Was the T-34 Really the Best Tank of WW2?

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which contains a tier 5 excelsior tank 250 000 credits 7 days premium access 3 tier 6 rental tanks for 10 battles each a tiger 131 the cromwell b and the t-34 85 m seize this unique opportunity download world of tanks and prove yourself the t-34 tank a world war ii armored legend 1937-1943 a pack crew spots an approaching soviet tank the experienced gunners know exactly what to do once they've located the enemy tank they work out the range and align their sights onto the tank and then load a 37 millimeter shell into the gun's breach the commander gives the signal and the gunner opens fire the shell flies out of the barrel and hits the moving tank when the smoke clears they can see that nothing has happened and the soviet tank is still advancing towards them the pack crew can't understand why the tank hasn't been destroyed so they load and fire another round but once again it just bounces off the enemy tank the crew are beginning to get concerned and look at each other in bewilderment another round is fired and then another but the tank continues to move forward and is now getting very close to them the pack crew starts to panic and abandon their gun as they run away in terror to escape being crushed beneath the tank's tracks a green steel monster grinds itself over the pack anti-tank gun crushing it beneath its tracks and moves on unimpeded and simply unstoppable it was june 1941 operation barbarossa was in full swing yet the wehrmacht was facing an unknown enemy tank one completely different from all the others it was the t-34 a new generation of soviet medium tank one that would face a difficult start but would carry on to become an absolute legend among tanks in the summer of 1936 civil war broke out in spain between the republicans and the nationalists the soviet union was supporting the republicans against the nationalists who were receiving support from italy and nazi germany in october 1936 a contingent of some 50 soviet tanks arrived in spain the first tank battle took place on october 29th between the soviet-made t26 tanks and the italian cv-35 tankettes the soviet tanks had a clear advantage with their armor main guns and mobility their 45 millimeter 20k gun was designed as an anti-tank gun modified for tank use facing the eight millimeter machine guns of the italian cv-35 tankettes the outcome was to be expected the t26 dominated the battlefield even the reinforcements that nazi germany sent in in the form of panzer one tanks were not sufficient enough to oppose these new tanks the soviet tanks clearly had the advantage in terms of firepower and were able to knock out every tank that the enemy put into the field against them the first reports sent back to the ussr by the soviet military personnel and advisors were overall positive even with the inexperienced crews and lack of infantry support and coordination the soviet tanks managed to turn the tide and help defend madrid however things started to turn bad for the t26 and later on the bt5 tanks the prime weapons that they were facing were no longer the enemy tanks but anti-tank guns nazi germany was utilizing their most up-to-date anti-tank gun the 37 millimeter pack 36 reports sent back were becoming more and more alarming huge losses were taken or even a couple of packs were now enough to stop an entire tank platoon something had to be done to rectify the problem in the 1930s the red army had a massive fleet of tanks consisting mainly of t26 and vt series these tanks were inadequate in terms of armor reliability engine power and parts maintenance the winter war and battle of cassand lake and later culkin gaul demonstrated all the weaknesses of the soviet tank fleet the thin armor bad maneuverability gasoline engines that were prone to catch fire when hit and inadequate firepower it can be difficult to keep up with new technology and ideas and to just rely on and try and improve the old designs one of these was a convertible drive the concept was fairly simple the tanks would use wheels like a regular motor vehicle when traveling on the road the crew would mount the tracks when approaching the battlefield to gain better cross-country deployment after the battle was over the tracks could be removed and the tank would become a wheeled vehicle again in 1937 to 1938 the karkov factory number 183 was designing a new tank designated the a20 engineers used a typical approach by taking a well-proven tank as a base and improving it the tank they used was the bt-7 they redesigned the turret the armor plate profiles and angles widened the tracks and redesigned the road wheels thus the tank they created had less in common with the bt series and became a foundation for the new line of tanks by angling the armor plates the designers achieved far superior protection the sloped armor concept was not new but had barely been used up to that point the chief engineer mikhail koskinen was not totally satisfied with the results and of the whole concept of a convertible drive on his initiative another project went into the design stage the a32 the main differences with the a20 was the removal of the whole mechanism for the convertible drive increasing the armor protection to 30 millimeters and thus increasing the overall size this in turn required another road wheel on each side but allowed for the installation of a much stronger and larger cannon instead of the 45 millimeter the a32 would hold a 76.2 millimeter l11 gun the future of the t-34 was taking shape the gamble paid off during the state trials at cubinca the a32 