Fierce German-Russian Battle
As far as the actual combat capabilities of tanks were concerned, Russia was indeed generally behind the mainstream European countries at present.
There was nothing that could be done about it. Once one understood the wariness and blockade that the various European countries directed at Russia, it also became clear why Russian tanks had developed so slowly.
On top of that, the industrial foundation of Tsarist Russia had previously been relatively weak compared with the other great powers. Its equipment research and development capabilities were poor, and incidents such as embezzling development funds and passing off inferior goods as superior ones occurred frequently.
Under such circumstances, it was already quite difficult for Russia to develop tanks and mechanized equipment that could truly be deployed on the battlefield.
Russia's Defense Industry Administration, the organization responsible for developing armored units, had only been established in 1924. It had existed for just thirteen years.
Over those thirteen years, Russian tanks had already evolved into the Second Generation—or, more accurately, two and a half generations.
The first-generation tank was the T-12. This generation laid the foundation for Russia's tank development, and it was precisely because of these tanks that numerous famous tank series came into being afterward.
The Second Generation tank was the T-26 light tank, which Pavlov had dismissed for its lack of armor protection.
However, the Russians had clearly also recognized the current direction of tank development, and they had developed an improved tank in response: the BT-7 fast tank.
Returning to the war at the front, no matter how much effort Russia put into tanks, it would be impossible for them to catch up with the mainstream European countries' tank development in such a short time.
Even if one considered Germany alone, it had not spent very long