Dear friends, welcome to the channel the Eastern Front! Today we will talk about one useful device
that soviet tankers copied from Japanese tanks. Regarding Japanese tank building, there are a
lot of misconceptions, sometimes looking slightly ridiculous. Japanese tanks are considered almost
the worst, because of hulls and turrets assembled on rivets and rails. For Example american tank
construction finally switched to fully welded hulls and turrets only in the second half of 1942.
It is also worth recalling that the British tank building finally switched to welding
even later than the Japanese - in 1944. By that time, the Japanese had been using welding for
the second year. In addition American and Japanese tanks looked equivalent in combat
characteristics. Moreover, the first clash of Japanese and American tanks, which happened on
December 22, 1941 in Luzon, ended in favor of Japanese tankers from the 4th Tank Regiment.
The problems started by 1943, because the Japanese had the same problem as the Italians.
Namely, the inability to catch up with opponents in the arms race.
Of course, the Japanese tank building had enough problems and technically backward elements,
but in general, Japanese tanks did not perform so badly. They were very reliable (some,
in the form of civilian cars, survived until the 80s), they had air-cooled diesel engines,
the suspension turned out to be quite successful. With the same dimensions as the combat vehicles of
other countries, the Japanese tanks inside turned out to be more rationally arranged.
It cannot be said that the Japanese used advanced technologies, however,
there were cases when their technical solutions were copied by other countries. In particular, one
such decision was adopted by Soviet tank builders. For the first time, Soviet military specialists
got acquainted with Japanese tanks back in 1938, when Type 89 medium tanks captured by
Chinese troops were studied. Russian studied them right on the spot. They managed to get
to know Japanese tanks more closely a year later. During the battles near the Khalkhin-Gol River,
two tank regiments were allocated to strengthen the Kwantung Army - the 3rd and the 4th . The
3rd Tank Regiment consisted of 26 medium tanks Type 89, 4 newest medium tanks Type 97 (Chi-Ha),
one of them commander, 11 small tanks Type 94 and 4 newest small tanks Type 97 (Te-Ke).
The 4th Tank Regiment had 36 Type 95 (Ha-Go) light tanks, 8 tanks Type 89 medium tanks and 4 Type
94 small tanks. For the Japanese tank forces, the battles of July 3,
1939 became the peak of usage in battles. Clashes with Red Army units did not end well.
In the battle on July 3, 41-44 tanks were lost, that is, more than half of those available at that
time, 13 of them irretrievably. What is even more unpleasant, several tanks were captured. Among
them was Lieutenant Ito's Ha-Go tank. The tank was sent to the firing field in Kubinka, near Moscow,
where the vehicle was partially restored, while conducting a study. From a constructive point
of view, the tank did not arouse much interest, with the exception of three points. One of them
turned out to be a small Japanese know-how - a button for communication with the crew.
One of the main tasks of Japanese tanks was to interact with infantry units. Communication
on them, as a rule, was not, and the tank is quite noisy. So, for the first time,
Japanese designers introduced a fairly simple, but at the same time useful thing. A button disguised
as a rivet appeared on the aft sheet of the hull. If you don't know about its existence, you will
never guess what it is intended for. The idea was simple and at the same time extremely useful. The
infantryman coming from behind pressed this very button, after which a sound signal was triggered.
Thus, the tank commander received a signal from behind that the infantry needed something.
It would seem that the idea lies on the surface, but for some reason no one guessed this before
the Japanese. Following Ha-Go, Chi-Ha received a similar button. In this tank,
the button was placed in the lower left corner of the stern. The last Japanese tank to have
exactly the same button was Shinhoto Chi-Ha. In the future, the Japanese abandoned this idea.
Why, it is unknown, maybe, they often did not use the button, because not everyone knew
about it. Write your guesses in the comment. Japanese tank builders stopped using a secret
rivet button to communicate with the crew in 1943. Just at this very time, Soviet tank builders
suddenly remembered about this idea. It happened in the autumn of 1943, who exactly remembered is
unknown, but the place can be said for sure. It was in Chelyabinsk, after the heavy tank
Object 237 was adopted by the Red Army as the IS-85. There was nothing like this in the list
of improvements for the tank, but during the conversion of the second sample of Object 237
into Object 240 from the left side, between the additional fuel tanks, the same button appeared.
The action of the Soviet version of the crew communication button was no different
from what the Japanese did. When the button was pressed, a cheerful "beep" was heard, after which
the commander was keenly interested in what was happening. Unlike the Japanese, Soviet designers
did not hide the button. It appeared from the very first serial IS-85, it was also introduced on the
ISU. The most interesting thing is that they did not introduce anything like this on the T-34,
although the need for communication with the crew was already obvious for many countries.
The Soviet design had one significant drawback. The fact is that the location
of the button between the fuel tanks made its use dangerous. If you stretch out your hand to her,
and the tank goes at this time, it could break, or even tear off your hands. The understanding
that it did not work out very well appeared at the beginning of 1944, when the tanks went to training
units. In March 1944, the location of the button was changed to the IS and ISU. It was moved to the
right edge of the hull side sheet. Thus, it became convenient to use it, and most importantly safe.
On IS-2 heavy tanks and ISU-152/ISU-122 self-propelled guns, the "external call button",
as it was officially called, was put until the very end of production. But on IS-3,
for unknown reasons, it did not take root for a long time. Officially, it stopped being staged
on July 20, 1945. There was no communication with the crew on the IS-4. But... on the T-10,
the button returned, and later work began on an improved communication system with the crew.
Meanwhile, in the second half of the 40s, work began abroad on the same topic. The
main instigators were the Americans, who did not look for difficult ways and simply began to place
a field phone on the stern of the tank. This idea quickly spread in a number of countries.
In conclusion, another country where the "Japanese" button has taken root
suddenly was Czechoslovakia. Most likely, they spied this very button on the IS and ISU,
which were part of the Czechoslovak army. So on the T-34-85 and SU-100 (SD-100)
Czechoslovak production has a separate port on the starboard side. It is a clear sign of a
Czechoslovak-made tank, or has been modernized in Czechoslovakia. If only the Japanese knew
how far their "secret button" would go. Dear friends, that's all for today. It
was Tim and the Eastern Front channel. And as usual I wish you peace and health. See you.