T-34
In service 1940 - 1990s (foreign service)
The most influential tank design of the war: sloped armour, wide tracks, a diesel engine and a shape built for mass production.
Built byFactory No. 183, STZ, ChKZ, UZTM
Development history
When German crews met the T-34 in 1941 they found a tank whose sloped plates deflected their guns and whose wide tracks crossed mud and snow that stopped panzers dead. Early examples were crippled by a cramped two-man turret, poor vision and no radio, faults largely fixed by the three-man turret of the T-34-85 in 1944. Built in numbers no opponent could match, it served dozens of armies for decades after 1945.
Photo gallery
Period photographs with source and licence details.
Variants
One canonical record, 5 recorded variants.
T-34 Model 1940
1940Short L-11 76 mm gun, two-man turret, very few built.
T-34 Model 1941
1941F-34 76 mm gun, thicker turret, wartime simplifications.
T-34 Model 1942/43
1942Cast or hexagonal turret, commander cupola late on, improved transmission.
T-34-85
1944Enlarged three-man turret and 85 mm ZiS-S-53 freeing the commander to command.
SU-85 / SU-100
1943Casemate tank destroyers built on the T-34 chassis.
Related vehicles
Separate records that derive from this vehicle, grouped by how they relate to it.
Successor to this vehicle
Variant of this vehicle
Notable actions
- Operation Barbarossa (1941)
- Battle of Moscow (1941)
- Stalingrad (1942-43)
- Battle of Kursk (1943)
- Korean War (1950-53)