outperformed the a20 project partially due to the change and shift in thinking by the state leaders and decision makers they would shift from the convertible drive idea to the increased armor protection and firepower as it turns out state trials would take place in september 1939 the same month as the wehrmacht would cross the polish border and initiate world war ii this fact would also accelerate work on the tanks and the need to have them as soon as possible the a32 tank was officially designated the t-32 even though the tank had passed state trials the state commission had requested some changes to be implemented in december 1939 namely to strengthen the armor to 45 millimeters to implement the cheaper and simpler f-32 cannon increase the number of machine guns make visibility better and strengthen the tank parts upon planned implementation of improvements the tank was to be renamed the t-34 in january 1940 a new a34 tank was ready for trials the second model was assembled in the next month tests were vigorous and extreme many defects problems and general shortcomings were detected things like poor visibility due to glass fogging bad ammunition racks and the short life span of the v2 engine were sufficient enough reasons to delay production of the tank without waiting to correct all noted shortcomings a tank race was organized in strict secrecy a 750 kilometer drive from kharkov to moscow took place with the aforementioned designer koshkin driving one of the tanks unfortunately the chief designer mikhail koshkin would pay with his life with the development of the tank succumbing to a bout of pneumonia he received during the state trials he drove the t-34 tank for hundreds of kilometers while feeling unwell from karkov to moscow he was to be replaced by alexander morozov the race would end at ivanovskaya square in the middle of the night in the confines of the kremlin walls the next morning the state commission including stalin himself made a final decision the tank had performed very well and left a great impression on march 31 1940 the defense committee issued instructions calling for the mass production of the t-34 at the kharkov factory the legend was born and the journey of refining and battle proving the tank had begun on june 22 1941 germany unleashed operation barbarossa it was to that day the largest invasion force in history fielding some three and a half million men 3 400 tanks and 2700 aircraft three army groups were heading towards leningrad smolenz and the ukraine aiming to the soviet defenses and decimate the red army the red army was unprepared for the attack nominally it had some 23 000 tanks an astonishing figure however most of these were old t26 and bt series the first engagements were terribly one-sided german panzers were inflicting high casualties due to the better equipment better organization of armored units and more experienced crews the soviet troops lacked support logistics maintenance facilities and most of their tanks were needing some kind of repair either light or a complete overhaul however on june 23rd the vermont would face down an unknown new threat in shock and terror their anti-tank crews and even panzer crews would face the t-34 tanks they would fire their most powerful shells and score direct hits but nothing would have an effect on the enemy tanks even at point-blank range penetration was not guaranteed the red army faced many problems the lack of spare parts fuel and shells meant that many tanks did not even have armor piercing rounds they would pack what they had at the moment high explosive rounds and any fuel they could get their hands on and ride into battle some would simply roll over german anti-tank guns one gun was able to confront the t-34s though the potent flak 88 millimeter anti-aircraft gun it had sufficient penetration and power to knock out any of these red army tanks luckily for the germans the soviet tactics were poor in those days poorly planned and coordinated attacks no coordination of adjacent units sending armor and vehicles piecemeal instead of as a formation lack of training of the crews and the luftwaffe had total air superiority many t-34s were lost to the stuttgart air attacks they were circling the battlefields almost unopposed as the soviet air force had been decimated in just one day it had lost between twelve hundred and two thousand aircraft most of which were densely packed on airstrips and carpet bombed or strafed by the luftwaffe the soviet air force had lost many new aircraft like the yak-1 mig-3 and lag threes those losses will have terrible consequences for the red army in the following months thus of some 1000 t-34s that were available at the start of operation barbarossa just a few had survived many were left out damaged abandoned or surrendered on the battlefield crews couldn't fix the simplest of mechanical breakdowns some crews had only a few hours of experience driving the tanks some had only just seen a tank for the first time when the war had started even if some of them could have fixed those mechanical problems there were no spare parts nor logistics available to them the luftwaffe had bombed and knocked out most of the warehouses and facilities in the western districts of the soviet union to make matters worse the entire soviet production was focused on producing tanks not the spare parts due to the quarrels and obstructions in the bureaucracy chain not all the t-34s were issued with the newer f-34 gun some had to go with the older l11 gun the hot and dusty summer months were replaced by the autumn rains german tank men soon found out what the russian word rasputitsa