Peter Idone - Red Vengeance

During the early prototype stage (1931–36 and 1939), the Fast Tank series underwent the development of the Christie suspension, large road wheels (capable of travel without track links), and the revolutionary forward-sloping hull. The first T-34s (of which there were over 1000) had been tested in maneuvers by 1940. Since that time, five series types, A through E, were currently in service, although differentiation of type is difficult in some cases due to repair parts interchange, variations in production, and rearmament. Basic changes are as follows:

Type A 1940—small cast or welded turret with pig head gun mount; machine gun in ball mantelet at turret rear; and a large single roof hatch.

Type B 1941—angled rectangular gun cradle; extended cannon barrel (L41.2); perforated road wheels.

Type C 1942—double visor turret; ribbed and perforated tracks (an improvement over the plate link tracks on types A and B); protective visors on driver’s hatch; bow machine gun with ball mantelet.

Type D 1942—large hexagonal-shaped turret with double roof hatch (known as “Mickey Mouse ears” in soldiers’ parlance); hand hold bars on sides and rear of turret; gun cradle modified with side bulges; single and double periscopes.

Type E 1943—similar to type D; all models complete with double periscope and commander’s cupola.

The T-34 is fast. With a cruising speed of 40 km per hour and extremely maneuverable (remarkably so in an urban setting), its broad perforated/ribbed tracks allow the vehicle superb cross-country performance. The greatest asset is a 76 mm high-velocity gun. The Panzer I and II was no match against an enemy tank that could fire a more powerful armor-piercing shell at greater distances. The 37 mm cannon, the panzer’s main armament, was called a “door knocker” due to the fact that the projectile bounced off the T-34’s radically designed armor. When the battle for Moscow got underway, large numbers of T-34s were thrown into action and inflicted serious losses on German armor. Superiority was clearly on Russia’s side (until introduction of the Tiger tank in late winter-early spring of ’43).

Originally, the T-34 was not equipped with wireless sets, and communication among the tanks was conducted with a system of hand and/or flag signals. Needless to say this primitive method impacted negatively on deployment and tactics. By ’42, radios had been installed and a wireless operator included. The four-man crew consists of the commander-gunner, loader, driver, and wireless operator (who operates the secondary weapon, the hull machine gun).

Since the deployment of entire tank armies, Soviet tactics are such that strategic blunders occur more often than not, although signs of improvement are becoming evident. Nevertheless, what the Russian army lacks in flair and versatility on the battlefield is made up for in sheer weight in numbers. Despite the success of small maneuverable panzer units led by experienced officers and crews against forces of greater strength, the Russians continue to maintain an eightfold margin of superiority in armor. [Staff Intelligence A.G. Don]

Red Vengeance belongs to the Type D variety of T-34, with hexagon shaped turret (thickness: 72 mm) and double turret hatch covers (20 mm); single periscope on turret roof; front, side, and rear armor: 45 mm (appearance indicates extra armor plating welded to outer hull—on rear engine covers, hull exterior directly over on board fuel reservoirs). Two external reserve fuel tanks mounted on rear deck greatly increase the vehicles’ already formidable range: 430km road, 200km off road. Length: 6.5 meters; width: 3 meters. Ammunition consists of 80 armor-piercing/high-explosive shells and 2400 rounds for machine gun.

One particular observation that is unique only to Red Vengeance is its quick rate of fire. Supported by numerous accounts and observations, the tank can fire and reload the 76 mm gun with greater speed and deadlier accuracy than a Tiger (which holds a crew of five). The assumption is that an extra crewman has been put on board as a gunner, thus freeing the commander from the duty and allowing him to focus attention on tactical decisions, observation, and fire direction. One school of thought is of the opinion that a specialized sighting system and an advanced load/fire mechanism are employed. Weapons technology along these lines has yet to be found on enemy vehicles examined by army specialists. Another theory suggests Red Vengeance is a hybrid fighting vehicle, a one of a kind, which has failed to go into full-scale production; however, there is no evidence to lend credence to this theory.

Voss continued to read. There were other details, specifically the camouflage netting draped over the gun barrel and hull, barbed wire on mud guards and rear deck; also the Cyrillic letters spelling out the alleged words krasni mecTb on the left turret side. Included in the documentation were transcripts of eyewitness accounts of troops in the field associated with events and actual encounters. Falkenstein’s own experiences were conspicuously absent. Searching through the file, Voss couldn’t find a report or debriefing that detailed the circumstances of the captain’s fateful engagement. The only reference, and this only a short memo from Army Group intelligence, suggested the incident on the Kalmyk steppe of September 1942 was most likely the first known skirmish involving Red Vengeance. The bulk of reports covered the time frame from December 1942 until April 1943 and was drawn almost exclusively from the intelligence section and war diaries of General Hoth’s Fourth Panzer Army. Red Vengeance seemed to have it in for the general that winter. Mounting a relief operation to link up with the encircled Sixth Army at Stalingrad, Fourth Panzer Army engaged in tooth-and-claw defensive battles through bitter cold, slush, and snow. Streaked in whitewash, Red Vengeance targeted reconnaissance units that covered the outer flanks of the spearhead. Subject to repeated attacks were the supply columns ferrying the fuel and ammunition. Although these support companies did not operate in secure areas, the beguiling aspect of the raids occurred under the noses of motorized infantry whose sole objective was to offer protection to the supply lines. Red Vengeance had the uncanny ability to slip through the protective cordons, destroy several vehicles of fuel and materiel, and vanish. What stuck in the minds of the German troops was how this T-34 operated alone, without support, and its appearance presaged an attack in some other sector and a different unit with devastating consequence. Red Vengeance would drift in and out of antitank gun sights and manage to elude a direct hit from veteran gunners. Against a bleak winter sky, the specter, its hull splashed with white camouflage, would be observed on the horizon, tracks kicking up sprays of white powder, just centimeters out of gun range.

Hoth’s army bogged down thirty kilometers from Stalingrad. Enemy resistance was too strong, and his best division, Sixth Panzer, was ordered detached to answer a crisis when the Italian Eighth Army faced a massive Russian offensive. Fourth Panzer Army could go no further, and rumors of Red Vengeance were beginning to spread.

From mid-December to early January, the German front on the middle Don collapsed. The army group began the long, painful trek westward as the Russians prepared a gigantic pincer movement to take Rostov. Fourth Panzer Army was caught between the Sal and Manych rivers as it engaged in ruthless defensive fighting against the Soviet Second Guards Army, trying desperately to keep the Germans out of what was being called the “Rostov bottleneck.” A Russian bridgehead was already established at the village of Manychskaya and threatened First Panzer Army’s retreat from the south.

Voss thoughts returned to his own experiences during that time. The Greyhounds had covered Hoth’s flank from the assaults of the Soviet Twenty-Eighth Army, and he’d been involved in operations to take the village of Manychskaya where the Manych River flowed into the Don. The weather was brutal, the going arduous, and the battles nothing short of inhuman. He was amazed that he had survived at all. There were enough dangers and experiences during that single episode to last a lifetime; yet, with all he had been through before and since, it was but a few threads of a larger, more hellish tapestry. On January 30, First Panzer Army retreated across the Sea of Azov, over forty kilometers of black ice, from Rostov to Taganrog.