However, time showed that by using well-trained crews, the T-70s could not only serve as “extras” but also perform a lead role in battles. “The T-70 light tank has only recently entered service and has so far made no distinction of itself,” the famous Soviet tank commander General Mikhail Katukov wrote in a 1942 report to the high command in Moscow:“This one’s nothing but trouble, Comrade Stalin," he added of progress in fixing the tank’s shortcomings. The German 7.5cm Pak 40 anti-tank gun could take out a T-70 with one round from a great distance and at almost any angle. It could not deal with the most commonly encountered German tanks, the PzKpfw III and PzKpfw IV, in head-on engagements, and was under-armored to serve as direct infantry support. But when the T-70 first saw battle in the summer of 1942, the crews quickly recognized its low individual combat efficiency. Light and nippy, the T-70 was quieter than larger tanks, and its sudden appearance in clusters often hurt the enemy hard. Altogether, some 6,300 T-70s had rolled off the line by the war’s close, a number exceeded only by the T-34 (35,000). Work on the new tank took only three months, largely due to the streamlined unification of the country’s military production base. On the plus side, the heavier gun could inflict more short-range damage to the rear and front of enemy armored vehicles. The tank had a 45mm canon, more than doubling its firepower, but at the cost of decreased accuracy and rate of fire. Engine power was increased to 140 hp and the thickness of the frontal armor to 45mm. Designer Nikolai Astrov led the work until the introduction of the T-70 in early 1942.
Since it was clear to the Soviet engineers and the military command that the T-60 was suffering unacceptable losses on the battlefield, it was decided to upgrade the tank.
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