T-34 From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to: navigation, search This article is about the Soviet medium tank. For the military training aircraft, see T-34 Mentor. T-34 Model 1943

Polish T-34 Model 1943 in Poznań, Poland Type Medium tank Place of origin Soviet Union Specifications Weight 30.9 tonnes (34.1 short tons) Length 6.75 m (22.1 ft) Width 3.00 m (9.8 ft) Height 2.45 m (8.0 ft) Crew 4 Armour 70 mm (2.75 in) Primary armament 76.2 mm (3.0 in) F-34 tank gun Secondary armament 2×7.62 mm (0.308 in) DT machine guns Engine 12-cyl. diesel model V-2 500 hp (373 kW) Power/weight 16.2 hp/tonne Suspension Christie Operational range 465 km (289 mi) Speed 55 km/h (34 mph)

The T-34 was a Soviet medium tank produced from 1940 to 1958. It is widely regarded to have been the world's best tank when the Soviet Union entered the Second World War, and although its armour and armament were surpassed by later tanks of the era, it is credited as the war's most effective, efficient and influential design. First produced at the KhPZ factory in Kharkov (Kharkiv, Ukraine), it was the mainstay of Soviet armoured forces throughout World War II, and widely exported afterwards. It was the most-produced tank of the war, and the second most-produced tank of all time, after its successor, the T-54/55 series. The T-34 was still in service with twenty-seven countries as late as 1996.

The T-34 was developed from the BT series of fast tanks, and was intended to replace both the BT-5 and BT-7 tanks and the T-26 infantry tank in service. At its introduction, it was the tank with the best balance and attributes of firepower, mobility, and protection in existence, although initially its battlefield effectiveness suffered from the unsatisfactory ergonomic layout of its crew compartment, lack of radios and poor tactical employment. The two-man turret crew arrangement required the commander to also serve as the gunner, an arrangement common to most Soviet tanks of the day; this proved to be inferior to the German arrangement of three men (commander, gunner and loader).

The design and construction of the tank were continuously refined during the war to improve effectiveness and decrease costs, allowing steadily greater numbers of tanks to be fielded. In late 1943, the improved T-34-85 was introduced, with a more powerful 85 mm gun and a three-man turret design. By the war's end in 1945, the versatile and cost-effective T-34 had replaced many light and heavy tanks in service, and accounted for the majority of Soviet tank production. It was influential in the development of the late-20th-century concept of the main battle tank. Contents [hide]

* 1 Production history o 1.1 Revolutionary design o 1.2 Establishing and maintaining production o 1.3 Evolutionary development o 1.4 Cost-effectiveness o 1.5 Variants + 1.5.1 Model naming + 1.5.2 Tank models + 1.5.3 Other AFVs + 1.5.4 Support vehicles o 1.6 Table of tank models * 2 Combat history o 2.1 After World War III o 2.2 Other countries * 3 Combat effectiveness * 4 Tank as a symbol * 5 Importance * 6 Surviving vehicles * 7 Notes * 8 References * 9 External links

[edit] Production history

[edit] Revolutionary design

"We had nothing comparable" -Friedrich von Mellenthin (1956)

Before 1939, the most numerous Soviet tanks were the T-26 light tank and the BT series of fast tanks. The T-26 was a slow-moving infantry tank, designed to keep pace with soldiers on the ground. The BT tanks were cavalry tanks, very fast-moving light tanks, designed to fight other tanks but not infantry. Both were thinly armoured, proof against small arms but not anti-tank rifles and 37 mm anti-tank guns, and their gasoline-fueled engines were liable to burst into flames "at the slightest provocation" (Zaloga & Grandsen 1984:111). Both were Soviet developments of foreign designs from the early 1930s: the T-26 based on the British Vickers 6-Ton, and the BT tanks based on a design from American engineer Walter Christie.[citation needed]

In 1937, engineer Mikhail Koshkin was assigned by the Red Army to lead a new team to design a replacement for the BT tanks, at the Kharkiv Komintern Locomotive Plant (KhPZ) in Kharkiv. The prototype tank, designated A-20, was specified with 20 millimetres (0.8 in) of armour, a 45 mm (1.8 in) gun, and the new model V-2 engine, using less-flammable diesel fuel. It also had an 8×6-wheel convertible drive similar to the BT tank's 8×2, which allowed a tank to run on wheels without caterpillar track (Zheltov