T - 34 The T - 34 was a Soviet medium tank which had a profound and permanent effect on the fields of tank tactics and design . First deployed in 1940 , it has often been described as the most effective , efficient , and influential design of World War II . At its introduction , the T - 34 possessed the best balance of firepower , mobility , protection , and ruggedness of any tank ( though its initial battlefield effectiveness suffered due to a variety of factors ) . Its 76 . 2 mm ( 3 in ) high - velocity gun was the best tank gun in the world at that time ; its heavy sloped armour was impenetrable by standard anti - tank weapons ; and it was very agile . Though its armour and armament were surpassed later in the war , when they first encountered it in battle in 1941 German tank generals von Kleist and Guderian called it " the deadliest tank in the world . " The T - 34 was the mainstay of Soviet armoured forces throughout World War II . The design and construction of the tank were continuously refined during the war to enhance effectiveness and decrease costs , allowing steadily greater numbers of T - 34s to be fielded despite heavy losses . It was the most - produced tank of the war , and the second most - produced tank of all time , after its successor , the T - 54 / 55 series . By the end of the war in 1945 the T - 34 had replaced many light and heavy tank s in Red Army service . It accounted for the majority of Soviet tank production , and following the war it was widely exported . Its evolutionary development led directly to the T - 54 / 55 series of tanks , built until 1981 and still operational and which itself led to the T - 62 , T - 72 , and T - 90 tanks which , along with several Chinese tanks based on the T - 55 , form the backbone of many armies even today . In 1996 , T - 34 variants were still in service in at least 27 countries . Development and production . Origins . In 1939 , the most numerous Soviet tank models were the T - 26 infantry tank and the BT series of fast tanks . The T - 26 was slow - moving , designed to keep pace with infantry on the ground . The BT tanks were cavalry tank s : fast - moving and light , designed for manoeuvre warfare . Both were Soviet developments of foreign designs from the early 1930s ; the T - 26 was based on the British Vickers 6 - Ton , and the BT tanks were based on a design from American engineer Walter Christie . Both were lightly armoured like their foreign counterparts , proof against small arms but not anti - tank rifles or 37 mm ( 1 . 46 in ) anti - tank guns , but both were armed with a 45 mm ( 1 . 77 in ) gun , which was a significant improvement . During the Battle of Lake Khasan in July 1938 and the Battles of Khalkhin Gol in 1939 , an undeclared border war against Japan , the Soviets deployed nearly 500 T - 26 , BT - 5 , and BT - 7 tanks against the Imperial Japanese Army ( IJA ) . Although the IJA Type 95 light tanks had diesel engines , the T - 26 and BT tanks did not . Their petrol engines , commonly used in tank designs by most nations at the time , often burst into flames when hit by IJA tank - killer teams using Molotov cocktail s . Poor quality welds in the Soviet armour plates left small gaps between the plates , and flaming petrol from the Molotov cocktails easily seeped into the fighting compartment and engine compartment ; portions of the armour plating that had been assembled with rivets also proved to be vulnerable . The Soviet tanks were also easily destroyed by the Japanese Type 95 tank ' s 37 mm gunfire , despite the mediocre performance of that gun , or " at any other slightest provocation . " The use of riveted armour led to a problem called " spalling " , whereby the impact of enemy shells , even if they failed to disable the tank or kill the crew on their own , would cause the rivets to break off and become projectiles inside the tank . In 1937 , before these battles with the Japanese Army , the Red Army had assigned engineer Mikhail Koshkin to lead a new team to design a replacement for the BT tanks at the Kharkiv Komintern Locomotive Plant ( KhPZ ) . The prototype tank , designated A - 20 , was specified with of armour , a 45 mm ( 1 . 77 in ) gun , and the new Model V - 2 - 34 engine , using less - flammable diesel fuel in a V12 configuration designed by Konstantin Chelpan . It also had an 8×6 - wheel convertible drive similar to the BT tank ' s 8×2 , which allowed it to run on wheels without caterpillar track s . This feature had greatly saved on maintenance and repair of the unreliable tank tracks of the early 1930s , and allowed tanks to exceed on roads , but gave no advantage in combat . By 1937 - 38 , track design had improved and the designers considered it a waste of space and weight , despite the road speed advantage . The A - 20 also incorporated previous research ( BT - IS and BT - SW - 2 projects ) into sloped armour : its all - round sloped armour plates were more likely to deflect rounds than perpendicular armour . After the battles with the Japanese Army , Koshkin convinced Soviet leader Joseph Stalin to let him develop a second prototype , a more heavily armed and armoured " universal tank " which reflected the lessons learned in those battles , and could replace both the T - 26 and the BT tanks . Koshkin named the second prototype A - 32 , after its of frontal armour . It had a L - 10 76 . 