Can anyone direct me to where I might locate some info on the origins and history of the Russian "Bedspring Armor"? I am trying to find out when its earliest use in WW2 was.......the month and possibly the locations where it was first used. Did it spring (no pun intended) out of some idea from the field such as the Hedgechopper?

Thanks for the help!

The development history is obscure, there are a couple of mentions on Battlefield.ru (on the T-34-85 and IS-2 pages) indicating that it first appeared in early 1945, and the few available photos seem to have been taken in Berlin. Even there its use doesn't appear to be very widespread.

Obviously it wasn't made from bed springs, unless German beds were a very funny shape.

David

The Myth is that thegeneral designs started from a russian tank unit welding "field aquired" bedframes to their tanks to try to quickly emulate some of the same stand-off armour of the Germans. There is no credible confirmation of this that I know. The ones often seen in photos were manufactured for thier purpose and are not bedframes.

The impetus was that as the Russians were fighting in and through German cities the amount of Panzerfaust casualties increased dramatically and they needed a quick fix. Apparently the solution worked, but I have not been able to date any use of it before 1945...

They just came up with a 2006 version for the T-72:



Cheers,
Dmitry