The T-38 amphibious scout tank was a

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

amphibious

light tank A light tank is a Tank classification, tank variant initially designed for rapid movements in and out of combat, to outmaneuver heavier tanks. It is smaller with thinner vehicle armour, armor and a less powerful tank gun, main gun, tailored for ...

that saw service in

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. Developed as a modernized version of the earlier T-37A light tank, the T-38 proved to be only a moderate improvement over its predecessor, and was eventually replaced in 1940 by the T-40.

History

Early trials of the T-37A revealed many deficiencies in its design, including limited range, sub-par buoyancy, and an unreliable transmission and running gear that could cause its tracks to fall off while on the move.Baryatinskiy, p. 15-19 Development of an improved version of the tank that would fix these flaws was begun in late 1934 at Factory No. 37 in Moscow, under the direction of Chief Designer N. Astrov and Chief Engineer N. Kozyrev.Zaloga, p. 77-79 The redesign proved to be so extensive that the project was given the independent designation T-38, and a prototype was completed by June 1935. The T-38 retained many design features of the T-37A, including its repurposed

GAZ-AA The GAZ-AA is a truck produced at the GAZ, Gorky Auto Plant in the Soviet Union from 1932 to 1938, and was the factory's first truck produced under the ''GAZ'' brand. Russian-speakers often refer to it as a ''polutorka'' () - meaning "one-and-a ha ...

engine and hand-operated turret. The turret was moved from the right to the left-hand side of the tank, switching the driver and commander positions compared to the T-37A. The T-38 also had a slightly wider and lower profile than its predecessor, providing an advantage in buoyancy that made the cork buoys used on the T-37A unnecessary. While the production-model T-38 was only armed with a 7.62mm DT machine gun, the initial prototype vehicle also included a 20mm ShVAK cannon mounted on the driver's position. This was removed after it was determined the additional cannon impaired the driver's ability to control the tank.Milsom, p. 91 Like other light tanks of its time, the T-38 was designed for reconnaissance and infantry support roles. As a scout tank the T-38 had the advantages of a very low silhouette and good long-range mobility through its ability to swim. The T-38 was also intended to be air-portable; during the

Kiev Kyiv, also Kiev, is the capital and most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city of Ukraine. Located in the north-central part of the country, it straddles both sides of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2022, its population was 2, ...

maneuvers in 1936, the tanks were transported by Tupolev TB-3 bombers, mounted under the fuselage. Infantry battalions were each issued 38 T-38s, with 50 being designated for each airborne armored battalions. However, the thin

armor Armour (Commonwealth English) or armor (American English; see American and British English spelling differences#-our, -or, spelling differences) is a covering used to protect an object, individual, or vehicle from physical injury or damage, e ...

and single machinegun armament made the tank of only limited use in combat and the lack of a radio in most T-38s was a serious limitation for a reconnaissance vehicle. The T-38 also struggled with carrying any excess cargo across water. The tank was incapable of supporting the weight of two infantrymen while floating, and overloads of 120-150 kilos would cause the commander's hatch to flood, sinking the vehicle. These flaws were to be fixed by the T-38's successor, the T-40, but only a small number were built before the outbreak of World War II, leaving the T-37A and T-38 to form the bulk of the Red Army's amphibious tanks. A total of 1,228 T-38 tanks were built from 1936 to 1937, with an additional 112 made in 1939 after a two-year break in production.

Service history

The tank served with the

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Republic and, from 1922, the Soviet Union. The army was established in January 1918 by a decree of the Council of People ...

in the

Winter War The Winter War was a war between the Soviet Union and Finland. It began with a Soviet invasion of Finland on 30 November 1939, three months after the outbreak of World War II, and ended three and a half months later with the Moscow Peac ...

with

Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

in 1940, but was unsuccessful due to its light armament and thin armour, which was easily penetrated by rifle and

light machine gun A light machine gun (LMG) is a light-weight machine gun designed to be operated by a single infantryman, with or without an assistant, as an infantry support weapon. LMGs firing cartridge (firearms), cartridges of the same caliber as the othe ...

fire. In the confined terrain of Finland, the tank was a deathtrap; it also did not do well in the early stages of World War II, and large numbers were captured by the Germans during

Operation Barbarossa Operation Barbarossa was the invasion of the Soviet Union by Nazi Germany and several of its European Axis allies starting on Sunday, 22 June 1941, during World War II. More than 3.8 million Axis troops invaded the western Soviet Union along ...

. The T-38 was rarely seen in direct combat after 1941 and mostly relegated to other roles such as artillery tractor, although it was reported to have been used in the Dnieper River crossing of 1943. During World War II, the main amphibious scout vehicle of the Red Army was the Ford GPA amphibious jeep, an open unarmored vehicle provided through

Lend-Lease Lend-Lease, formally the Lend-Lease Act and introduced as An Act to Promote the Defense of the United States (),3,000 Hurricanes and >4,000 other aircraft) * 28 naval vessels: ** 1 Battleship. (HMS Royal Sovereign (05), HMS Royal Sovereign) * ...

. The German Army did not generally use captured T-38s as gun tanks (unlike captured T-26s,

T-34 The T-34 is a Soviet medium tank from World War II. When introduced, its 76.2 mm (3 in) tank gun was more powerful than many of its contemporaries, and its 60-degree sloped armour provided good protection against Anti-tank warfare, ...

s, or other more valuable vehicles). Romanian forces had captured three T-38s as of 1 November 1942 and four more in March 1944.Mark Axworthy, Cornel I. Scafeș, Cristian Crăciunoiu, ''Third Axis, Fourth Ally: Romanian Armed Forces in the European War, 1941-1945'', pp. 220 and 221

Variants

* T-38RT (1937), version equipped with 71-TK-1 radio. * OT-38 (1937), flamethrower-equipped version, prototype only. * T-38M1 (1937), prototype with superior planetary transmission, considered too complex for production. * T-38M2 (1938), modification improving the gearbox and replacing the engine with GAZ M1. 10 pilot series tanks built, rejected in favor of T-40. * T-38TU, command version with extra radio antenna. * SU-45 (1936), experimental 45 mm self-propelled gun. * T-38TT (1939), experimental remotely controlled tank ( teletank). *T-38 with ShVAK (1944), upgrade of existing tanks with ShVAK cannons reused from T-40 or T-60 tanks. Approximately 120 converted, including identically converted T-37A, nothing is known about their service.

References

Bibliography

* Baryatinskiy, Mikhail (2006) ''Light Tanks: T-27, T-38, BT, T-26, T-40, T-50, T-60, T-70''. Hersham, Surrey: Ian Allan Publishing. * * Bishop, Chris (1998) ''The Encyclopedia of Weapons of World War II'' * Chamberlain, Peter & Chris Ellis (1972) ''Tanks of the World, 1915-1945'' * Fleischer, Wolfgang (1999) ''Russian Tanks and Armored Vehicles 1917-1945'' * Milsom, John (1970) ''Russian Tanks, 1900-1970'' *

External links

T-38, World War II vehicles

T-38 tanks in museum and monuments {{DEFAULTSORT:T-38 Tank Amphibious tanks World War II light tanks Reconnaissance vehicles Interwar tanks of the Soviet Union World War II tanks of the Soviet Union Military vehicles introduced in the 1930s Light tanks of the Soviet Union