2 mm ( 3 in ) gun , and the same Model V - 2 - 34 diesel . Both were tested in field trials at Kubinka in 1939 , with the heavier A - 32 proving to be as mobile as the A - 20 . A still heavier version of the A - 32 , with 45 mm ( 1 . 77 in ) of front armour , wider tracks , and a newer L - 11 76 . 2 mm gun , was approved for production as the T - 34 . Koshkin chose the name after the year 1934 , when he began to formulate his ideas about the new tank , and to commemorate that year ' s decree expanding the armoured force and appointing Sergo Ordzhonikidze to head tank production . Valuable lessons from Lake Khasan and Khalkhin Gol regarding armour protection , mobility , quality welding , and main guns were incorporated into the new T - 34 tank , which represented a substantial improvement over the BT and T - 26 tanks in all four areas . Koshkin ' s team completed two prototype T - 34s in January 1940 . In April and May , they underwent a grueling drive from Kharkiv to Moscow for a demonstration for the Kremlin leaders , to the Mannerheim Line in Finland , and back to Kharkiv via Minsk and Kiev . Some drivetrain shortcomings were identified and corrected . Initial production . Political pressure came from conservative elements in the army to redirect resources into building the older T - 26 and BT tanks , or to cancel T - 34 production pending completion of the more advanced T - 34M design . This pressure was brought to bear by the developer of the KV - 1 and IS - 2 tanks , which were in competition with the T - 34 . Resistance from the military command and concerns about high production cost were finally overcome by anxieties about the poor performance of Soviet tanks in the Winter War in Finland , and the effectiveness of German tanks during the Battle of France . The first production T - 34s were completed in September 1940 , completely replacing the production of the T - 26 , the BT series , and the multi - turreted T - 28 medium tank at the KhPZ plant . Koshkin died of pneumonia ( exacerbated by the drive from Kharkiv to Moscow ) at the end of that month , and the T - 34 ' s drivetrain developer , Alexander Morozov , was appointed Chief Designer . The T - 34 posed new challenges for Soviet industry . It had heavier armour than any medium tank produced to date , and there were problems with defective armour plates . Only company commanders ' tanks could be fitted with radios ( originally the 10 - RT 26E radio set ) , due to their expense and short supply – the rest of the tank crews in each company signalled with flags . The L - 11 gun did not live up to expectations , so the Grabin design bureau at Gorky Factory N . 92 designed a superior F - 34 76 . 2 mm gun ( see Designations of Soviet artillery ) . No bureaucrat would approve production of the new gun , but Gorky and KhPZ started producing it anyway ; official permission only came from the State Defense Committee after troops praised the weapon ' s performance in combat against the Germans . Production of this first T - 34 series – the Model 1940 – totalled only about 400 , before production was switched to the Model 1941 , with F - 34 gun , 9 - RS radio set ( also installed on the SU - 100 ) , and thicker armour . Mass production . Subassemblies for the T - 34 originated at several plants : Kharkiv Diesel Factory N . 75 supplied the model V - 2 - 34 engine , Leningrad Kirovsky Factory ( formerly the Putilov works ) made the original L - 11 gun , and the Dinamo Factory in Moscow produced electrical components . Tanks were initially built at KhPZ N . 183 , in early 1941 at the Stalingrad Tractor Factory ( STZ ) , and starting in July at Krasnoye Sormovo Factory N . 112 in Gorky . After Germany ' s surprise invasion of the Soviet Union on June 22 , 1941 ( Operation Barbarossa ) , the Wehrmacht ' s rapid advances forced the evacuation of Soviet tank factories to the Ural Mountains , an undertaking of immense scale and haste that presented enormous logistic difficulties and was extremely punishing to the workers involved . Alexander Morozov personally supervised the evacuation of all skilled engineers and laborers , machinery , and stock from KhPZ to re - establish the factory at the site of the Dzherzhinski Ural Railcar Factory in Nizhny Tagil , renamed Stalin Ural Tank Factory N . 183 . The Kirovsky Factory , evacuated just weeks before the Germans surrounded Leningrad , moved with the Kharkiv Diesel Factory to the Stalin Tractor Factory in Chelyabinsk , soon to be nicknamed " Tankograd " ( " Tank City " ) . The workers and machinery from Leningrad ' s Voroshilov Tank Factory N . 174 were incorporated into the Ural Factory and the new Omsk Factory N . 