d conditions – it actually took several crew members to do. Two men had to lower the third into the engine deck to actually install the new part. Another example of winter problems is that there were reports of crew members suffering from frostbite. This was because there was no heating system fitted on the tank. As well as this, the driver was meant to be protected from the elements with a removable tarpaulin with a fitted glass window, but it was impractical to put up and operate with.
Also, there were some issues with gearboxes and transmission in early models. Sometimes, the when the driver was changing gear, two gears could engage at the same time, which therefore broke a gear pinion – effectively disabling the gearbox. This problem was later fixed during modernization in 1961 by mounting a T-54 gearbox instead. This tank was designated the T-44M. During this modernization, which lasted until 1966, there were other aforementioned modifications.
|Dimensions (L-w-h)||6.07 x 3.25 x 2.45 m (19.9 x 10.7 x 8 ft)|
|Total weight, battle ready||31 tonnes|
|Propulsion||V-44, 12 cyl, 38l diesel, 520 hp|
|Speed (road)||53 km/h (33 mph)|
|Range||350 km (217 miles)|
|Armament||85 mm (3.35 in) ZiS-S-53|
2 x DTM 7.62 mm (0.3 in) machine-guns
|Armor||Up to 120 mm (4.7 in)|
“Russian Tanks of World War II”, by Tim Bean and Will Fowler. Photographs and illustrations: Wikipedia.
A “what if” operational T-44 in September 1944. In fact, this relatively secret tank never saw action in WW2.
T-44 of an unidentified unit in training, 1945. Notice the full spider roadwheels.
T-44 with dished roadwheels in winter exercises after the war.
The T-44/100 prototype (February 1945). It was manufactured to carry the new gun because the T-34 transmission could not endure the recoil.
The T-54-1 model 1948, first of the T-54 series and still significantly influenced by the T-44.