1 July 1942. Moscow CCCP
allanpcameron
Donor
1 July 1942. Moscow CCCP
The news had come that the German 4th Panzer Army and 2nd Army were pushing toward Voronezh, shattering the Soviet Bryansk Front. The Stavka were still expecting the Germans to swing north for another attempt on Moscow. Some dissenting voices saw the German aim to seize the southern resources, particularly the oil producing areas.
Soviet industry was producing an incredible number of tanks. In the first half of the year, the Red Army had received from the factories 1265 KV heavy tanks, 3367 T34s, 2823 T60 light tanks and the first 103 T70 variant. The convoys sailing from Canada, the USA and Great Britain had provided an additional 2163 tanks through Lend Lease. However, only 1252 had actually reached the Red Army. The time it took to prepare the tanks for Russian use and train the crews inevitably meant there was a delay from tanks’ arrival to actually being available.
Of the 625 Matilda IIs delivered 389 were in service. Of the 755 Valiant tanks which had been delivered, 405 were in service. Part of the reason that only just over half the Valiant IIs were operational was because the decision to sent the Valiant II without the 6-pdr British gun, but designed to take the same gun as the T34. While all accepted it was a good idea, it was meeting with the problem of Soviet production of their main tank gun struggling to keep up with the numbers of tanks being produced.
The American’s so far had delivered 420 M3 Light tanks, of which 188 were operational, and 363 M3 Medium, of which 270 were in the hands of the Red Army. The problems with the Lend Lease tanks, many being delivered without enough spare parts, or damaged in some way by the journey overseas, had given the Soviets a degree of disappointment in the support they were getting from their Capitalist allies. Naturally, since the tanks were all arriving at Murmansk, nearly all of them were being assigned to the Northern Front. The next convoy, PQ17, was expected to bring 300 aircraft, 600 tanks, more than 4,000 trucks and trailers, and a general cargo that exceeded 150,000 tons. The USN and RN were putting an enormous effort into protecting this valuable convoy, and the Germans were going to do everything in their power, determined to prevent its arrival and to stop the support of the western allies to the Soviet Union. U456 had sent a sighting report of the large convoy once it reached open water having left Iceland.
Stalin had his eyes fixed on Voronezh, the naval battle in the Artic Ocean was of no real interest. Only winter had saved the Rodina from the panzers, but winter was far off and the panzers were on the loose again.
The news had come that the German 4th Panzer Army and 2nd Army were pushing toward Voronezh, shattering the Soviet Bryansk Front. The Stavka were still expecting the Germans to swing north for another attempt on Moscow. Some dissenting voices saw the German aim to seize the southern resources, particularly the oil producing areas.
Soviet industry was producing an incredible number of tanks. In the first half of the year, the Red Army had received from the factories 1265 KV heavy tanks, 3367 T34s, 2823 T60 light tanks and the first 103 T70 variant. The convoys sailing from Canada, the USA and Great Britain had provided an additional 2163 tanks through Lend Lease. However, only 1252 had actually reached the Red Army. The time it took to prepare the tanks for Russian use and train the crews inevitably meant there was a delay from tanks’ arrival to actually being available.
Of the 625 Matilda IIs delivered 389 were in service. Of the 755 Valiant tanks which had been delivered, 405 were in service. Part of the reason that only just over half the Valiant IIs were operational was because the decision to sent the Valiant II without the 6-pdr British gun, but designed to take the same gun as the T34. While all accepted it was a good idea, it was meeting with the problem of Soviet production of their main tank gun struggling to keep up with the numbers of tanks being produced.
The American’s so far had delivered 420 M3 Light tanks, of which 188 were operational, and 363 M3 Medium, of which 270 were in the hands of the Red Army. The problems with the Lend Lease tanks, many being delivered without enough spare parts, or damaged in some way by the journey overseas, had given the Soviets a degree of disappointment in the support they were getting from their Capitalist allies. Naturally, since the tanks were all arriving at Murmansk, nearly all of them were being assigned to the Northern Front. The next convoy, PQ17, was expected to bring 300 aircraft, 600 tanks, more than 4,000 trucks and trailers, and a general cargo that exceeded 150,000 tons. The USN and RN were putting an enormous effort into protecting this valuable convoy, and the Germans were going to do everything in their power, determined to prevent its arrival and to stop the support of the western allies to the Soviet Union. U456 had sent a sighting report of the large convoy once it reached open water having left Iceland.
Stalin had his eyes fixed on Voronezh, the naval battle in the Artic Ocean was of no real interest. Only winter had saved the Rodina from the panzers, but winter was far off and the panzers were on the loose again.
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