T-43 Leopardo Medium Tank
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The T-43 was a Venezuelan medium tank deployed during World War II on the South American and European Fronts from mid-1943 to its end in 1945. The T-43 was intended to counter the German Tiger and Panther and to replace the T-40. Nevertheless, it served alongside the latter and the heavier T-45 until the end of the war. It is considered one of the best tanks of World War II for its excellent firepower and protection and reliability. The T-43 was born out of a project started in 1939 to replace the T-40 Puma which was still in testing. The initial requirements of the called for a fully tracked vehicle weighing 20 tonnes and design proposals by CENARECA, CVA, MDB and IPV ensued. These designs were abandoned and IPV dropped out of the competition entirely as the requirements increased to a vehicle weighing 30 tonnes, a direct reaction to the encounters with the German Tiger I tank. The Tiger I outclassed the existing Venezuelan tanks and the situation became worst when Venezuelan and Brazilian intelligence discovered that the Tiger was being built in Argentina along with the up gunned Panzer IVs. At the insistence of the high command, a special tank commission was created to assess the Tiger. CVA, which designed the successful T-40 were given the task of designing a new 30- to 35-tonne tank, designated Modelo 120A, by February 1943. Development of the T-43 received a major boost in March when three Tigers were captured at the battle of Puerto Suarez in Paraguay, the Tigers were immediately shipped to Bogota for testing. The information gathered by the tests greatly influenced the development of the new Venezuelan tanks and as a result the new vehicles beard a great resemblance to their German counterparts. The main concern was the Tigers armor, to defeat it CAVIM developed the C43 long barreled 76mm gun capable of penetrating the Tigers frontal armor.
The first T-43s started to reach frontline units in December 1943 on the Argentinian border where they faced the Panzer IV and the Tiger, proving to be more than a match for both tanks. The Panzer IV proved to be completely ineffective against the T-43 not managing to pierce its armor at anything but dangerously close range while the Tiger had greater difficulty dealing with the tank especially at longer ranges where the T-43s angled frontal armor proved almost invulnerable to the 88mm gun while the 76mm gun on the other hand had no problem penetrating the Tigers frontal armor. The appearance of the new German tanks like the Panther and later the King Tiger prompted the development of an up gunned T-43, development went at a very fast pace thanks to the engineer’s foresight, the designers had designed the tanks in such a way that it could be easily up gunned and by March 1944 testing of the new variant armed with a 90mm gun had begun and by May 1944 they were already in service with frontline units.
Type: Medium tank
Place of origin: United States of Venezuela
Service history
In service: 1943–1956 (United States of Venezuela)
Used by: United States of Venezuela
United Kingdom
Spain
Mexico
Brazil
China
Chile
Tanzania
Namibia
Cameroon
Wars: World War II
Production history
Designed: 1939-1942
Produced: 1943–1952
Number built: about 12,000
Specifications
Weight 40 tonnes
Length 8.72 m gun forward
Width 3.20 m or 3.20 m with skirts
Height 2.72 m
Crew 4 (driver, commander, gunner, loader)
Main armament: 1 × 76 mm C43 (80 rounds) or 1 × 90 mm C44 60 rounds
Secondary armament: 1 × 7.92 mm M1936 machine gun
Engine: V-12 Diesel 700 PS (690 hp, 515 kW)
Power/weight: 17,25 hp/tonne
Fuel capacity: 720 litres (160 imp gal; 190 US gal)
Operational Range: 250 km (160 mi)
Speed: 58 km/h
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