174 . The Ordzhonikidze Ural Heavy Machine Tool Works ( UZTM ) in Sverdlovsk absorbed workers and machines from several small machine shops in the path of German forces . While these factories were being rapidly relocated , the industrial complex surrounding the Dzherzhinski Tractor Factory in Stalingrad continued to work double shifts throughout the period of withdrawal ( September 1941 to September 1942 ) to make up for production lost , and produced 40 % of all T - 34s during the period . As the factory became surrounded by heavy fighting in the Battle of Stalingrad in 1942 , the situation there grew desperate : manufacturing innovations were necessitated by material shortages , and stories persist of unpainted T - 34 tanks driven out of the factory directly to the battlefields around it . Stalingrad kept up production until September 1942 . Soviet designers were aware of certain design deficiencies in the tank , but most of the desired remedies would have slowed tank production and so were not implemented : the only changes allowed on the production lines through to 1944 were to make production simpler and cheaper . New methods were developed for automated welding and hardening the armour plate , including innovations by Prof . Evgeny Paton . The design of the 76 . 2 mm F - 34 gun Model 1941 was reduced from an initial 861 parts to 614 . A somewhat less cramped hexagonal turret was introduced in 1942 ; because it used flat armour plates rather than curved ones , it was actually faster to produce . Limited rubber supplies led to the adoption of steel - rimmed road wheels , and a new clutch was added to an improved five - speed transmission and engine , improving reliability . Over two years , the unit production cost of the T - 34 was reduced from 269 , 500 rubles in 1941 , to 193 , 000 , and then to 135 , 000 . Production time was cut in half by the end of 1942 , even though most experienced factory workers had been sent to the battlefield and were replaced by a mixed workforce that included 50 % women , 15 % boys , and 15 % invalids and old men . Originally " beautifully crafted machines with excellent exterior finish comparable or superior to those in Western Europe or America " , later T - 34s were much more roughly finished ; this did not compromise the mechanical reliability however . In 1943 , T - 34 production had reached an average of 1 , 300 per month ; this was the equivalent of three full - strength Panzer divisions . By the end of 1945 , over 57 , 300 T - 34s had been built : 34 , 780 T - 34 tanks in multiple variants with 76 . 2 mm guns in 1940 – 44 , and another 22 , 609 of the revised T - 34 - 85 model in 1944 – 45 . The single largest producer was Factory N . 183 ( UTZ ) , building 28 , 952 T - 34s and T - 34 - 85s from 1941 to 1945 . The second - largest was Krasnoye Sormovo Factory N . 112 in Gorky , with 12 , 604 in the same period . At the start of the war , T - 34s were about four percent of the Soviet tank arsenal , but by the end it comprised at least 55 % of tank production ( based on figures from ; Zheltov 2001 lists even larger numbers ) . Following the end of the war , a further 2 , 701 T - 34s were built prior to the end of Soviet production . Under license , production was restarted in Poland ( 1951 – 55 ) and ( 1951 – 58 ) , where 1 , 380 and 3 , 185 T - 34 - 85s were made , respectively , by 1956 . Altogether , as many as 84 , 070 T - 34s are thought to have been built , plus 13 , 170 self - propelled guns built on T - 34 chassis . It was the most - produced tank of the Second World War , and the second most - produced tank of all time , after its successor , the T - 54 / 55 series . Design . Overview . The T - 34 had well - sloped armour , a relatively powerful engine , and wide tracks . The initial T - 34 version had a powerful 76 . 2 mm gun , and is often called the T - 34 / 76 ( originally a World War II German designation ) . In 1944 , a second major version began production , the T - 34 - 85 , with a larger 85 mm gun intended to deal with newer German tanks . Comparisons can be drawn between the T - 34 and the U . S . M4 Sherman tank . Both tanks were the backbone of the armoured units in their respective armies , both nations distributed these tanks to their allies who also used them as the mainstay of their own armoured formations , and both were upgraded extensively and fitted with more powerful guns . Both were designed for mobility and ease of manufacture and maintenance , sacrificing some performance for these goals . Both chassis were used as the foundation for a variety of support vehicles , such as armour recovery vehicles , tank destroyers , and self - propelled artillery . Both were an approximately even match for the standard German medium tank , the Panzer IV . Neither were equals to Germany ' s heavy tanks , the Panther or the Tiger I ; the Soviets used the IS - 2 heavy tank and the U . S . the M26 Pershing as the heavy tanks of their forces instead . Dimensions , road speed , and engine horsepower of the various models did not vary significantly , except for the T - 43 , which was slower than the T - 34 . Armour . The T - 34 was one of the most heavily armoured tanks in the world in 1941 . Good armour thickness was enhanced by the sloped armour shape , which provided protection in excess of what armour thickness alone would indicate . Some tanks also had appliqué armour of varying thickness