The masterpiece of Koshkin, a famous designer of Kharkov Communist International Factory. Tower Sinov designed the car body for it, using revolutionary oblique armor, which greatly improved the protection ability.
T-34 tank not only inherited the excellent maneuverability of бт tank, but also made a great leap in firepower and protection. Excellent performance also overwhelmed KV- 1 tank. Before the prototype of the T-34 tank was completed, the Soviet leadership decided to allow the Soviet Red Army to equip the T-34. 1940 1 At the end of the year, the first batch of tanks left the production line of Kharkov's factory, which was later called T-34/76 1940 (T-34/76A). At the beginning of February, two T-34s were carrying out Kharkov-Moscow-Sri Lanka.
T-34/85 D-5T 1 12 factory has been in production mode for 44 years 10 to February.
The Molinsk-Kiev-Kharkov long-distance driving test left a deep impression on Stalin, who was watching the test in Moscow's Red Square. Koshkin died of pneumonia on September 26th of that year, and finally did not see the wonderful performance of T-34. His assistant, Morozov, succeeded him. In June, he completed the production drawings of T-34 tank 1940, and then mass production was carried out. It has excellent bullet-proof appearance, powerful firepower and good maneuverability, especially relatively high reliability, and is easy for mass production.
T-34/76A tank was completed in 1 15 in 940, and part of it was sent to Finland for actual combat test, but it failed to participate in the battle in time. By the German invasion on June 22nd, 194 1, the Soviet Union had completed 1225 T-34 tanks, which greatly exceeded the number of IV tanks in the same period. On the eve of the Moscow campaign, 1853 t-34s had been delivered to the troops.
T-34/76 entered the war for the first time in Grodno, Belarus on June 22nd, 194 1. After a series of battles, the Germans could not find a tank to compete with them. This is the "T-34 crisis", which led to the elimination of a large number of German tanks and forced them to introduce newer tanks to deal with this situation. As a countermeasure, Germany III modified 50 mm long barrel guns and IV tanks modified 75 mm long barrel guns. At the same time, both of them have greatly strengthened their protection and can effectively fight against T-34/76. At the same time, Panther Tank and Tiger ⅵ were developed, in which the former obviously borrowed some characteristics of T-34.
model
At first, it was just called T-34. Later generations called it T-34/76 and T-34/85, respectively, to distinguish T-34 equipped with 76.2 mm artillery and T-34 equipped with 85 mm artillery. Later, the letters A~F were used in the west to distinguish the subtypes of T-34/76 (which is of course inaccurate). Model A 1940, mainly characterized by model L- 1 1, a 76.2mm gun with a diameter of 30.5 times, protected by a pig nose shield, a flat turret and welded casting; Model B 194 1, model F-34, double-diameter 4 1.2 76.2 mm gun. Some type A guns use this kind of gun, and the boxed shield is obviously different from the 40-year-old one. Model C 1942, the main feature is that the driver's hatch cover is replaced and the heading machine gun is equipped with an external shield; Model D 1942, mainly featuring a large hexagonal turret and two round turret hatches. The hatch cover is named after Mickey Mouse's ear. E 1943 model, the commander control tower is installed on the left side of the hexagonal turret; Model F 1943, casting turret (actually forging turret of UZTM). [ 1]
Now, Russians use "pancake" and "nut" to describe flat turrets with integrated large hatch covers and hexagonal turrets with double-crew hatch covers or command towers respectively. The so-called 43-,44-and 45-year models are only descriptions afterwards. 95% of T-34/85 can basically be distinguished by factory +ABCD turret+artillery+year, and the same is true for T-34/76.
