Hello and welcome back to another Forgotten Hope 2 update.

Today we are showing off the new Soviet tanks that you will see on Operation Mars.

The T-60 was born from the sudden need to produce tanks as quickly as possible following the German invasion of the Soviet Union. On paper at least, the T-50 had been selected to become the new light tank but it was a complicated design and Factory 37 was unable to switch over to it. The solution was to re-use the existing tooling for the T-40 amphibious tank to make a simpler and more conventional design. While this was approved, at about the same time the factory design team were also working on a more radical redesign of the T-40. Confusingly these designs both ended up being the T-60, and it wasn't for some months until the first of these projects was re-designated the T-30.

Since this second T-60 was designed from the ground up without the amphibious capability, it was considerably shorter than the T-40 at 1.74 metres. Gone was the complicated conical turret, replaced with a simpler polygonal design made from flat plates. Originally the armament was to be the DShK heavy machinegun, but there were severe shortages of this weapon and instead a replacement was found in the ShVAK 20 mm aircraft cannon. Redesigned for ground use as the TNSh, it was ordered off the design table before prototypes were made.

In combat the T-60 was woefully under armed and armoured when compared to the German panzers. The TNSh was not any better than the DShK at penetrating armour, and there were no radios fitted at all. It did see some success when supporting infantry, and the low height allowed it to be hidden well. In 1942 the frontal armour was slightly thickened, but this extra weight really only made the tank slower. 5417 T-60 would be produced between Autumn 1941 up to the end of 1942, when it was succeeded by the T-70. Our T-60 was made by Kraetzer and specifically is based on those that were made by the GAZ factory in 1941.

Soviet pre-war Deep Battle doctrine had identified a need for a heavy tank to support infantry against heavily fortified areas. Armour protection was seen as a priority, and the early designs to meet this requirement drew inspiration from the Vickers made multi-turret Independent tank. The T-35 was the first of these designs to reach maturity, but it was lacking in many areas and by 1936 new designs were called for.

Two multi-turret designs would emerge by 1939: the T-100 and SMK. Noting that the SMK was overly large and heavy, that team also worked on adapting their tank to a more conventional single turreted form that would be named after Marshall Kliment Voroshilov. These three tanks would be tested at Kubinka in 1939, and then in combat during the Winter War. It was soon obvious that the KV-1 was the superior design and it was placed into production.

Our KV-1 is the design that emerged in 1942. The turret armour had been increased over the earlier models with the switch to casting, and this allowed the KV to deal with the newer German antitank guns. This extra 3 tonnes of metal compared to the first model severely strained the already overstretched engine and gearbox, and breakdowns were common. Seth Soldier has made our KV-1, slightly modified to remove the Finnish additions from the version you'll already be familiar with. It is based on Toddel's KV-1S.

With the current events in Ukraine, we feel that it is important to highlight the good work of Médecins Sans Frontières in helping people in need. If you wish to donate to them, please follow the link above.

That's all for this week, but be sure to come back next time for another update. Until then, feel free to visit our Discord, our public forums, our Twitter, our subreddit, and/or Facebook pages to discuss this update and other news.

Hello and welcome back to another Forgotten Hope 2 update.

Today we are showing off a couple of variants of German vehicles that you will already be familiar with downgraded to fit the May 1940 timeframe.

The E series of the BF 109 fighter was primarily an improvement in engine power over the preceding series. The Daimler-Benz DB601A increased the power available by an additional 50%, but it required a redesign of the airframe to move the radiators from the front to the underside of the wing roots.

The E-4 variant of spring 1940 was the first to be armed with the new MG FF/M 20mm cannon that was designed to use the new Minengeschoß ammunition. This new projectile made use of the same drawing production process used for cartridge cases to make strong thin walls, and thus could carry triple the explosive filling compared to the rather pathetic standard HE shell.

The principle difference between the E-4 and our current E-7 is the lack of mounting and plumbing to use an external tank. This meant that the E-4 and its older cousins had only limited endurance, and was the type's biggest weakness in the Invasion of France and especially the following Battle of Britain. Our E-4 was modified from AceS, Toddel and Rad's E-7 by Matt Baker, Stubbfan and Kraetzer.

The SdKfz 251 armoured halftrack is not a new vehicle to FH2, present already in the Ausführungs C and D. The earlier Ausf. B is not fundamentally much different from the later C, sharing the same basic construction methods and parts. The most obvious difference is the two part frontal armour plate, which was later simplified to ease manufacture.

The SdKfz 251 was not a common vehicle in France, with only a handful of the panzer divisions being partially equipped. Ours was modified by Matt Baker from K96's original Ausf. C.

With the current events in Ukraine, we feel that it is important to highlight the good work of Médecins Sans Frontières in helping people in need. If you wish to donate to them, please follow the link above.

That's all for this week, but be sure to come back next time for another update. Until then, feel free to visit our Discord, our public forums, our Twitter, our subreddit, and/or Facebook pages to discuss this update and other news.

Hello and welcome back to another Forgotten Hope 2 update.

Today we are showing off our Panzer 3 for the early war. A considerable downgrade perhaps from the Ausf. J that you are used to, the Ausf. E and F were the most numerous of the type in France.

The Panzer III began life in 1934 to fill the need for a tank that would be able to exploit breakthroughs and be capable of fighting other armoured vehicles. The initial specification called for a 5.0cm gun, however it was felt that standardising on the same 3.7cm anti-tank gun just adopted by the infantry would be best. Several companies submitted designs, with Daimler-Benz's prototype being accepted in 1937. In May that year the first Ausführung As rolled off the production line.

Ausführungs A through D were all tests of various coil and leaf spring suspension systems, and were limited in production to a handful of each. The first model to see wider production was the 1939 produced Ausf. E, featuring a torsion bar suspension with 6 large road wheels. Armour and engine power were also increased over the previous models.

The Ausf. F would follow later that same year. It featured a shot deflector to protect the turret ring, a slightly upgraded engine with new magnetos and cooling system, a smoke grenade system was added to the rear and the false gunsight on the turret was removed.

96 of the Ausf. E and 636 of the Ausf. F were produced by early 1940. They would later be up-armoured and be fitted with 5.0cm guns. Ours were modified from Rad's original Panzer III models, with the turret by FHSWman and other changes and textures by Stubbfan and Matt Baker.

With the current events in Ukraine, we feel that it is important to highlight the good work of Médecins Sans Frontières in helping people in need. If you wish to donate to them, please follow the link above.

That's all for this week, but be sure to come back next time for another update. Until then, feel free to visit our Discord, our public forums, our Twitter, our subreddit, and/or Facebook pages to discuss this update and other news.