These reports are translated in the following article as they were written, meaning they occur in the present tense and refer to ‘our’ army et cetera meaning the army of the original authors – the Soviet Red Army. The studies were completed in September – November 1942, and the results provide a rare insight into how armored vehicles actually performed under real combat conditions. Two engineers were in charge of both studies: Chief Engineer Ardentov and Engineer Schelkanov.
One study was completed on the T-34 medium tank, and another study on the T-70 light tank. Thus, in late 1942, the Central Scientific Research Institute No.48 (ЦНИИ 48), specializing in metallurgy and armor characterization, was instructed to evaluate the quality of tank armor through the inspection of disabled tanks recovered from battlefields and undergoing repair. Although combat losses were less severe than in 1941, the Red Army still lost around 6,600 medium tanks and 7,200 light tanks throughout 1942, a significant fraction of which were T-34 and T-70 tanks. To replace the tens of thousands of tanks lost in the first six months of the war, in 1942, the Soviet tank industry introduced an improved variant of the T-34 medium tank, as well as a new light tank, the T-70, producing around 12,500 T-34 and 4,900 T-70 tanks that year. The “Great Patriotic War” on the Eastern European Front continued until the fall of Berlin in May 1945, and proved to be the deadliest theatre of World War 2, both in military and civilian casualties. By November 1941, German forces were within reach of Moscow, but were driven back by a counteroffensive of Soviet reserves, which saved the Soviet capital. On June 22, 1941, Nazi Germany launched Operation Barbarossa, the invasion of the Soviet Union, conquering over 1500 square kilometers of Soviet territory within 6 months. Translation and Analysis of Original 1942 Combat Damage Survey T-34 Model 1942 medium tank and T-70 light tank knocked out at Kursk, July 1943.
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