Tankopedia
InterwarHeavyHeavy TankSoviet Union

T-35

In service 1935 - 1941

The five-turret land battleship of the Red Square parades - unmanageable in war, unforgettable on film.

Built byKharkov Locomotive Factory

T-35
T-35 — Tobias Treudler, via Wikimedia Commons · Public domain

Development history

Inspired by the British Independent, the T-35 carried five turrets and a crew of eleven, and was meant to lead breakthroughs of fortified lines. In practice it was slow, mechanically fragile, blind from inside and impossible to command, with armour that 1941 anti-tank guns cut through. Almost all of the sixty-one built were lost in the opening weeks of Barbarossa, most to breakdowns rather than enemy fire. It remains the definitive example of the multi-turret dead end.

Variants

One canonical record, 2 recorded variants.

  1. T-35 model 1935

    1935

    Standard five-turret production vehicle

  2. T-35 model 1938-39

    1938

    Conical turrets, thicker armour, revised hull

Notable actions

  • Operation Barbarossa (1941)