Hello everyone,

this is something I kinda forgot to post earlier, for which I am sorry. In the last “Developer Diary” video (can be seen here), a strange tank can be seen in one of the scenes (5:41):

You can see even with one glance that it’s probably not a “regular” model, but a decoration – an interesting one though. What I think it is is some sort of “bronetraktor” (armored tractor) improvised armored vehicle. The Soviets built several of them, the best known of them being the famous NI Tank. I think that this one is actually called “CHTZ-16″ (or T-16 CHTZ).

There is a short wikipedia article on it as well. As I wrote, these improvised vehicles were not uncommon. Of this type (built around the STZ-3 tracked tractor), around 70-100 were built (numbers vary from source to source, Zaloga for example mentions only 60) between 1941 and 1942 in Kharkov. Originally, the entire class of vehicles (improvised modified tractors) was meant as a stop-gap measure, with the Soviets hurling every piece of equipment they had to stop the German onslaught. It was supposed to be produced not instead of regular tanks, but beside them. There were several armored tractor projects as I mentioned, but this one by Kharkov was the most successful.

A prototype was made in early August 1941 and after the decision to produce this vehicle in Kharkov, serial production was started under emeregency condition by the end of the month. It was however never really successful, as it suffered from all the classic early problems, that come with new tank types. In mid-September 1941, the entire Donetsk basin (Donbas) was threatened by the Germans already after more defeats of Soviet armies and evacuation of Kharkov industry was ordered. By the time the Novokramatorsk plant was evacuated, no more than 60 CHTZ-16 armored tractors were produced in total (with 30 more produced in Stalingrad).

There are few hard data on this vehicle’s battle performance, but it most likely was very poor. The vehicle had thin armor (20-25mm frontal, 10mm everywhere else), 45mm 20K gun, it suffered from breakdowns, high center of gravity (and thus poor stability) and was underpowered. These vehicles were in late 1941 assigned to defense of Kharkov and Poltava in the assumed role of tank destroyers, but all were quickly destroyed, especially in the October city fighting in Kharkov itself. Last of them were lost during the 1942 attempt to liberate Kharkov.

Currently, one is surviving in Kiev Great Patriotic War Museum.

Statistics

Weight: 7 tons
Crew: 2-4
Armor – hull: 20/10/10mm
Armor – superstructure: 25/10/10mm
Engine: 52hp gasoline V4
Maximum speed: 15-20 km/h (5 km/h offroad)
Gun: 45mm 20K