How steel was created: the history of the last heavy tank of the USSR
In November 1953, the Soviet Army adopted the T-10 heavy tank, which was originally designated the IS-8 — Joseph Stalin. After the death of the Soviet leader, the car was renamed, but it became the last mass-produced heavy tank of the USSR and served for more than 40 years, even surviving the collapse of the country. Vladimir Bortko's series "Stalin", which will premiere on December 6 on REN TV, is also dedicated to the era in which T-10 was created. How the last Soviet heavyweight was developed, how it differed from Western competitors and why it remained in service for so long — in the Izvestia material.
From IS-2 to IS-8: how Stalin's last heavy tank was created
The Joseph Stalin family of heavy tanks appeared in 1943 as a response to the German Tigers and Panthers. The first mass representative of the series was the IS-2, developed at the Chelyabinsk Kirov Plant under the leadership of Joseph Kotin. Equipped with a powerful 122 mm D-25T cannon, he played an important role in the final battles of the Great Patriotic War, including the storming of Berlin.
In 1945, the IS-3 appeared with a characteristic "pike nose" hull and a flattened cast turret. The tank did not manage to take part in the battles with Germany, but was presented at the Allied forces parade in Berlin on September 7, 1945.
IS-2 tank
The development of the series took place under the close attention of Joseph Stalin. The Soviet leader supervised the implementation of defense programs, and strengthening the armament and armor protection of heavy tanks remained one of the priorities of the country's military leadership.
After the war, Soviet designers continued to look for the optimal combination of firepower, security, and mobility. One of the most ambitious projects was the 68-ton IS-7 with a 130-mm cannon and loading mechanism. However, the high cost, high weight and difficulties with transportation did not allow it to be put into mass production.
In February 1949, the Soviet government limited the mass of a promising heavy tank to 50 tons. In the same year, under Kotin's leadership, the development of a new machine, the Object 730, began. The tank received a 122 mm cannon and changed several designations during the design process, including the IS-5 and IS-8. It was he who was to become the last mass-produced heavy tank of the Soviet Union.
Invincible IS-8
In the spring of 1953, Joseph Stalin died, and the struggle against the cult of personality began in the Kremlin. Of course, we also paid attention to the tank with his name, which is almost ready for the series. The resolution of the Council of Ministers of the USSR of November 28, 1953 came out with a dry wording: to adopt the machine under the name T-10. The letter "IS" was permanently deleted from the heavy armored nomenclature.
T-35 tank
There is a version that the number "10" means that this is the tenth heavy tank officially adopted in the USSR. Indeed, the chain of previous serial heavyweights includes the pre-war five-towered monster T-35, front-line KV and modifications of IC tanks. Interestingly, many tankers continued to call the T-10 "IS".
None of the creators had any idea that this "ten" would be the final one for the class of heavy tanks.
The car turned out to be reliable and powerful. Immediately after the release of the first production models in 1954, modernization work began: the 1956 T-10A received a single-plane Hurricane stabilizer, which significantly increased the effectiveness of firing on the move. Next, the T-10B was released with a two-plane Thunder stabilizer. And then the perfect T-10M was created (1957): a new M-62-T2 cannon with flat-mounted ballistics, a Rain stabilizer, 14.5mm KPVT machine guns instead of DShK, night vision devices, anti-nuclear protection and underwater driving equipment that allows you to overcome fords up to 5 m deep. This model has reached almost our time, remaining in service until the 1990s.
The T-10 confidently outperformed its direct foreign competitors, the American M103 heavy tank and the British Conqueror. Western cars came out overloaded, weighing up to 66 tons, and because of this they were extremely slow "turtles" with a maximum speed of only 34 km/h. The Soviet heavyweight weighed no more than 50 tons, ran faster and cost much less to produce. It is not surprising that the T-10 was released in a huge batch — about one and a half thousand units, which made it the most massive heavy tank in world history.
Tactical and technical characteristics of IS-8 tanks
The history of the heavy tank
The paradox of the IS-8 was that, being created for a global and terrible war, it never participated in it — the big battle for which it was built, fortunately, did not happen. His entire service was conducted in an atmosphere of the strictest secrecy: due to its unique characteristics, the tank was never exported even to the most loyal Warsaw Pact allies.
During the Cold War, the most combat-ready T—10M tanks were part of the Group of Soviet Forces in Germany, at the forefront of the confrontation with NATO. The only major foreign operation for the T-10M was the invasion of Czechoslovakia in August 1968, but there were no tank duels.
In the late 1960s, the T-10M found its use in the Far East and Transbaikalia during the clashes with China. The tanks were consolidated into special battalions covering the border. The T-10M turned into an almost invulnerable stationary pillbox, capable of single-handedly stopping the advance of an entire enemy column.
By the end of the 1960s, the era of heavy tanks was finally gone. The advent of guided anti-tank missiles (ATGM) and the development of new main tanks such as the T-62, T-64 and T-72 deprived the 50—ton heavyweights of meaning - the shaped charge now burned through any passive steel armor. In 1966, serial production of the T-10M was discontinued.
T-72 tank
But the chassis of this tank turned out to be so successful that several models of vehicles were created on its basis. For example, it was used in the "Object 282" rocket tanks, heavy self-propelled guns with 152-mm guns "object 268", in giant self-propelled guns "Condenser" caliber 406 mm and in mortars "Oka" 420 mm. Later, the T-10M chassis was used in missile systems, as well as in the TPP-3 mobile nuclear power plant.
The T-10M won its main "war" on the screens. They played the role of Soviet breakthrough tanks in the cult film "Battalions ask for Fire." And already in the 21st century, the tank gained incredible worldwide popularity in computer games, becoming one of the most recognizable and beloved machines for millions of players around the world.
Officially, the last Soviet heavy tank was decommissioned only in the 1990s. The IS-8 set an absolute record for longevity, outliving both its class of technology and even the country that gave birth to it for four decades. Today, these stern steel veterans stand peacefully in museums from Kubinka to Tolyatti, still greeting visitors with the predatory squint of their "pike nose."
When, after the death of the leader, the last Soviet heavy tank was put into service under the new designation T-10, the history of the IS-8 was symbolically inscribed in the finale of an entire era. And it was the last years of Stalin's rule that formed the basis for a new historical drama by one of the outstanding Russian directors, Vladimir Bortko, known to the general audience for his iconic works "The Heart of a Dog", "The Master and Margarita", "Bandit Petersburg". The script is based on eyewitness accounts, declassified archival materials, and transcripts of Politburo meetings. The material has been waiting in the wings for 15 years. For Bortko, this project was the first major directorial work in the last decade.
The high-profile and already resonant six-part film addresses the post-war period of Stalin's rule. A large-scale historical panorama unfolds on the screen: the restoration of a destroyed country, the beginning of the nuclear race, the confrontation with former allies and the struggle for influence in the Kremlin corridors. But this does not turn into a historical reference. Bortko's film is unique in that it becomes a deep exploration of the nature, mechanisms and price of power. The director does not try to answer the question of what Stalin was like, but seeks to understand what he was thinking and why he acted the way he did.
Starring Igor Mirkurbanov. The leader's inner circle will be represented on the screen by a whole galaxy of stars: Alexander Yatsko played Beria, Viktor Sukhorukov played Khrushchev, Alexander Samoylenko played Malenkova, Kristina Babushkina played Stalin's housekeeper Varvara Istomina. The TV premiere will take place on REN TV on December 6.
Переведено сервисом «Яндекс Переводчик»
