Thanks for the feedback and screenshots
I am hoping that more people will find some time to post.
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- Soviet_T-29.png (36.74 KiB) Viewed 214 times
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- Soviet_A-20.png (32.95 KiB) Viewed 214 times
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- Soviet_T-34M.png (32.52 KiB) Viewed 214 times
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The **A-20** was an important Soviet prototype developed in the late 1930s as a possible replacement for the fast BT-series tanks. Designed under Mikhail Koshkin’s team at Kharkiv, it kept the older Soviet interest in convertible wheeled-and-tracked mobility, allowing it to run on wheels without tracks for road movement. It carried a 45 mm gun and used sloped armour, which marked a clear step toward more modern tank design. However, trials showed that the heavier tracked-only A-32 offered better growth potential while remaining mobile, and this line eventually led directly to the T-34. The A-20 therefore never entered production, but it was a crucial stepping stone in the evolution from fast cavalry tanks to the famous Soviet medium tank concept.
The **T-29** was an experimental Soviet medium tank of the mid-1930s, intended as a more advanced successor to the multi-turreted T-28. Like several Soviet designs of the period, it experimented with a complex wheeled-and-tracked drive system, combining high road speed with cross-country tracked mobility. The vehicle was ambitious, but also mechanically complicated and expensive, and its development history was troubled by changing requirements and technical difficulties. Although it did not become a major production tank, the T-29 was not a dead end: its suspension and running-gear ideas influenced later Soviet projects, and the experience gained by designers such as Koshkin helped shape the thinking behind the A-20 and the future T-34.
The **T-34M**, also known by the factory designation **A-43**, was a planned modernization of the early T-34 before the German invasion of the Soviet Union. It was intended to correct several weaknesses of the original T-34, especially poor crew ergonomics, limited visibility, and mechanical strain. Planned improvements included a better turret arrangement, a commander’s cupola, revised hull features, improved armour layout, and major changes to the engine, transmission, and suspension. By 1941 the design had moved beyond theory, with blueprints and components being prepared for production, but the outbreak of war forced Soviet industry to focus on mass-producing the existing T-34 instead. As a result, the T-34M was cancelled, but many of its ideas later reappeared in improved Soviet medium tank designs.
