Not be a smartass but a valentine did take part in the Battle of Berlin during the final assault on the Reichstag😂
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If there’s evidence of that, I’m ready to take an L on that one 
But the point about the other 99.9% still stands – T-26 is as impossible for Berlin as Tiger 1 for Korean war.
There is video footage of at least one there, though I can no longer view said video in my country so welp.
And tbf, the T-26 is exceptionally rare to see in game as is, unlike the Pz2 or other starter tanks.
BT-7, T-28, T-28E, T-60, T-50 were all also either destroyed or phased out by 1945, not to mention I-153 biplane over Berlin lol
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BT-7 was there, certainly the BT-7M.
T-28 is yeah, … going to be annoying but until the BR2 soviet tank line is fleshed out, that wont change.
Look sure its not ideal, however its not the end of the world either, Not once have I disagreed some of its wrong, but considering Normandy is a BR1 map and how fucked that is, this honestly feels less so.
Not trying to make this a dealbreaker but I would really like to see the source for this, sounds really unrealistic to me
I still believe we should protest against this instead of being happy “this time it doesn’t hurt as much as before” 
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Honestly I would if it werent my day off work, because I will have to sift through a mountain of shit to get a proper source for it, AI has fucking ruined online research. Then you have the general issue of shit soviet documentation at best, like it amazes me how bad it is. And just top it all off, you get the issue of region locked content, like the video of the Valentine in Berlin as well.
However Ive not seen a single source stating that BT-7’s werent used in the recon role even in 1945, and I have seen sources directly stating it served such a role in both the far eat and west in 1945. However having to recall a book I read maybe 5 or ten years ago just isnt working.
What I will say though is, it was no longer sent to western units post 1944, it was merely retained by some units.
But whats not realistic about it? It shares massive commonality with a lot of other in service equipment, from engines to electronics. Not to mention the soviets were renowned for their fieldwork to make just about any pile of scrap work.
Well, to the best of my knowledge:
- BT-7 was designed in the 1930s with thin anti-bullet armor and a 45 mm gun, making it insta-deadly vulnerable to German anti-tank weapons/Panzerfausts of 1945;
- By 1943–1944, BT-7s were phased out of frontline combat units in Europe and replaced by T-34-76/85 in combat roles or BA-64 / T-70 (entered service in 1942) at best in recon roles;
- The Red Army standardized its inventory in early war, only focujsing on proven mass-production and support, so that no resource was wasted on BS like 20 rifle models or 50 tank models: factories and workshops were tooled to only work with Mosin, SVT, PPSh, PPS, T-34 and IS platforms.
- Surviving BTs were transferred to the Far East in 1945 against Japan’s weak army in Manchuria, which can create confusion seeing them alongside T-34-85, but for Berlin they would be useless death traps when you have tens of thousands of BA-64 / T-70 / T-34 at your disposal in Europe.
I understand mate and I’m not looking to have us both spend hours and weeks in archives here trying to check BT-7M track record just when Darkflow prepares their next “IS-3 in Tunisia” event.
Maybe it happened, maybe it didn’t, it doesn’t matter in the grand scheme of things now.
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Cant argue that, fairs fair.
Sure heres to the situation improving in the future, I did really like your suggestion for map BR’s there. Perfectly appealed to both sides of the argument.
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why one and not the other?
Post the link and let’s see if someone else can see it.
The 4th Guards Tank Brigade had 1 on roster in April - it is the singe Mk 9/10 in this: Tank Archives: 4th Guards Tank Brigade in the Berlin Offensive Operation
Apparently this video says 1 was used in the storming of the Reichstag but I can’t see it on a quick scroll through…https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bJ5IeOR0A2M&ab_channel=TheOperationsRoom
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This would have been used, no? I know it’s a special gun for recon that saw limited use, but to my knowledge it saw use through to the end of the war.
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I guess it wouldn’t be impossible, indeed. Most likely not issued to regular troops,
but maybe specialized units or NKVD yes.
Yeah, that’s why I made that comment. I’d seen the video about year ago and I re-watched it before I made the comment. I just found it funny that out of all the T-34’s and IS-2’s that were in Berlin. Somehow a valentine made it all the way there😂
Well tbf, Valentines were being requested by the soviets right till the very very end of WW2, the soviets appeared to be quite the fans of them, like surprisingly so. I dont get the love for them myself since it was an infantry tank disguised as a light tank, able to do neither role well.
However I do get the love for it as a historical vehicle, certainly a rich history behind them, again surprisingly so.
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Dunno about right to the end - but apparently the production lines were kept open in 1943 just for the USSR and the Brits were bemused by Soviets continuing to ask for them.
Notable that the 6 pdr Mk IX’s came without HE initially, and the Sov’s used them as Tank Destroyers in Valentine equipped units.
I have also seen somewhere online that the Soviets requested 2 pdr HE and the British made it for them - wherever I saw it had it as a separate line item.
ETA: Found it - see here
Although we also know from Australian actions from Malaya that they had 2 pdr HE issued there too (sadly I don’t have that book any more - it might have been this one or maybe this one - it was decades ago but you can still see occasional references to this online eg ), so accuracy of this might not be perfect!!
See from 9.40 here - AP was going straight through the tanks - but not killing the crews - so they start using HE:
not really fans… but they accepted them as OK light tanks and deliveries enabled to Sov’s to change their T-70 production lines to Su-76’s which were more useful.
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IK its the wiki, however there is some good sources there to back it up.
And I mean, they absolutely had more options for light tanks, clearly requesting more even to the end of 1944, them still arriving into 1945. I mean the British were completely bemused and confused even that they were still ordering them in 1943 onwards.
I did read that they were extremely reliable tanks, so perhaps thats why they found favour with so many soviet units, that and as you said, the 6pdr version being a good tank destroyer and later, a good mainline tank once US made HE shells arrived in tandem with the Su-57’s, especially when later models arrived with both a coax and 6pdr in the turret.
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This did lead me to a quick rabbit hole for Valentine tanks in soviet service, and they had an uparmoured version with 90mm frontal armour, even some with 105mm armour, of which the 45mm plate added was angled, which for context would give it significantly stronger armour than even a tiger which is just a hilarious concept. Ofc course these were adhoc and decentralised upgrades, though were also widespread.