it. But it can perform worse against RHA. Determining armor penetration versus armor is very complicated.

The article does not mention capped AP rounds but according to Russian records they were using caps in the late 1930's.

Wolfhag

I can only imagine the challenge for the commander, gunner, loader (even more so when they were all the same chap, in earlier tanks). "Now that looks like a Pz II. Let me see now, where did I put those………?" Boom.

Thanks

Armand