The first heavy tank for the American branch is the T1 heavy tank at tier 5. The T1 is an odd looking tank that doesn’t look like other tanks in the game aside from it’s relative the M6 heavy tank. The T1 is tall, doesn’t have very thick armor, and has multiple layers over it’s side armor. This gives it a different armor scheme than most other tanks and it might throw off people facing the T1 since it’s armor is strong in places where you would not expect it.
Frontally the T1 heavy tank straight on doesn’t have many spots that have an overwhelming amount of armor against many of the tanks it faces. However, unlike other tanks it’s lower glacis (LFG #2/LFG#3) are actually stronger than the armor above it which can make relying upon this “standard weak spot” frustrating when facing a T1. The T1’s weakest frontal armor is actually centered around the main part of the upper frontal glacis which is odd for a tank, especially a heavy tank. The T1 also does not have a mantlet with spaced armor like other tanks which makes portions of it(FT1/FT2) weak to incoming shells since it only has one layer of armor.
The roof armor has a very high effective armor rating but since it is only 25mm thick any guns 75mm or higher will actually overmatch the armor. While this straight on frontal view doesn’t do the T1 heavy tank any justice you will notice that many T1 drivers will slightly angle to have their large tracks cover portions of their frontal armor. Doing this angling is what makes the T1’s armor tricky for some to shoot at.
The side of the T1 HT straight on doesn’t provide a ton of protection against most tanks that is faces. However, the side turret is adequately protected against some tanks and the layered armor when you get to the lower side hull(LSH) and tracks make the armor difficult to judge. The T1’s side has 41mm/44mm armor plates covered by 20mm tracks and a 25mm spaced armor plate which makes most shots(especially HEAT) that land here vanish. While the overall side armor is not very strong effective armor wise straight on, any kind of angling will vastly improve the layout due to the additional angles and multiple armor layers.
The rear of the T1 heavy tank as you may have guessed isn’t that strong since the frontal and side armor isn’t that well protected to begin with. When shooting a T1 in the rear simply avoid the rear turret and the angled portions of the rear hull armor(RHA). The green sections of the rear turret armor are the 25mm portions that overlap from the roof and can be easily damaged and/or overmatched.
An angled T1 heavy tank greatly improves it’s armor scheme in most areas but still leaves some holes to target. This angled view shows an “over-angled” T1 since it’s side armor is below the auto-bounce angle of 75°. A good T1 heavy tank driver will angle slightly to keep their side armor at or above auto-bounce levels while improving their frontal armor. As you can see the tracks that stick out in the front will cover a decent amount of the frontal armor and depending on the enemies distance to the T1 might make frontal shots difficult to pull off. The main weak spot while facing an angled T1 is the UFG #2 area(cheek of frontal hull) since it will be the least angled portion facing you. After that the upper side hull, area #2, and then the yellow areas are your best choices.