meant a total lack of decent roads and a whole ocean of mud tanks got stuck losing tracks and trucks and light vehicles were unable to move or keep up making a total mayhem of the logistics on the other hand the t-34s fared far better their wide tracks were better suited for such conditions making lower ground pressure and a powerful diesel engine provided enough cross-country mobility however the soviet tank production was facing difficult times many factories were disassembled and sent to the east to the urals and siberia those that were still working were trying their best to assemble as many tanks as possible and send them to the front until the end of the year some 2000 t-34s were produced it was not nearly enough to reinforce the ranks especially after the heavy losses around kiev viasma and other pockets and encirclements operation typhoon was launched by the germans in october 1941. their main goal was the destruction of the soviet forces defending moscow and the capture of the city itself panzer groups were spearheading the advance breaking through battered and scattered soviet troops colonel mikhail katukov and his fourth tank brigade took positions near tula some 170 kilometers from moscow the brigade was newly formed with some 22 t-34 tanks among various other types around midsense the german second panzer army was advancing but was in for a nasty surprise soviet infantry had lured the german tanks into the open suddenly soviet tanks appeared on the flanks from out of the forest striking a heavy blow soviet tank case lugushkin destroyed five german tanks in this single battle another tank ace dimitri lavronenko also scored a high kill count the german command was surprised and shocked a commander of the second panzer army general heinz guderian was furious that the advance on tula had halted and momentum was lost his assessment of the situation was looking bleak the soviet tanks were showing their superiority in a very sharp form tactics of employment were always evolving and changing a special commission was sent by the germans in november 1941 to assess the soviet medium and heavy tanks the outcome of this was that they had to step up the development and introduction of the panzer v panther tank kronkatukov paved the way for the new tank tactics the t-34 tanks were dug in and heavily camouflaged dummy and fake positions were made tank crews were instructed to open fire only when a definite hit was guaranteed at around a distance of some 200 to 300 meters the t-34s were able to knock out enemy tanks from over 1 000 meters while the german tanks had to come in much closer to guarantee a hit thus in 1941 the t-34 could dominate the battlefield the t-34 would play a significant role in the subsequent soviet counter-offensive near moscow in december 1941. it became a common sight to see t-34s with their wide tracks painted white and with a squad of soldiers riding on top of them charging across at the german lines the trend continued in 1942 but some dangerous adversaries started to appear in the german army to counter the t-34 threat a new german heavy tank was introduced the panzer 6 tiger with its 88 millimeter main gun and 100 millimeters of frontal armor it proved to be a worthy opponent the t-34 had to use its advantage of speed and maneuverability to outsmart the tiger tank other vehicles like the panzer iv aus f2 stug 3 auf f martyr series and the pac-40 anti-tank cannon were a direct response to the threat of the soviet tank compared to the old 50 millimeter and short 75 millimeter guns these vehicles were all sporting longer barreled 75 millimeter cannons making duels with t-34s more even soviet designers were trying to rectify the situation by improving the t-34 tank the main demand of the soviet high command was for greater production numbers any change must not reflect heavily upon production figures thus changes had to be implemented gradually and carefully a model 1942 had a number of technical improvements some of which were designed to simplify their production process and cost namely instead of welding a cast turret was introduced a new driver's hatch new track design a different transmission cover and a completely new wheel design side armor was also increased to 45 millimeters one of the biggest tank factories was the stalingrad tractor factory responsible for the production of nearly half the t-34s this huge factory was also simplifying the tank production process creating the unique shapes and designs of the various parts required a massive battle took place in the vicinity of stalingrad and then in the city itself new tanks were actually being assembled during the battle and even took part firing from the factory grounds onto the advancing german troops it was a column of t-34 tanks that had crossed the bridge over the river dawn near the town of kalak between the 21st and 22nd of november 1942 that were effectively encircling the german troops in stalingrad in the first half of 1943 the t-34 had received yet another upgrade package this model had a new hexagonal turret which gave a bit more space for the two crew members inside it new hatches which when open gave a distinctive shape to the top of the tank the germans referred to it as the mickey mouse as these hatches went open remind them of the mickey mouse cartoon character's ears new round external fuel tanks were added an armored hull machine gun mantlet as well as handrails which gave the infantry tank riders and crew something to hang on to when the tank was in motion in the summer of 1943 the tanks started to receive the commander's cupola on top of the turret which