Post by Arkhanson on Jan 3, 2005 20:36:49 GMT 3
The T-34 was by far the best tank design in world war 2. In addition to having an excellent combination of firepower, armor, mobility, and shape, its superb technical design, which emphasized simplicity and durability, made it possible to mass produce it in enormous numbers, and gave it very high field and combat reliability, two critical attributes which the advanced german tanks lacked. It was the main war winning weapon of Russia in world war 2.
The T-34 was a medium tank which evolved from a series of pre-war russian light tanks, which were designed for very high speed (53mph with tracks, and over 60mph in good roads without tracks!!) and long travel range, features which made them a formidable weapon for fast advances very deep into enemy territory, but they severely lacked firepower and armor, so they were not suitable as main battle tanks. Some modern wheeled military vehicles armed with powerful anti tank missiles and machine guns can be regarded as more successful descendants of this type of fighting vehicle.
As a result of the need for an all-purpose main battle tank, the T-34 was developed as a medium tank descendant of those fast light tanks, gradually evolving from their superb technical design, but designed to be a capable main battle tank. The T-34 was lower in height (8ft) than german and american tanks, which was better in using the terrain for taking cover and make it a smaller target to hit. It had sloped armor in both the front and side hull and the turret, which made it harder to penetrate, and of course it had a powerful 76mm gun, which was then a large caliber, and sufficiently thick armor. During world war 2 the gun of the T-34 was upgraded to a more powerful long-barrel 76mm gun and later to 85mm gun, to keep up with the advances in german tank guns and armor.
Initial production and deployment of the T-34 was before the german invasion of Russia. Small numbers of T-34 tanks participated in a series of border battles between russian and japanese forces in the far east in early 1941, just three months before the german invasion to Russia.
Both the new T-34 tank and Zhukov, who was later Russia's top military commander in world war 2, made their impressive early debut there, in the far east. Both were noticed and reported by the japanese, but the germans ignored those reports and were therefore shocked when they met the first T-34 tanks in combat later that year when they invaded Russia. The germans so appreciated the performance of the T-34 that when the german military discussed the development of their next tank, the Panther, one of the suggested designs was simply a german copy of the T-34.
There were still small numbers of the new T-34 when the invasion began, and the rapid german advancement so deep into Russia, as far as Moscow, forced the russian industry, which already lost countless factories, to an unprecedented operation of literally moving its entire remaining military industry factories over 1000 miles further east, to Siberia, to avoid losing it to the advancing germans.
In those newly built factories, Russia's military industry restored and far exceeded its pre-war mass production capacity. The furious motivation of the russian production workers to stop the terribly cruel german invaders which were more brutal than Russia's own brutal communist regime, and the desperate draconic measures of the russian regime itself, in which being late to work in a factory during the war could result in 10 years imprisonment, gave the wartime russian military industry the high efficiency that communism never reached before or after world war 2. In wartime Russia, workers and soldiers alike were motivated by the desire to revenge and the fear of draconic punishments, and were paid in food, which soldiers and workers received while the rest of the population starved severely during the war.
The T-34 was a medium tank which evolved from a series of pre-war russian light tanks, which were designed for very high speed (53mph with tracks, and over 60mph in good roads without tracks!!) and long travel range, features which made them a formidable weapon for fast advances very deep into enemy territory, but they severely lacked firepower and armor, so they were not suitable as main battle tanks. Some modern wheeled military vehicles armed with powerful anti tank missiles and machine guns can be regarded as more successful descendants of this type of fighting vehicle.
As a result of the need for an all-purpose main battle tank, the T-34 was developed as a medium tank descendant of those fast light tanks, gradually evolving from their superb technical design, but designed to be a capable main battle tank. The T-34 was lower in height (8ft) than german and american tanks, which was better in using the terrain for taking cover and make it a smaller target to hit. It had sloped armor in both the front and side hull and the turret, which made it harder to penetrate, and of course it had a powerful 76mm gun, which was then a large caliber, and sufficiently thick armor. During world war 2 the gun of the T-34 was upgraded to a more powerful long-barrel 76mm gun and later to 85mm gun, to keep up with the advances in german tank guns and armor.
Initial production and deployment of the T-34 was before the german invasion of Russia. Small numbers of T-34 tanks participated in a series of border battles between russian and japanese forces in the far east in early 1941, just three months before the german invasion to Russia.
Both the new T-34 tank and Zhukov, who was later Russia's top military commander in world war 2, made their impressive early debut there, in the far east. Both were noticed and reported by the japanese, but the germans ignored those reports and were therefore shocked when they met the first T-34 tanks in combat later that year when they invaded Russia. The germans so appreciated the performance of the T-34 that when the german military discussed the development of their next tank, the Panther, one of the suggested designs was simply a german copy of the T-34.
There were still small numbers of the new T-34 when the invasion began, and the rapid german advancement so deep into Russia, as far as Moscow, forced the russian industry, which already lost countless factories, to an unprecedented operation of literally moving its entire remaining military industry factories over 1000 miles further east, to Siberia, to avoid losing it to the advancing germans.
In those newly built factories, Russia's military industry restored and far exceeded its pre-war mass production capacity. The furious motivation of the russian production workers to stop the terribly cruel german invaders which were more brutal than Russia's own brutal communist regime, and the desperate draconic measures of the russian regime itself, in which being late to work in a factory during the war could result in 10 years imprisonment, gave the wartime russian military industry the high efficiency that communism never reached before or after world war 2. In wartime Russia, workers and soldiers alike were motivated by the desire to revenge and the fear of draconic punishments, and were paid in food, which soldiers and workers received while the rest of the population starved severely during the war.
