The BA-64 model is here

Turing the summer of 1941, the situation changed when the production of BA-10 and BA-20 armored vehicles was gradually curtailed, and a worthy replacement was never found. To correct this shortcoming in September, at a meeting attended by GAZ, it was decided to develop a new light armored car. The initial project provided for the use of the chassis from the GAZ-64 all-terrain vehicle, combined with the developments obtained during the creation of the LB-62 and the testing of the captured German armored vehicle Sd.Kfz.221. Since the vehicle was rather small in size, its crew was limited to 2 people, and the armament consisted of one 7.62-mm DT machine gun. A few days later, the armored vehicle project was transferred to the NKSM, and from there it came to the consideration of the GABTU of the Red Army. The development of the GAZ Design Bureau received due support from the military, which was not surprising – the FAI \ FAI-M and BA-20 that were then in service did not meet the requirements for a light armored car for a long time. The detailed design of the armored car, which received the designation GAZ-64-125 (the designation “product 64-125” was also found), began in the second decade of October 1941. Work progressed rapidly – in November, working drawings and the first details were ready, and in December, the assembly of the machine began, which on January 9, 1942 made its first run. GAZ-64-125 had minimal differences from the “September” project.

Specifications :

As planned, the chassis of the GAZ-64 all-wheel drive car was taken as the basis, but with a number of improvements. The location of the pedals, levers and steering was changed, the springs were strengthened, shock absorbers from the GAZ M-1 were installed with a torsion stabilizer bar on the rear suspension, a new gas tank of increased volume appeared, etc. The hull of the armored vehicle was welded from rolled armor plates with a thickness of 4 to 15 mm and outwardly resembled the hull from the LB-62. Focusing on the good bullet resistance properties of gable sides and frontal sheets installed with large angles of inclination, they were also used on the GAZ-64-125. In the upper frontal sheet, a small rectangular hatch was made with a viewing slot, closed with a Triplex glass block, which was borrowed from the T-60 tank. On both sides there were side viewing slots with Triplex glasses. The set of instruments for the GAZ-64-125 was minimal: the driver had at his disposal only a speedometer and an aerometer, as well as an abbreviated set of spare parts. To the limit of « stinging » the hull, the designers were forced to show a lot of ingenuity in order to rationally place the crew in it. The driver was in the center of the car, and behind him, a little higher, The only 7.62 mm DT machine gun was installed in an octagonal turret with a wall thickness of 9 mm attached to a pedestal mounted on the floor of the vehicle. To ensure maximum angles of fire, which reached 75 ° vertically (fire could be fired at both ground and air targets), and for greater convenience when servicing a machine gun, the turret did not have a roof and was covered with an anti-grenade net in combat position, as was done on Sd .Kfz.221\222. Ammunition consisted of 1260 rounds (20 magazines) located in the fighting compartment. The prototype was equipped with an RB-64 radio station with a whip antenna.

BA-64 Prototype :

Tests of the GAZ-64-125 prototype were carried out at the factory test site for a month. As expected, the prototype had a lot of shortcomings, but none of them were critical. In early February 1942, the armored car went through a series of improvements and from February 19 to February 23, it was tested by mileage and firing at the Sofrinsky artillery range. In total, the car covered 318 km, mostly on snow-covered roads. During this time, 378 shots were fired from the machine gun. In the test report compiled by Colonel Malygin, it was noted that, due to the wider gauge, the GAZ-64-125 cannot normally follow a snow-covered toboggan track, since the wheels were hanging out and the car “sit down” on a hard, well-traveled part of the road. In addition, it was recommended to install a partition, At the same time, the patency of the armored car turned out to be much better – it successfully overcame slopes over 30 ° on hard ground, fords up to 0.9 m deep and slippery slopes with a slope of up to 18 °. More convenient than the BA-20 was the maintenance of the machine gun and firing from it. The commission recommended that the GAZ-64-125 be put into service for use as a communications and security vehicle, as well as for transfer to airborne and fighter units. The first copy of the test report was handed « up » on February 27, 1942, and on March 3, the prototype was demonstrated in the Kremlin to government members. The armored car made a good impression and on March 17 a decree was issued on its acceptance into service with the Red Army and the start of serial production on GAZ under the designation BA-64.