gave a better all-around visibility to the tank commander thus the t-34s along with the other mass-produced soviet tanks were waiting for the next major offensive in the summer of 1943 a huge tank battle would take place in the cursed bulge showing the strengths and weaknesses of the tank design it was here that the last german major offensive in the east would take place and the critical point of the war after the battle the t-34 would roll west towards germany and berlin the t-34 had shown a good balance of armor firepower and mobility its overall length was 6.68 meters a width of 3 meters and a height of 2.45 meters its weight was around 26 tons almost twice as heavy as the bt series however unlike the bt series the t-34 had a 76.2 millimeter cannon which outclassed the earlier 45 millimeter guns with its penetration capabilities and firepower its armor protection was very high for that period during the war its frontal armor was 40 to 45 millimeters thick for the hull and 60 millimeters for the turret and the side armor ranged from 40 to 52 millimeters compared to the vt-7 which only had some six to 13 millimeter thick armor this was a huge advantage it was just the additional depth of armor that made this tank so sturdy and strong the use of sloped armor had now shown its full potential for example a nominal 45 millimeter thickness of the hull frontal armor angled at 60 degrees meant that the effective armor that a shell had to penetrate was 90 millimeters this gave the t-34 a distinct advantage over the german tanks and anti-tank guns with the greater distances that it could start engaging the enemy from [Music] there were several techniques used in manufacturing the armored sections and joining them all together tank armor can be cast welded or bolted together bolting the sections together was a technique used in the interwar period that had shown its failings during the early stages of world war ii bolted armor tended to crack and send bolts and shrapnel flying around when hit the t-34's initial production had used cast armor the unusual thing was the tank's frontal plate it was a large metal piece bent into shape using a massive press this would later be abandoned and welding and bolting was used instead to simplify the process and make the armor stronger later on a different practice was used two plates were joined by a 100 millimeter thick girder being welded and bolted together however there were differences between the factories that they were built in for instance tanks from the stalingrad tractor factory had front glasses plate and rear armor interleaved with the side plates the gun tube recuperator cover was also simplified creating a kind of chisel-like shape there were two main guns used in the production of early t-34 tanks the first one the l-11 was a huge leap forward compared to the earlier 45 millimeter guns from the t26 and bt series however it had suffered from malfunctions lower shell velocity and a complicated design a simpler yet more effective design the f-34 cannon was used later on it had better ballistics it was easier to produce and remain the main gun until the introduction of the d5 and s53 85 millimeter guns used on the t-34 through 85. it could penetrate 92 millimeters of vertical armor plate at a distance of 500 meters which made it a formidable opponent to any enemy tank that encountered it in 1941. the soviet army had conducted tests on earlier captured german tanks and the general conclusion was that both high explosive and armor-piercing shells fired from the f-34 could penetrate or damage any german tank at a range of a thousand meters the combat load for the t-34 76 was 77 rounds for the main gun and 4 725 rounds for the two dt 7.62 millimeter machine guns powering the t-34 was a liquid-cooled aluminum v2 diesel engine developed in the car keep locomotive factory this engine had 500 horsepower and gave the t-34 top speed of 53 kilometers an hour early production specimens did have deficiencies and problems which were polished in the later stages but the tank itself had received a rather reliable and good engine coupled with the compressed air starting system and lack of return rollers this proved to be a very good combination both in the muddy season and later on in the harsh winter conditions diesel engines were also less prone to catch fire when the tank was hit unlike their gasoline counterparts however due to the general shortage of v2 engines some t-34 tanks had to be equipped with mikulan m17 gasoline engines used on the bt series the t-34 tank had wide tracks and smaller ground pressure and weighing in at some 26 tons it had a good power to weight ratio of some 19 horsepower per ton it had an idler five large diameter road wheels and a drive sprocket wheel per side giving it a very distinctive look when compared to the enemy tanks the t-34 had a clear advantage in 1941 the german panzer 1 and panzer 2 tanks were no match for it at all having light armor and light weaponry they stood no chance against the t-34 the panzer 3 fared a little better but its 37 millimeter and 50 millimeter guns were inferior to the t-34 76.2 millimeter cannon plus their armor could be penetrated frontally by the t-34 over long distances the panzer iv also normally came off worse when confronting the t-34 its 75 millimeter short cannon was only capable of firing low velocity high explosive shells the panzer 35 t and panzer 38t were inferior in every way especially as they had brittle armor mobility was an issue as well the german tanks were having a difficult time maneuvering through the russian mud later on in the deep snow their