Martin Antonenko
A Fixture
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A weapon crucial to war...
In the Moscow Kremlin, on December 19, 1939, the members of the USSR Defense Committee discuss draft resolution number 445.
After a short discussion, the following decision is made:
"The following is to be transferred to the Red Workers' and Peasants' Army (RKKA):
The tank T 32 with diesel engine B2, number 183 with the following changes:
a) increasing the thickness of the main armor plates up to 45 mm;
b) improvement of protection of tanks;
c) F32 76 mm cannon coupled with a 7.62 mm machine gun;
d) Another 7.62 machine gun.
The tank is assigned the designation "Tank 34" (T 34)."
It is the birth of what is probably the best tank of all time - the famous T 34!
The tank was invented in a development office by 40 graduates of the Military Academy of Mechanization and Motorization of the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army (RKKA) in Kharkov under the direction of engineer Michael Ilyich Koshkin...:
Before the decision was made, various prototypes had been extensively tested at the Kubinka test site...:
The T 34 was ultimately based on a development by US designer John Walter Christie from 1928.
In 1928 Christie succeeded in building a revolutionary tank chassis, the model M1928. The tracks could be removed so that the vehicle could also drive on wheels. What was new about it was that each wheel was individually sprung.
This made the vehicle faster and more manoeuvrable off-road, but it had weak armor. Only on the front was it more protected with sloped armor. The US Army bought some vehicles for testing.
While the design was impressive when the M1928 was demonstrated at Fort Myers, Virginia, the US Army wanted heavily armored tanks to support front-line infantry rather than fast, agile vehicles capable of penetrating enemy rears.
Therefore, Christie's tanks were passed on to the cavalry. The Cavalry wanted to further develop the M1928 as an armed car. Again there was disagreement between the Army Authority and Christie over the concept.
Eventually, the Secretary of Defense refused to mass-produce the Christie tank because it was too expensive. Christie was now trying to sell his invention to the highest bidder, no matter who.
At that time, the Soviet Union had no diplomatic relations with the USA and was not allowed to buy weapons there. Soviet agents got their hands on the plans for the M1928 anyway.
In 1930, Christie's company agreed to supply the Soviets with two (further developed by him) M1931 tanks. The two tanks were shipped to the Soviet Union disguised as tractors.
From this, the technicians of the Soviet Union first developed the BT tank series, here a BT 5...
... and finally the T 34....:
The tank was almost indestructible, was characterized by high speed, very good off-road mobility, easy handling, robust and simple construction and inexpensive production processes.
To demonstrate the tank's capabilities and reliability, Koshkin drove 1939 - in the winter! - a prototype itself on the road from the manufacturer's plant in Kharkov (today Charkiv, free Ukraine) to Moscow - the tank mastered the 750-kilometer route without any problems!
However, Koshkin himself paid a high price for the journey: the tank prototype did not yet have a heater installed and Koshkin was not a trained tank driver and therefore drove the entire route with the driver's hatch open.
Due to the ice-cold draft he contracted pneumonia, from which he died on September 26, 1940 in Kharkov...:
The troops were enthusiastic about the model because the bullet-resistant innovative shape and good armor protected the tankers - in contrast to the BT tanks, which were considered rolling pyres due to their thin armor and high flammability. (There were several bitter soldiers' songs in the Red Army about the fire sensitivity of the BT tanks.)
When the Soviets moved their factories behind the Urals in front of the approaching Germans (and thus out of reach of the Luftwaffe), some of the production machines were set up in the open, supply connections were made and the T 34s were assembled in the open air, while all around the Workers pulling up factory walls...
When Engineer Koshkin died, the first pre-series T 34s were already available and from 1941 the tank was produced in large quantities: between 1941 and 1945 more than 50,000 examples were built, in total - production ended in 1958 - there were about 80,000. Here is a model from the production year 1943...:
There were countless variants of the T 34 that were constantly being improved. The variant most frequently built during the war was the T34/76, the 76 mm cannon became longer and longer over time in order to reduce the launch speed (= “Vau Null”) and with it Increase the range and penetration of the projectiles...:
The tank was last built - from April 1945 - as the T 34/85 with an enlarged turret and more powerful armament (85 mm gun)...:
It is certainly no exaggeration to call the T 34 a decisive weapon of World War II, as the tank came as a nasty surprise to the German attackers. In 1941 and 1942 it was clearly superior to all German tanks.
Disadvantages were - initially - the lack of a radio system (it existed in 1942) and the lack of a fifth crew member, the gunner. The T34/85 then also had the “5. Man”, which is why the tower was also considerably larger.
In 1941, despite having a highly maneuverable tank for use in large formations, the Soviets made the mistake of using the tanks individually - as rolling bunkers, so to speak - for infantry support. But the Red Army quickly learned...
The sheer number, significantly improved tactical leadership and use in large formations to form priorities more than made up for the advantage of the better armed new German tanks "Tiger" and "Panther" from the end of 1942.
The T 34 has a long life - until today!
During the Yugoslav Wars in the 1990s, T-34/85s were used by both Serbian and Croatian troops. Here is a T34/85 of the Serbian armed forces, with makeshift additional armor made of rubber mats (against limpet mines!), photographed in February 1996. In front of it you can just see the rear of another T34/85...:
The following one was photographed three years ago in action in Syria...:
In the Moscow Kremlin, on December 19, 1939, the members of the USSR Defense Committee discuss draft resolution number 445.
