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Apr 8, 2013

IT-122 and IT-130 tank destroyers

Recently, in a new article about the foreign use of the T-62 tank (an interesting subject by itself, by the way) an interesting vehicle was mentioned: the Soviet tank destroyer IT-130 (along with the rather well-known IT-1 rocket tank destroyer), based on the T-62 hull. I did a quick research and here's what I found:

In 1978, a GRU officer Vladimir Rezun, known nowadays under the pseudonym of "Viktor Suvorov", defected with his family to England. Rezun worked as a military analyst. Naturally, he caught the interest of British secret service, whose officers debriefed him. It is not clear whether "Suvorov" was (is) a double agent for the Soviet Union or not, but basically in time it was discovered he made all sorts of shit up, including two tank destroyer designs: the IT-122 and the IT-130.

Now, the name itself is interesting. IT stands for "istrebitel tankov" - "tank destroyer". Wartime and post-war self-propelled guns were generally referred to as "SU" ("samochodnaja ustanovka" - "self-propelled gun"), the "IT" designation was generally obsolete and belonged to some pre-war project (namely for example the IT-45, or "Soviet Hetzer", a small and cheap tank destroyer early war project, scheduled to appear in WoT next year by the way) . Its use for post-war tank destroyer was strange.

It is not known whether the British secret service fell for it or not, but both designs somehow made it to the western literature, including Steven Zaloga's older books (Soviet Assault Guns, 1983). Not much is known on Suvorov's IT-122 project, but in literature, it is often paired with these images:



Seen it before? I thought so, because the vehicle on the images is the SU-122-54, a tank destroyer based on the T-54 from mid 50's, which is already in the game as a tier 9 tank destroyer of the alternative Soviet TD branch. It is my belief (and S.Zaloga's, who later corrected the information) that the SU-122-54 design got somehow mixed into the whole mess, designated IT-122 and made it eventually into various western literature sources. The same opinion is also shared by SerB, who at some point last year stated that the IT-122 is a fake and is in fact a case of mistaken identity of the SU-122-54. Here, a real SU-122-54 picture:



The IT-130 idea came from the same source. In this case, according to Suvorov's info, it is supposed to be a T-62 based tank destroyer from the 60's, equipped with a 130mm cannon, with similiar construction to the "IT-122". The only source of the cannon identity are the sketches from "Suvorov" (the following picture depicts the "IT-122",the 



The identity of the 130mm gun was not clear either, as at that time, the names of the Soviet guns were not really known. It was reported as "M-46", but who knows...

Either way, both of these tanks (under such designations) never existed. There however WAS a real ISU-130 project. Designated "Object 250", it was an experimental vehicle based on the IS chassis from 1944, built at Factory No.100 under the supervision of the famous Soviet tank designer, J.Kotin and equipped with a naval 130mm gun, designated S-26 (the original name was B-13). It was a basically an ISU-152 with a different gun (the gun was equal in power and penetration to the BL-9). Only one prototype was ever made and tested. This is how it looked:


Sources:
S.Zaloga - Soviet assault guns
Alex_Mitsch's thread on the IT-130
www.valka.cz

25 comments:

  1. still a better tank than su 101

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  2. IT-130 would be a better idea for tier 10 TD instead of obj. 263. Since it's a branch of medium tank based TD's, I don't know why it ends with a heavy tank...

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    Replies
    1. More fake vehicles!

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    2. IT-130 is fake as fake goes, w/o any basis in reality.

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    3. Its kinda like a SU-122-54... well almost the same construction-wise :P .

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    4. Yeah, that's why there's more sense in in being a "child" of SU-122-54 in-game.
      Isn't tier 10 made mostly of fake vehicles? :P

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    5. Not really. I mean - they all existed at least on paper, including the JpZ E-100, which however was a stretch.

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    6. hmm... that's a shame. I'd really forgive WG changing the 263 to this, even if it's fake as hell. Just to make sense in chassis progression for the branch (T-34 -> T-44 [was planned for tier 8 instead of premium] -> T-54 -> T-62), now it goes to IS-7

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    7. I too am quite dissapointed. I would have loved the stupid 263 to get replaced with this. Also imagine if SU-122-44 was not a premium tank?
      SU-122-44; SU-122-54; SU-130-62
      Would have been one of the finest lines in the game, and also one of the best gameplay build ups...
      Part of the reason why I am so dissapointed at the JPZ E-100. WHY make it such a vehicle? I LIKE it, but it is nothing like a Jtiger, a Ferdinand or a Jagdpanther 1/2. I would have loved a center mounted JPZ E-100 with a 128mm L66. It would have been perfect advancement of gameplay and would have freed the current one for another line as a JagdPanzer ausf A/B.

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    8. This comment has been removed by the author.

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    9. If there were no T62 TDs explain this:
      http://www.jedsite.info/tanks-tango/tango-numbers-su/t62_series/t62t/t62t_003.jpg

      It's a T62t recovery vehicle with a large hole on the glacis plated over.

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  3. Give Suvorov some slack. Information was only given out on a need to know basis in Soviet Russia.

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    1. Suvorov was liar of worst kind, in almost everything he said.
      He could have easily been "false flag" defection, considering how untrue were most things he told in west.

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  4. Kinda dissapointed here, because if this is correct, then I cant b*tch for a SU-130-62. It is just a MUCH better idea than the Object 263 Mega-Ugly edition.
    On a side-note, I find such a vehicle more acceptable than what they did with the VK 7201

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    Replies
    1. I like the Obj 263, but gold ammo for credits destroyed it :/

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    2. I havent played it, but it is just damn ugly :P . Also, one problem I have with it is how DIFFERENT it is from for an example the Su-122-54. These 2 TDs mess with eachother's game play styles and it is quite jarring :P

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    3. Hehe. Its funny, I like the look. Reminds of the Obj 261/IS-7 (I wounder why, it not like its the same chassis :P).

      The only reason I dont have it yet is the SU-100M/SU-101.

      Played it a few times on the tests and its pretty fun. Most meds cant pen you even with gold ammo.

      But I have to say the SU-122-54 looks great.

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    4. The Obj 263? You mean the tank which only turns up in a game when the planets align? (Still trying to get that Soviet Expert medal...)

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  5. This is epic, SU-122-54 looks real sexy, but this is beautiful !

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  6. The ISU-130 would make a nice tier 8 premium for the Soviet TD branch.

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  7. Hey SS!
    Do you have any info about this T-62 TD?
    http://forum.worldoftanks.com/index.php?/topic/204242-russian-t-62-td/

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    Replies
    1. What about it? It's a T-62 hull with a long-barelled 152mm (the "Taran" gun I believe). SerB stated it wouldn't be implemented. Too modern.

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    2. No, Obj.120 Taran is different, that one on pic has 100mm 2A29 smoothbore gun.
      Taran looks a bit like VF215b (183):
      http://s47.radikal.ru/i118/1105/78/9c4b7542aec2.jpg
      http://alternathistory.org.ua/files/140911_su-152-taran.jpg

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    3. Well, SerB said it's a smoothbore 152mm I believe

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  8. So same people who bitch and whine about "unhistorical" Lowe want totally invented and imagined Soviet vehicle?
    Laughing really hard now.

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