tracks were narrow and they were prone to starting difficulties as well as constantly getting stuck it was clear that the t-34 was a new generation of tank fully capable of eliminating any type of tank that the enemy could put up against it however it did have some shortcomings its interior was cramped especially the turret and there was no commander's cupola meaning the commander couldn't achieve good all-around vision and awareness of his surroundings the fact that the german invasion took place in 1941 meant that numerous problems were arising such as quality control defects lack of materials lack of parts and problems in organizing mass production there were numerous innovations and completely new tank parts and systems which were not being thoroughly tested during these distractions many defects and problems would appear and the engineers would face a difficult time of fixing them optimizing production and at the same time transferring production to the urals and the far east the birthplace of the t-34 kharkiv locomotive factory was relocated to the urals during september and october of 1941 due to the danger of it falling into german hands also a flow of reports was coming in from combat units complaining about all sorts of deficiencies and problems sometimes it was about engine lifespan sometimes ergonomics and other times regarding the armor developing cracks all the reports were taken on board and considered by the engineers and decision-making committees coupled with the pre-war ideas of modernizing the tank's base design this led to the next version and new wave of modifications from the very beginning of the t-34 production there had been plans and ideas to modernize the tank a different gun engine better armor even different suspension were all ideas on the drawing board the invasion and the start of combat operations had disrupted this and changed priorities instead of doing very deep and thorough changes there were modifications which aimed to simplify production and increase combat value without losing production momentum that's how the first major improvements and changes were implemented in 1942 in 1942 there was a major shortage of rubber in the ussr therefore all steel road wheels were used for quite some time it meant more wear and tear on the tracks noise and discomfort but the tanks were being produced and sent to the front new waffle pattern tracks were designed but were rarely used on the all steel road wheels a major improvement and change was designing the new hexagonal turret it was previously planned for the t-34m tank one that would never see the production lines but would provide a good test bed for developing new ideas the new hexagonal turret started to appear in mid-1942 it provided a bit more space for the crew improvements and armor protection and the whole process itself was simplified compared to the original turret turrets were made using two techniques stamping and casting the cast version was made using a large 45 millimeter plate pressed into shape using a 5 000 ton press the stamped versions had two major techniques using a large number of individually cast components or using three groups namely walls the ring and roof these differences were noticeable and dependent on the factory that was producing the tank the turret frontal armor increased from 52 to 70 millimeters ammo capacity for the main gun increased to 100 shells also in 1942 the driver's hatch was changed as well as the turret hatch older variants had used a single turret hatch which should it get stuck or broken would prove fatal in some situations when the tank is hit the new hexagonal turret would use both this old one and the new separate hatches depending on the availability and the time when the tank was produced these distinctive new hatches when both of them were opened earned it the nickname mickey mouse by the germans after the walt disney cartoon character's ears the new changes also affected the fuel storage and capacity the rectangular external fuel tanks were replaced with new cylindrical ones subsequently increasing the total fuel capacity by up to 150 liters some simpler changes were also introduced like hand rails on the turret and the chassis allowing easier climbing and holding on to the tank however 1942 would prove to be a challenging period the vermont would start to receive new weapons that were more effective against the t-34 panzer iii would get a longer 50 millimeter barrel the panzer iv was up gun to a longer 75 millimeter gun on the f2 variant and the new pack 40 also started to appear the germans were also adopting new tank destroyers like the stug iii aus g and the martyr series this was in a direct response to the t-34 and kv threat that they were facing and the battles would stop being so one-sided with the appearance of a heavy tiger tank the soviet leadership was now fully aware that the t-34 would start losing its edge over its opponents and something radical needed to be done the real challenge would be faced during the battle of kursk in 1943 you

Channel: Simple History

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Keywords: simple history, animated history, educational, education, T-34, t34, tank, t-34/76, a-20, a20, a-32, a32, l-11, f-34, mikhail katukov, mikhail koshkin, kharkov tractor factory, stalingrad, kursk, wwii, medium tank, soviet, mtsensk, battle, operation barbarossa, tank brigade, v-2, m-17, mikulin, bt-7, t-26, panzer iii, panzer iv, ww2 legend, red army, german

Id: iK73kRstoPg

Length: 32min 28sec (1948 seconds)

Published: Wed Dec 15 2021

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