BT-5 Light Wheeled-and-tracked Tank (2024)

The tank was a further development of the BT-2 tank and featured a more powerful armament and more reliable power pack, transmission and running gear. The vehicle was put into series production at the Kharkiv Locomotive Plant and accepted for service with the Red Army. The BT-5s were used in action in military conflicts of the 1930s and in the Second World War.

When developing the BT-2, the use of a 37-mm gun was considered as a temporary measure. In the final version, the tank was supposed to carry a 45-mm cannon. But, despite all efforts to place such a weapon in a standard tower, the BT-2 failed. In addition, the machine had serious drawbacks of both a constructive and technological plan. For example, the tank was quite laborious to produce. In parallel with the release of the serial BT-2 at KhPZ, they worked on further improving the machine. The new model received the name BT-5.

Further work on enhancement of the combat and technical capabilities of wheeled/tracked tank led in 1933 to replacement of the BT-2 tank by a new version of the latter - the BT-5 tank. In 1933, the Krasny Putilovets Plant designed a cylindrical turret with a 76-mm cannon, the same for the T-26 and BT tanks, but it was rejected due to a number of flaws. In the end, it all ended with the unification of the towers for the T-26 and BT tanks, which received a turret with a 45-mm cannon of the 1932 model, which had an initial speed of an armor-piercing projectile of 760 m / s and a DT machine gun paired with it. With the new turret, the tank became somewhat heavier, but its speed and armor did not change.

Very significant in this vehicle was the replacement of the imported Liberty engine by a locally produced M-5 aviation engine designed by A.A. Mikulin. Besides, the BT-5 mounted a more powerful 45mm gun (instead of a 37mm gun installed in the BT-2). The prototype tank Model 1935 had a 76.2 mm gun. This vehicle came to be called 'artillery tank' and was intended to provide fire support for attacking tanks. The BT-5 tanks meant for commanding personnel were manufactured equipped with the 71-TKI radio-station with handrail aerial on the turret.

These machines received their baptism of fire during the Spanish Civil War. They easily resisted Pz. I and tanks with 20-mm cannons of German and Italian production. Then they were used to repel the attack of the Japanese in Mongolia, where they also successfully fought against Japanese tanks. In 1941, the BT-5 successfully opposed the Pz tanks. I, Pz. II and Pz. Iii. They achieved the greatest success in the attack from ambushes during the battle for Moscow.

The operation of these tanks in the prewar period revealed many weaknesses in both the BT-2 and the BT-5. But for their speed, tankers loved them, many learned to even jump overcoming obstacles to 15-20 meters, and some more, in their cars. The BT-5 tanks fought on the Khalkhin Gol River, as well as during the Spanish Civil War of 1936-1939, in Poland and in the Soviet-Finnish campaign.

BT was widely used in the Soviet-Finnish war of 1939-1940. They were used to break through defensive lines and for actions in the depths of the defense of the Finnish troops. Losses from combat damage and from technical faults were actually evenly distributed. Most of the tanks managed to recover after the end of hostilities.

in Spain during the civil war of 1936-1939. (it was there that the main opponent of lightly armored vehicles — small-caliber rapid-fire anti-tank guns) made itself threatening for the first time, in the summer of 1938 at Lake Khasan and the following year on the Khalkhin Gol river. In all these battles, tanks proved to be the best, although even then their insufficient firepower and weakness of armor protection began to show. In September 1939, the BT-5 took an active part in the "liberation campaign" in Western Belarus and Western Ukraine. Working together with cavalry units due to their speed data, the tanks made lightning marches virtually without losses. Combat losses in such actions amounted to a few. After participating in battles by June 1941, 1,688 BT-5 tanks remained in the Red Army, of which 1,261 were combat-ready. In four western border districts there are 632 serviceable vehicles.

From the very first days of the Great Patriotic War, the mechanized units, armed with BT-5, engaged in combat with the units of the Wehrmacht. They were used mainly to inflict counterattacks on the advancing enemy groupings and at the same time suffered heavy losses due to the scattered connections, the instability of control, the lack of organization of the repair and restoration service and the general confusion of the start of the war.

During the first months of the war, most of the BT-5 tanks that participated in the fierce fighting were irretrievably lost. They were used in the battle for Moscow in the fall and winter of 1941, and the unsuccessful offensive near Kharkov, and in the defense of the Caucasus and Stalingrad in the following 1942, the composition of parts of the Leningrad front, the BT-5 tanks were used even during the final liberation of Leningrad January 1944. Some cars continued their service until 1944, for example, near Leningrad and in Karelia. The BT tanks were in service throughout the war in the Far East, where they had to participate in the last battles of World War II — the defeat of the Kwantung Army of Japan.In total in 1833-1934, 1884 BT-5 tanks were built. By another account, total production of the BT-5 was 2,108 vehicles. A large number of experimental machines were built on the basis of the BT-5 tank. Bridges, scuba tanks, amphibious tanks, teletank (radio controlled tanks), chemical tanks, etc. The BT-5 tank served as the basis for the creation of BT-7 tanks.