Russian Light Tank T-46 (Tier III)

The T-46 Light Tank was developed in an attempt to improve the mobility of the T-26, the most numerous Soviet tank from the mid-1930s until the German invasion of 1941. The T-26 suspension consisted of eight small road wheels carried in pairs on small bogies. The bogies were supported in pairs by leaf springs. This was less effective than the Christie suspension used on the BT series of fast tanks, and so in 1935, S. Ginzburg of the OKMO team at Zavod No.185 was ordered to produce a new version of the T-26 using the Christie suspension. A small production run of seventy tanks was planned.

The project was abandoned after the production of a number of prototypes (or possibly of all seventy tanks from the first production run). The T-46 proved to be too complex to mass produce (a flaw that would also cause the failure of the T-25). It also offered little or no benefit over the BT series tanks. Ginzburg and his team were ordered to concentrate on improving the design of the T-26, and produced the T-26S Model 1937.

One brigade is known to have used some of the existing T-46s during the fighting in Finland in 1940, where the Red Army suffered a humiliating setback. A few T-46 prototypes were deployed in October 1941 as one of the desperate measures to stop the German advance to Moscow. Although it is not clear weather these T-46s ever engaged in actual combat, they were used in a static defense line. With wheels and tracks removed and buried into the ground, emerging turrets had the role of a static pilebox.

Type	Light infantry tank
Place of origin	Soviet Union
Service history
Used by	Soviet Union
Wars	World War II
Production history
Designer	S. Ginzburg, L. Troyanov, OKMO
Designed	1939–41
Manufacturer	Factory 174, Omsk
Produced	1941–42
Number built	69
Specifications ([1])
Weight	14 tonnes
Length	5.20 m (17 ft 1 in)
Width	2.47 m (8 ft 1 in)
Height	2.16 m (7 ft 1 in)
Crew	4
Armor	12–37 mm
Main armament	45 mm Model 1938 gun (150 rds.)
Secondary armament	7.62 mm DT machine gun
Engine	diesel model V-4 300 hp (220 kW)
Power/weight	21 hp/tonne
Suspension	torsion bar
Fuel capacity	350 l
Operational range	220 km
Speed	60 km/h (37 mph)

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