After a short discussion, the following decision is made:
"The following is to be transferred to the Red Workers' and Peasants' Army (RKKA):
The tank T 32 with diesel engine B2, number 183 with the following changes:
a) increasing the thickness of the main armor plates up to 45 mm;
b) improvement of protection of tanks;
c) F32 76 mm cannon coupled with a 7.62 mm machine gun;
d) Another 7.62 machine gun.
The tank is assigned the designation "Tank 34" (T 34)."
It is the birth of what is probably the best tank of all time - the famous T 34!
The tank was invented in a development office by 40 graduates of the Military Academy of Mechanization and Motorization of the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army (RKKA) in Kharkov under the direction of engineer Michael Ilyich Koshkin...:
Before the decision was made, various prototypes had been extensively tested at the Kubinka test site...:
The T 34 was ultimately based on a development by US designer John Walter Christie from 1928.
In 1928 Christie succeeded in building a revolutionary tank chassis, the model M1928. The tracks could be removed so that the vehicle could also drive on wheels. What was new about it was that each wheel was individually sprung.
This made the vehicle faster and more manoeuvrable off-road, but it had weak armor. Only on the front was it more protected with sloped armor. The US Army bought some vehicles for testing.
While the design was impressive when the M1928 was demonstrated at Fort Myers, Virginia, the US Army wanted heavily armored tanks to support front-line infantry rather than fast, agile vehicles capable of penetrating enemy rears.
Therefore, Christie's tanks were passed on to the cavalry. The Cavalry wanted to further develop the M1928 as an armed car. Again there was disagreement between the Army Authority and Christie over the concept.
Eventually, the Secretary of Defense refused to mass-produce the Christie tank because it was too expensive. Christie was now trying to sell his invention to the highest bidder, no matter who.
At that time, the Soviet Union had no diplomatic relations with the USA and was not allowed to buy weapons there. Soviet agents got their hands on the plans for the M1928 anyway.
In 1930, Christie's company agreed to supply the Soviets with two (further developed by him) M1931 tanks. The two tanks were shipped to the Soviet Union disguised as tractors.
From this, the technicians of the Soviet Union first developed the BT tank series, here a BT 5...
... and finally the T 34....:
The tank was almost indestructible, was characterized by high speed, very good off-road mobility, easy handling, robust and simple construction and inexpensive production processes.
To demonstrate the tank's capabilities and reliability, Koshkin drove 1939 - in the winter! - a prototype itself on the road from the manufacturer's plant in Kharkov (today Charkiv, free Ukraine) to Moscow - the tank mastered the 750-kilometer route without any problems!
However, Koshkin himself paid a high price for the journey: the tank prototype did not yet have a heater installed and Koshkin was not a trained tank driver and therefore drove the entire route with the driver's hatch open.
Due to the ice-cold draft he contracted pneumonia, from which he died on September 26, 1940 in Kharkov...:
The troops were enthusiastic about the model because the bullet-resistant innovative shape and good armor protected the tankers - in contrast to the BT tanks, which were considered rolling pyres due to their thin armor and high flammability. (There were several bitter soldiers' songs in the Red Army about the fire sensitivity of the BT tanks.)
When the Soviets moved their factories behind the Urals in front of the approaching Germans (and thus out of reach of the Luftwaffe), some of the production machines were set up in the open, supply connections were made and the T 34s were assembled in the open air, while all around the Workers pulling up factory walls...
When Engineer Koshkin died, the first pre-series T 34s were already available and from 1941 the tank was produced in large quantities: between 1941 and 1945 more than 50,000 examples were built, in total - production ended in 1958 - there were about 80,000. Here is a model from the production year 1943...:
There were countless variants of the T 34 that were constantly being improved. The variant most frequently built during the war was the T34/76, the 76 mm cannon became longer and longer over time in order to reduce the launch speed (= “Vau Null”) and with it Increase the range and penetration of the projectiles...:
The tank was last built - from April 1945 - as the T 34/85 with an enlarged turret and more powerful armament (85 mm gun)...:
It is certainly no exaggeration to call the T 34 a decisive weapon of World War II, as the tank came as a nasty surprise to the German attackers. In 1941 and 1942 it was clearly superior to all German tanks.
Disadvantages were - initially - the lack of a radio system (it existed in 1942) and the lack of a fifth crew member, the gunner. The T34/85 then also had the “5. Man”, which is why the tower was also considerably larger.
In 1941, despite having a highly maneuverable tank for use in large formations, the Soviets made the mistake of using the tanks individually - as rolling bunkers, so to speak - for infantry support. But the Red Army quickly learned...
The sheer number, significantly improved tactical leadership and use in large formations to form priorities more than made up for the advantage of the better armed new German tanks "Tiger" and "Panther" from the end of 1942.
The T 34 has a long life - until today!
During the Yugoslav Wars in the 1990s, T-34/85s were used by both Serbian and Croatian troops. Here is a T34/85 of the Serbian armed forces, with makeshift additional armor made of rubber mats (against limpet mines!), photographed in February 1996. In front of it you can just see the rear of another T34/85...:
The following one was photographed three years ago in action in Syria...:
