At the end of the twenties of the twentieth century, the first Soviet tanks appeared, including the light infantry tank T-18 (MS-1), which was first developed in the country, taking the French FT-17 and its Italian modification as a basis. The name (letter designation) is decrypted simply. The letter "T" denotes the actual word "tank". T-18 is an index, where eighteen is the serial number of the type being developed. His second name - MS-1 - is also quite common in Soviet sources and stands for "small escort", a figure is an index denoting the first model of this class.
History
The Civil War brought the Red Army many trophies, among which were French White Guard tanks . They were carefully studied and even released for some time at the Sormovsky plant, naming their own brainchild "Renault-Russian". However, devastation reigned in the country, it was experiencing economic difficulties, and therefore, until better times, the production of these tanks was curtailed. Moreover, even non-specialists already understood that such a model was significantly outdated and that it was necessary to prepare for war with new developments.
Since 1925, the first Soviet designers took up this. The production experience of the Renault-Russian tank, of course, was taken into account. In addition, the Soviet-Polish war brought another trophy that helped create the T-18 tank. It was an Italian armored vehicle - FIAT-3000. And this tank was studied during the preparation of technical documentation for the T-18 tank, its best qualities were borrowed. Nevertheless, the passed tests at the prototype training ground revealed a rather large number of all sorts of flaws, especially with regard to the chassis and engine. So, the T-16 was rejected, the flaws were taken into account, and in 1927 a much more successful modification appeared - the T-18 tank.
Test passed
A small escort tank was tested in June 1927. The tests were successful, and already in early July, the light tank T-18 was adopted by the Red Army. They called it MS-1, that is, a small escort tank. Since February 1928, its mass production began, which was engaged in the Bolshevik plant, and it continued until the end of 1931.
The production area was occupied by a new light tank - the T-26, which was also intended to accompany infantry. For all these years (from 1928 to 1932), not so few copies of the first Soviet-made machine were produced - almost a thousand, or rather - 959. The first tanks - the T-18 and T-26 - fulfilled their mission - to be the first. Nevertheless, they were found even in the fields of World War II.
Installation and operation
The first tanks and their entire design were, of course, basically based on foreign manufacturers. The layout was classic for the time. The engine and transmission compartment was located at the stern of the hull, and in the middle, front compartments of the hull and in the tower were placed the control of the tank and its armament.
The Soviet T-18 tank did not require a large crew; in battle, two people dealt with it: the commander - he is also a tower gunner - and the driver. The latter was located in the center of the hull, and the shooter commander in the hull and turret, behind the driver. Landing and disembarkation was carried out through a mushroom-shaped hatch, towering above the tower, and the mechanic could use a double-leaf hatch, which was located on the front of the case.
Armor
The armor was not strong, it protected well from bullets (medium rifle caliber) and from small fragments, since the tank protection was developed according to the bulletproof principle. The form of armor of the escort tanks at that time was approximately the same: sharp stepped, without any rounding. The armored hull consisted of sixteen millimeters thick sheet steel, all sheets were riveted to each other and to the frame.
At the stern, the armor plates were simply bolted to the frame, so they could easily be removed if necessary. The bottom of the tank and its roof were strengthened half as weak - they used sheet steel less than eight millimeters thick. The tower was in the shape of an almost regular hexagon. Since 1930, a niche has been provided at the stern - for a radio station. The armor-forming sheets of the tower were sixteen millimeters, but the roof was not adapted for airstrikes - no more than four millimeters of steel went on it. The frontal part of the tower had embrasures to establish weapons. Ball support allowed the tower to rotate, but this could only be done manually, which was what the tank commander was doing.
Armament
From a modern point of view, any pre-war tank was poorly equipped. However, for that time, this tank equipment was superior to many of its counterparts from other countries. First, the main weapon of the T-18 was a gun of the thirty-seventh caliber model Hotchkiss, then developed by P. Sjachintov gun Hotchkiss-PS. It was installed in the right or left side of the tower. The ammunition consisted of ninety-six shells, subsequently increased to one hundred and four (the ammunition was stored at the stern - instead of the radio station).
In addition, there was an auxiliary weapon, which served as a Fedorov machine gun of 6.6 mm caliber. Usually two machine guns mated and were installed in the side of the tower that was free from the gun. Box shops, with 1,800 rounds of ammunition, relied on them. Already after 1935, machine guns on the T-18 were replaced by the DT-29 (caliber 7.62). First also paired, then one at a time. The ammunition now had 2016 rounds in thirty-two discs.
Engine
The power plant of the T-18 light tank was the in-line four-stroke four-cylinder carburetor engine of the designer Mikulin. Engine cooling was air. Its power did not exceed thirty-five horsepower.
After 1930, a forced engine could squeeze out power of forty, which accelerated its movement on the highway (the maximum speed of the tank was as much as twenty-two kilometers per hour!). The engine was mounted transversely in the engine-transmission compartment, this made it possible to slightly reduce the length of the tank hull. Two fuel tanks had a total volume of one hundred and ten liters. They were placed in the fenders niches.
Transmission
Nevertheless, both the engine and the transmission of the first Soviet tank met the most advanced demands of their time. The transmission of the T-18 light tank was of a mechanical type and consisted of units and mechanisms:
1. The main single-plate friction clutch operating on dry friction.
2. Three-speed manual gearbox.
3. The rotation mechanism (type of conical differential).
4. Two tape brakes, which serve for braking and for turning.
5. Two on-board single-row gears built into the hubs of the drive wheels.
Chassis
The chassis of the tank for infantry escort included on both sides sloths, drive wheels, fourteen support double rubberized rollers of small diameter and six rubberized double support rollers. After 1930, a fourth supporting ice rink appeared on each side of the structure. The rear rollers in two were locked on the balancers, suspended on cylindrical vertical springs, protected by casings.
The front track roller was secured by a separate lever connected to the front suspension and absorbed by an inclined spring. Steel springs also had two or three front support rollers. The tracks were made of cast steel - large links with ridge engagement. Fifty-one tracks made up each caterpillar; the track was three hundred millimeters wide.
In the first battle
Light tanks T-18 entered the Red Army in 1928, understaffing infantry units of the armies of various military districts. The baptism of fire to the new car was the conflict on the CER. In November 1929, the Mishanfus offensive operation began, where ten T-18 tanks immediately supported our infantry. The battle was preceded by a grueling march, the tanks could not be provided with ammunition normally, even the soldiers did not have maps of the area.
Nevertheless, the Chinese positions were attacked, and not a single T-18 tank was lost, although the offensive movement as a whole did not bring any luck to the Red Army. But for the tank, these battles were an excellent test, where not only the advantages, but also the shortcomings of this machine were revealed. The main defects of the T-18 light tank were called low speed and very little firepower. But in total, both tanks and tankers proved to be good, and the conflict on the CER provided evidence of this.
The Great Patriotic War
Extremely worn and outdated T-18 tanks met the Great Patriotic War. A small part of them went into service with tank units, the rest were given to fortified areas. Panzervaffe severely acted in cross-border battles with almost defenseless Soviet tanks. In the very first months of the war, almost all T-18s were burned.
The last mention of their use in battle dates back to December 1941, when they defended Moscow: One hundred and fiftieth tank brigade had nine T-18s. The good old light tanks until the late fifties served as stationary firing points and as fortifications in the Far East. Sometimes only their towers were used.
Why exactly the T-18?
In the first years after the Civil War, Soviet Russia, as already mentioned, was overcoming terrifying devastation, it was clearly not up to the production of tanks. As we remember, the restoration and development of the national economy was a matter of debate, so by the mid-twenties, we were talking about the modernization of army weapons. In 1926, as we already know, a three-year tank building program was adopted.
The program provided as a minimum plan for the organization of a training company and a tank battalion with infantry tanks, as well as the creation of a company and battalion equipped with wedges. Calculations required manufacturers of one hundred and twelve tanks of each type. And after a meeting of the command of the Red Army, the GUVP and the OAT (Gun-Arsenal Trust), mass production of the not heavy, inactive and rather weakly armed FT-17, and also unnecessarily expensive, was approved. The light infantry escort tank won.
About money
Renault-Russian, for example, was then worth thirty-six thousand rubles, and it was necessary to spend only eighteen thousand on one tank, since the total amount spent should not exceed five million rubles. It should be explained here that in those years the ruble was worth the same as under the tsar. This means that this amount today would be equal to about a million dollars. That is, the three-year program of the twenties of the last century could not cope with such financial stress.
There is a difference in the cost of today's tanks relative to vehicles of the beginning of the last century. Our T-90, for example, the army buys for each seventy million rubles. American "Abrams" depending on the modification costs from 4.3 million dollars. However, the equipment of the T-18 can not be compared with the T-90. The first Soviet tanks played their role in the development of the Red Army, we can say perfectly.