welded on to the hull and turret . Tanks thus modified were called " s ekranami " ( , " with screens " ) . The USSR donated two combat - used Model 1941 T - 34s to the United States for testing purposes in late 1942 . The examinations , performed at the Aberdeen Proving Ground , revealed problems with overall armour build quality , especially of plate joins and welds , as well as the use of soft steel combined with shallow surface tempering . Leak issues were noted as well : " In a heavy rain lots of water flows through chinks / cracks , which leads to the disabling of the electrical equipment and even the ammunition " . Earlier models of the T - 34 , until the Model 1942 , had cast turrets whose armour was softer than that of the other parts of the tank , and offered poor resistance even to 37 mm anti - aircraft shells . Despite these deficiencies , the T - 34 ' s armour proved extremely problematic for the Germans in the initial stages of the war on the Eastern Front . In one wartime account , a single T - 34 came under heavy fire upon encountering one of the most common German anti - tank guns at that stage of the war : " Remarkably enough , one determined 37 mm gun crew reported firing 23 times against a single T - 34 tank , only managing to jam the tank ’ s turret ring . " Similarly , a German report of May 1942 noted the ineffectiveness of their 50 mm gun as well , noting that " Combating the T - 34 with the 5 cm KwK tank gun is possible only at short ranges from the flank or rear , where it is important to achieve a hit as perpendicular to the surface as possible . " As the war went on , the T - 34 gradually lost some of its initial advantage . By the end of 1943 , it had become a relatively easy target for German 75 mm - armed tanks and anti - tank guns , while hits from 88 mm - armed Tigers , anti - aircraft guns , and PaK 43 anti - tank guns usually proved lethal . Not even the T - 34 - 85 upgrade mitigated this : a German Army study dated October 5 , 1944 showed that a Panther tank could easily penetrate the turret of a T - 34 - 85 from the front at ranges up to 2000 m , and the frontal hull armour at 300 m . Firepower . The F - 34 gun , equipped on the vast majority of T - 34s produced through to the beginning of 1944 , was able to penetrate any early German tank ' s armour at normal combat ranges . When firing APCR shells , it could pierce 92 mm of armour at 500 m . The best German tanks of 1941 , the Panzer III and Panzer IV , had no more than 50 or 60 mm frontal armour . The F - 34 also fired an adequate high explosive round . The gun sights and range finding for the F - 34 main gun ( either the TMFD - 7 or the PT4 - 7 ) were rather crude , especially compared to those of their German adversaries , affecting accuracy and the ability to engage at long ranges . As a result of the T - 34 ' s two - man turret , weak optics , and poor vision devices , the Germans noted : The Germans also noted the T - 34 was very slow to find and engage targets , while their own tanks could typically get off three rounds for every one fired by the T - 34 . When new German tanks types with thicker armour began appearing in late 1942 , the T - 34 ' s 76 . 2 mm cannon was unable to deal with them . As a result , the T - 34 was upgraded to the T - 34 - 85 model . This model , with its 85 mm ( 3 . 35 in ) ZiS gun , provided greatly increased firepower compared to the previous T - 34 / 76 gun . The 85 mm gun could penetrate the front of a Tiger I tank between . Against the frontal armour of the Panther tank , the T - 34 - 85 could only penetrate the non - mantlet part of the Panther turret at , meaning that even upgraded models of the T - 34 usually had to flank a Panther to destroy it . The greater length of the 85 mm gun barrel ( 4 . 645 meters ) made it necessary for crews to be careful not to plough it into the ground on bumpy roads or in combat . A . K . Rodkin commented : " the tank could have dug the ground with it in the smallest ditch . If you fired it after that , the barrel would open up at the end like the petals of a flower . " Standard practice when moving the T - 34 - 85 cross - country in non - combat situations was to fully elevate the gun , or reverse the turret . Mobility . The T - 34 was powered by a Model V - 2 - 34 38 . 8 L V12 Diesel engine of 500 hp ( 370 kW ) , giving a top speed of 53 km / h ( 33 mph ) . It used the coil - spring Christie suspension of the earlier BT - series tanks , using a " slack track " tread system with a rear - mounted drive sprocket and no system of return rollers for the upper run of track , but dispensed with the heavy and ineffective convertible drive . During the winter of 1941 – 42 , the T - 34 had a marked advantage over German tanks through its ability to move over deep mud or snow without bogging down ; German tanks could not move over terrain the T - 34 could handle . The Panzer IV , its main German opponent at that time , used an inferior leaf - spring suspension and narrow track , and tended to sink in deep mud or snow . Ergonomics . The T - 34 / 76 , like many other contemporary tanks , had a two - man turret crew arrangement . This