The BA-64 :

The first serial armored vehicles were built already in April 1942, but none of them was accepted by military acceptance due to the lack of main tires. Further, the rate of output should have increased. In May, 250 vehicles were to be handed over, and in June – December – 400 vehicles monthly, and from September it was planned to produce half of the armored vehicles in a radio-equipped version. During the production process, they decided to abandon the use of an anti-grenade mesh, which interfered more. In addition, for a long time it was not possible to get rid of one of the shortcomings inherent in all Soviet armored vehicles – for operation in summer conditions, the temperature in the fighting compartment rose to 55-60 °. To avoid this, a ventilation hole was cut in front of the roof of the hull, closed from above by an armored casing. « Radio » cars were equipped with radio stations RB-64 or 12-RP. Troop operation of the BA-64 « exacerbated » several more defects, the most serious of which were a weak suspension, poor visibility from the driver’s seat, insufficient engine cooling and a high center of gravity. This led to a decrease in the warranty mileage from 10,000 to 1,000-4,000 km and a massive failure of armored vehicles. For example, on April 30, 1943, the head of the armored trains and armored vehicles department, Major General Chernov, sent a letter to the GAZ leadership, which cited extremely sad statistics about the operational capabilities of the BA-64. In particular, it was indicated that in the 5th mechanized corps, out of 90 available armored vehicles, 56 were out of order due to technical problems. At first, they tried to solve these problems by “local” methods – for example, from September 1942, by analogy with the average BA-10, they introduced an additional hatch to the roof of the engine compartment, improving engine cooling.

The BA-64B :

However, it was possible to significantly increase combat effectiveness only after the appearance of a modified version of the GAZ-64-125-B . In terms of chassis improvements, a wider track was used on it, 4 hydraulic shock absorbers were installed on the front axle and a torsion bar stabilizer was eliminated. The car also received a new 54 hp engine, with an improved cooling system and two round hatches in the sides of the front of the hull. Assembly of modified armored vehicles, named BA-64B began in the winter of 1943. The production process at that time was gaining momentum, but after a series of bombing raids by German aircraft on the Gorky Automobile Plant, undertaken from June 5 to 14, 1943, the production of cars was forced to be suspended and resumed only in August. Until the end of the year, another 191 « linear » and 214 « radio » armored vehicles were manufactured, with a total annual volume of 1424 units. In 1944, the plant produced 1546 and 1404 BA-64Bs, respectively, in 1945 – 1742, and production ended in 1946, when the military acceptance accepted the last 62 vehicles. Thus, in the period from 1942 to 1946, 3903 BA-64 and 5160 BA-64B were assembled.

Combat use :

Having entered service with the Red Army, BA-64 armored vehicles from May 1942 were sent mainly to tank units, where according to the state it was supposed to have 5 vehicles in the control of the tank corps, 3 in tank brigades and 17 in motorized rifle brigades. At the same time, the newly formed motorcycle regiments (mtsp) were supposed to have 10 BA-64s, and the number of light armored vehicles in separate reconnaissance battalions (orb) was determined at 12 units. Since June 1942, the BA-64 was sent to the following units: the 3rd separate training armored company, the 8th separate training armored regiment, the 15th motorized rifle brigade, the 5th tank army, the Moscow Armored Center, Budyonny personally, the 8th and the 11th MCP, 1-3 orb, 5-8 orb, 10, 12, 13, 15 and 16 orb and the headquarters of the 7th TC. In September 1942, the Red Army began to form 10 separate armored battalions of 32 vehicles each and 15 separate armored vehicle battalions with a staffing of 22 armored vehicles and 7 T-70 light tanks. Such battalions were included in tank or mechanized corps, and in some cases, instead of BA-64, BA-10 and BA-20 were used. Since October 1942, when creating armored personnel carrier battalions, each of them was supposed to have 12 BA-64s and 12 British-made Bren Carrier armored personnel carriers, and separate tank regiments were supposed to have 3 BA-64s and the same number of vehicles in separate communication regiments. In battles, BA-64s were used very intensively, which ultimately led to heavy losses. As of May 15, 1945, about 3,000 vehicles of this type remained in the Red Army. BA-64 were also sent to other armies, for example, the Polish Army received 81 vehicles (28 lost), which were operated until 1956. At least 10 armored vehicles were transferred to the Czechoslovak corps of General Svoboda, and several dozen more BA-64s were sent to the armies of the GDR, Yugoslavia, China and North Korea. The last fact of their combat use, apparently, refers precisely to the Korean War of 1950-1953.

