Heavy tank (Red Alert 1)

The Soviet Union's main battle tank during the events of the Great World War II was the Soviet heavy tank, armed with twin 105mm cannons, capable of tearing through Allied armor. Its heavy armored plating was highly resistant to Allied weaponry but came at the expense of speed and mobility, allowing faster units to simply outrun it. However, these units were reasonably fast relative to the ponderous Mammoth tank. It was, in fact, just as fast the Allies M1 Abrams, and severely outgunned it.

After the war, heavy tanks remained in service with the Soviet and later the Russian Army, serving with distinction for many years yet. It was notable though that by the start of major UNGDI operations against Nod, most armored divisions had switched to the new Medium Tank by 1995, leaving mainly homeland defense with Heavy Tanks. The post-war USSR and later Russia had still a few Medium Tanks by the end of the war, and these were backed up by Allied donations to the Soviet and later Russian armies. However, the Heavy Tank had not quite disappeared even after the First Tiberium War. They would continue to serve with Russia/GDI until before the Second Tiberium War, when their maintainability costs had become too high, and spare parts too hard to find. By then though, the Titan walker had well been introduced.

It is unknown what happened to the Heavy Tanks after. It seems clear that Nod had never acquired the famous tanks, which wouldn't have suited their operational doctrine anyways. Though they likely were decommissioned before the Second War, no one really knows.


 * NOTE: During GWII, the Soviets sent tanks to capture a broken Chronosphere. The broken Chronosphere changed the Soviet and Allied weapons, thus giving the Heavy Tank "Tesla" a Tesla cannon instead of the twin 105mm Cannons - making it the predecessor of the Soviet Tesla Tank.

Usage
The Heavy Tank was the grunt tank used for battling enemy armored units. Soviets would mass these vehicles, forming the core of their armored brigades.

Counters
They had no air defense, leaving them vulnerable to Apache helicopters. However, the Allies often had to fight most of them by massing superior numbers of M1 Abrams, M60 Pattons (later M2 Bradleys) and rocket soldiers. Though powerful, heavy tanks were valuable and were not units to be squandered. Thus, Allied use of AT mines was a hazard many Soviet commanders hated intensely.