The Red Army suffered such catastrophic losses of armor in the summer of
1941 that they begged Britain and the United States to send tanks. The
first batches arrived in late 1941, just in time to take part in the
defense of Moscow. The supplies of British tanks encompassed a very wide
range of types including the Matilda, Churchill, and Valentine and even
a few Tetrarch airborne tanks. American tanks included the M3 (Stuart)
light tank and M3 (Lee) medium tank and the M4 Sherman tank, which
became so common in 1944-45 that entire Soviet tank corps were equipped
with the type. With these Western tanks, the Soviets were finally able
to beat back the German tide in the East.
This study examines the different types of tanks shipped to the Soviet
Union during the war, Soviet assessments of their merits and problems,
and combat accounts of their use in Soviet service using full color
artwork, contemporary photographs and detailed cut-away illustrations.