Other versions :

Quite a lot of attention was paid to various modifications of the BA-64. One of the first to appear was the railway version, which was developed both at the Vyksa DRO plant ( BA-64V ) and at the Gorky Automobile Plant ( BA-64G ). Work began in the summer of 1942 and was presented for testing in the fall. The machines developed in Vyksa were equipped with a jack and metal bandages, and the Gorky version had four small rollers mounted in pairs on axles (the movement was carried out by rotating the main wheels, which were touched by the rail). At the end of February 1943, both prototypes were tested at the GABTU RKKA test site. The BA-64V variant was recognized as the most optimal, which traveled 782 km on rails and 250 km on the ground without a single breakdown. A maximum speed of 82 km/h was recorded, fuel consumption was 24 kg per 100 km, the transition from wheels to tires was carried out by an untrained team in 25-30 minutes. The commission recommended strengthening the body of the jack and the fasteners of the sweepers, after which the BA-64V could be recommended for mass production. However, having assembled two more vehicles, they refused to release this variant (as well as the BA-64G), but at the Voitovich plant in Moscow, another 14 armored vehicles were put on the railway in a similar way.

In September 1942, the GAZ Design Bureau began work on installing a DShK machine gun on the BA-64. On the BA-64D prototype , a turret from the T-60 tank was mounted with a machine gun mounted in a special bracket, which made it possible to fire at air targets (the vertical aiming angle ranged from -6 ° to + 70 °). Gross weight was 2425 kg. In the period from April 3 to April 6, 1943, the armored car was fire tested, and on April 12 it was demonstrated to representatives of the GABTU of the Red Army. The machine deserved a good rating, but the commission recommended installing a belt feed to the machine gun, instead of a magazine for 30 shots, and then building a pre-production batch of 10 copies. However, at GAZ they refused to start mass production of the BA-64D, citing the high complexity of placing tape power in a small armored vehicle turret.

In April 1944, a prototype BA-64 equipped with an SG-43 machine gun designed by Goryunov was tested. The vehicle had no other changes and did not differ from production models in its main characteristics, however, due to the lack of a shoulder rest, firing from the SG-43 while moving turned out to be difficult and this option did not receive support.

Around the same time, from September 1942, work was underway to turn the BA-64 into an armored personnel carrier. The new vehicle, designated BA-64E , entered trials in March 1943. It was distinguished by a modified hull that could accommodate 5 people, which were located on two benches along the sides. Instead of a tower on the roof of the hull, a turret with a DT machine gun was installed. It was assumed that the BA-64 could be used to transport machine gunners, deliver ammunition and transport 45 mm guns. In early April 1943, the BA-64E version was manufactured on a wide-gauge chassis and without weapons, after which it was shown to the top leadership of the Red Army. Already by June 1, it was planned to build 10 vehicles for military testing, but GAZ produced only 3, which, together with two prototypes, were sent to the 3rd Guards Tank Army and the 7th MK. In September 1943 and in December, three more modified vehicles were assembled, distinguished by the absence of a roof, additional loopholes along the sides and seats for 4 people, and one of them was equipped with a 12-RT radio station (according to the documents, it runs on BASH-64). However, work on the armored personnel carrier variants of the BA-64 was curtailed at this point.

More interesting was the BA-64Z (“winter”, also referred to as BA-64SH – “snowmobile”), which was a conventional armored car mounted on a ski-caterpillar engine developed by engineer S. Nezhdanovsky. Instead of the rear wheels, box skis were mounted with four small twin rollers on the sides. A caterpillar rare-link chain covered the skis leaning on the rollers. The drive to the chain was carried out by a gear mounted on the rear wheel hub. Instead of the front wheels, skis from the GAZ-60 truck were installed. Tests of the BA-64Z, which took place from January 30 to February 10, 1943, showed that the “winter” armored car confidently overcomes virgin snow, but it is extremely difficult to control it, and fuel consumption has increased significantly. In addition, the maximum speed of the BA-64Z was only 22 km/h. Thus, further development of this design was abandoned.

There were also many modifications carried out by field repair teams. The most common version of the BA-64 with a cut off upper part of the hull, turned into a light armored personnel carrier. Some of these machines were equipped instead of a DT machine gun with an anti-tank rifle PTRS or PTRD. Apparently, the “headquarters” BA-64 was built in a single copy, without the upper part of the hull and roof, but with new seats and a windshield. The 4th Tank Corps had an armored car equipped with a folding dome over the turret roof.

Source: aviarmor.net