So how does Eastern block stuff compare to ours of similar vintage?
You know, you always hear people say stuff like Russian stuff is simple, designed to be fixed with hammers but you also hear everyone and their brother (who've never driven one) say that Porsche 930's will immediately change directions, flip over on their roofs and catch fire if you lift the throttle in a turn. And I have enough 930 experience to say that's hogwash (I did set one on fire once, but that was unrelated to driving).
Great question...
I've owned a Leopard 1A4, have a Chieftain Mk10, and a Pz61, and have been on and around the M60, and Centurion, all contemporaries of the Soviet tanks I have...
The Russian tanks are definitely cruder, they were NOT interested in crew comfort or even survivability for that matter... they are also deficient in optics and electronics...
But what they do have is they are built extremely robust, tough, and reliable. The T-62 showed here after not being run for 9 years... but it started with new batteries and fluids, in 1/2 turn.
Where people make the mistake is pitting an individual tank vs. another individual tank... that was NEVER the Soviet Union's idea... They were more concerned with pitting 5 x T-55/72s vs. one M60 or Chieftain.
"Quantity has a Quality all its own... " Stalin
If the flag had dropped we could have expected to be outnumbered 5 to 1 in Germany... thus the reason the A-10 was developed, as a force equalizer.
As such the tanks were not developed to be technical marvels, with high survivability. They were made to overwhelm in numbers just as they did the Germans at Kursk.
They estimated the average tank running through the Gap would last 10 to 20 minutes. That being said, their awesomeness comes from the sheer brutality of their design, simplicity of their engineering, toughness of their components, and tractorlike qualities that make them very resilient.
So NO a T-55 was never a match for a Chieftain or M60 or Leo 1... BUT 5 x T-55s supported by 3 BMP-1s was MORE than a match for one....
Just glad the world never had the opportunity to see what a Russian tank force could do with properly trained troops in a WWIII scenario!
