T-25 Light Tank
The T-25 Light Tank was a second attempt to improve the mobility of the T-26 light tank by installing Christie suspension. The first attempt had been made in 1935-36 by S. Ginzburg and the OKMO team, and had been abandoned because their design (the T-46) was over-complex.
The second attempt was made by the Stalingrad Tractor Factory (STZ). The prototype T-25 was completed in 1938, and matched the Christie suspension used on the fast BT series tanks with a slightly modified T-26 chassis. The new design was still to complex for mass production, and so a simplified version, the ST-25, was developed, but this was abandoned in favour of the T-50 light tank.
Russian Tanks of World War II, Stalin's Armoured Might, Tim Bean and Will Fowler. A good overview of the development of Soviet Tanks from the early models based on British and American originals to the excellent Russian designed T-34 and the heavy IS tanks. Bean and Fowler also look at the development of Soviet tank doctrine, the impact of Stalin's purges on the tank forces, and their use in combat from the small-scale clashes in the Far East to the apocalyptic fighting on the Eastern Front between 1941-45. A little lacking on precise details of the sub-variants of some of the tanks, but otherwise very good.
How to cite this article:
Rickard, J (11 September 2008), T-25 Light Tank , http://www.historyofwar.org/articles/weapons_t-25_light_tank.html