Let's loosely list the development track of T-34/76. At the end of 1940, a casting turret appeared, which was made by upor-Kharkov, Mali, with a front thickness of 60mm (the front welded by steel rolling was 52mm). In April1year, three factories successively produced T-34 vehicles. Factory1/KLOC-0 was put into production in July, and the production of casting turret failed. After learning from the experience of upor, Mali, the first batch of 20 T-34s and 10 were delivered to the Army. Due to engine shortage, M- 17F gasoline engine is used in 1 12 factory and STZ production. 4 1 By the end of the year, 365 T-34s equipped with this engine were produced by two factories, and 904 were delivered in May of 1942. In Stalingrad area, STZ carries out final assembly, and Krasni Okta Abel Rolling Mill produces armor plates, which are transported to STZ and 264 factories (Stalingrad Shipyard, where the car body is assembled). In the autumn of April1year, the "toothed" car body was put into production in STZ. All-steel bearing wheel was designed by STZ in April1year and put into production in April1year1month. All factories use this load-bearing wheel, which was cancelled in the summer of 1943. 41September 17 kharkov factory started to move to Urals, the last moving train (the 43rd train) arrived in Urals on June 10/0/0/9, and the first production line was on June 12. At the end of the month, 25 parts were shipped from Kharkov for final assembly. 1Feb. 942, the number of ricochet ribs in the turret seat ring of12 factory increased to 6. 1942 In March, manufacturers who were still producing pancake turrets began to simplify the back of the turret. The welding turret is welded by a whole trapezoidal steel plate, and the casting turret is connected into a whole. 1from June to July, 1942, 183 factory began to adopt new spoke load-bearing wheels with rubber rims. 1942, 183 factory is the largest factory to produce T-34. /kloc-in the summer of 0/942, the war approached STZ, causing it to stop production. Three other factories (UZTM, ChKZ, 174) began to produce T-34 vehicles. UZTM (Ordzhonikidze Ural Heavy Machinery Factory, No.9 Factory) located in Sverdlovsk began to produce car bodies in the autumn of April1,and then began to produce casting turrets. In April, 1942, it began to provide car bodies or turrets for other assembly plants. On July 28th, 1942, it produced complete vehicles. In autumn, 1943, it switched to self-propelled guns based on T-34 chassis. Kirov factory (LKZ,No. 100 factory) originally located in Leningrad was moved to Chelyabinsk (ChKZ) on June 25th, and the local tractor factory (ChTZ,No. 178 factory) and the factory producing engines (originally located in Leningrad and Kharkov, such as No.75 factory of KhPZ) were together. ChKZ began to produce some T-34 parts in the late period of April1and the beginning of' 42, produced the whole vehicle in August' 42 and stopped producing T-34 in March' 44. "Nut" turret was moved to Urals by M 'a Nabutirsky in 183 factory, and then developed (183 factory lost a number of large-scale production equipment such as rolling mills due to relocation). The turret was first seen in August-September, 42 (small batch production in spring), and the photos taken by Germans showed that it was available in July. GKO42' s order to install this turret in July of 1 42 seems to verify this point. Nut turrets can be divided into three categories: laminated plates, hard edges and soft edges. In 65438+42 years1October, UZTM produced forged turrets with 10000 tons hydraulic press (contrary to people's long-term cognition, the anti-elastic performance of this turret is not as good as that of casting hexagonal turrets). Although it is forged, the armor thickness is only about 20mm[2], so it can be used by itself and ChKZ( 1 12 factory to produce T-34 with this turret and OT-34 with its own car body). By March of 1944, at least 2,670 vehicles had been produced. At the beginning of 1942 10, a cylindrical additional fuel tank appeared on the vehicles produced by ChKZ. As of April 1943, the box-type additional fuel tank installed at the rear of the car body still appeared on the vehicles of 1 12 factory and 174 factory. In the late summer and early autumn of' 42, the heading machine guns of vehicles produced by 183 factory had external shields, and at the same time, the vehicles of 1 12 factory began to have handrails. 1 12 The handrails in the factory are different from those in the Urals. /kloc-in the autumn of 0/943, T-34 components began to be standardized, including tracks, additional fuel tanks, handrails, etc. The command and control tower appeared in the summer of' 43, and 5740 units were produced from June' 43 to March' 44. At the beginning of 1943, pistol shooting holes appeared on both sides of the "nut" turret, which became more common after spring. In 4 1, 7 1-TK-3 radio stations were distributed, and the effective communication distance was 18km. In 1942, 9R series (22km) was replaced by 9RS (28km), and later T-34/85 was equipped with 10-RT-26. In-car communication equipment, from morning till night, some models are TPU-2, TPU-3R, TPU-3bis-F, TPU-ZR series and TPU-47.
Various Soviet tanks, including T-34/76, also have obvious defects, mainly because they are not all equipped with inter-vehicle radio communication equipment. Generally, only one command tank in several T-34s has radio equipment, and the communication between tanks depends on semaphores. Compared with various types of tanks (Ⅲ, Ⅳ, Ⅴ, Ⅴ) mainly equipped with radios in Germany, the cooperative combat capability is quite different, so it is difficult to give full play to the excellent performance of tanks in formation, especially in case of emergency. Therefore, it is not uncommon for a poor III tank to destroy multiple T-34s. In the later period, with the mass production of radio equipment aided by Britain and the United States according to the Lease Act and equipment made in the Soviet Union, 75% of vehicles were equipped with radios in the summer of 1943, and the radio equipment rate reached 100% in 1944, which gradually improved this weakness. When it comes to in-vehicle communication, because there is no turret basket, the conductor can also send orders by kicking the driver's back, turning left on his left shoulder, turning right on his right shoulder and stopping in the middle.
Since the autumn of 1943, the T-34 was named as the T-34/85 tank because of the Leopard and Tiger tanks that appeared in Germany. The T-34 was equipped with 85mm guns and its armor was strengthened. Radio communication equipment became standard and loaders were added. 65438+February 65438+May, T-34/85 was allowed to be put into mass production, replacing T-34/76 as the main equipment of Soviet mechanized troops in the late war.