required the tank commander to aim and fire the gun while having to coordinate with other tanks and potentially also being a platoon commander , and proved to be inferior to the three - man ( commander , gunner , and loader ) turret crews of German Panzer III and Panzer IV tanks , which allowed the tank ' s commander to concentrate solely on that job . Early in the war the commander fought at a further disadvantage ; the forward - opening hatch and lack of turret cupola forced him to observe the battlefield through a single vision slit and traversable periscope . German commanders liked to fight " heads - up " , with their seat raised and having a full field of view – in the T - 34 / 76 this was impossible . Soviet veterans condemned the turret hatches of early models . Nicknamed " pirozhok " ( stuffed bun ) because of its characteristic shape , it was heavy and hard to open . The complaints of the crews urged the design group led by Alexander Morozov to switch in August , 1942 to using two hatches in the turret . The loader also had a difficult job due to the lack of a turret basket ( a rotating floor that moves as the turret turns ) ; the same fault was present on all German tanks prior to the Panzer IV . The floor under the T - 34 ' s turret was made up of ammunition stored in small metal boxes , covered by a rubber mat . There were nine ready rounds of ammunition stowed in racks on the sides of the fighting compartment . Once these initial nine rounds had been used , the crew had to pull additional ammunition out of the floor boxes , leaving the floor littered with open bins and matting and reducing their performance . The problems created by the cramped T - 34 / 76 turret , known before the war , were to be fully corrected with the addition of a three - man turret on the T - 34 - 85 in 1944 . General reliability . In terms of mobility , the T - 34 ' s wide track and good suspension gave it unparalleled cross - country performance . Early in the tank ' s life , however , this advantage was greatly reduced by the numerous teething troubles the design displayed : a long road trip could be a lethal exercise for a T - 34 tank at the start of the war . When in June 1941 , the 8th Mechanised Corps of D . I . Ryabyshev marched towards Dubno , the corps lost half of its vehicles . A . V . Bodnar , who was in combat in 1941 - 42 , recalled : The tracks of early models were the most frequently repaired part . A . V . Maryevski later remembered : The USSR donated two combat - used Model 1941 T - 34s to the United States for testing purposes in late 1942 . The examinations , performed at the Aberdeen Proving Ground , highlighted these early faults , which were in turn acknowledged in a 1942 Soviet report on the results of the testing : Testing at Aberdeen also revealed that engines could grind to a halt from dust and sand ingestion , as the original " Pomon " air filter was almost totally ineffective and had insufficient air - inflow capacity , starving the combustion chambers of oxygen , lowering compression , and thereby restricting the engine from operating at full capacity . The air filter issue was later remedied by the addition of " Cyclone " filters on the Model 1943 , and even more efficient " Multi - Cyclone " filters on the T - 34 - 85 . The testing at Aberdeen revealed other problems as well . The turret drive also suffered from poor reliability . The use of poorly machined , low quality steel side friction clutches and the T - 34 ' s outdated and poorly manufactured transmission meant frequent mechanical failure occurred and that they " create an inhuman harshness for the driver " . A lack of properly installed and shielded radios – if they existed at all – restricted their operational range to under . Operational history . Operation Barbarossa ( 1941 ) . Germany launched Operation Barbarossa , its invasion of the Soviet Union , on June 22 , 1941 . The existence of the T - 34 proved a psychological shock to German soldiers , who had expected to face an inferior enemy . For the most part these expectations were accurate , but the T - 34 was a notable exception , superior to any tank the Germans then had in service . Initially the Wehrmacht had great difficulty destroying T - 34s in combat , as standard German anti - tank weaponry proved ineffective against its heavy , sloped armour . The diary of Alfred Jodl seems to express surprise at the appearance of the T - 34 in Riga , and Adolf Hitler later said , " If I had known about the Russian tank ' s strength in 1941 I would not have attacked " . At the start of hostilities , the Red Army had 967 T - 34 tanks and 508 KV tanks concentrating them into five of their twenty - nine mechanized corps . In one of the first known encounters against a T - 34 , it crushed a 37 mm anti - tank gun , destroyed two Panzer II s , and left 14 kilometres of destruction in its wake before a howitzer destroyed it at close range . The Germans ' standard anti - tank gun , the 37 mm PaK 36 , proved to be completely ineffective against the T - 34 ; the Germans were forced to deploy 105 mm field guns and 88 mm anti - aircraft guns in a direct fire role to stop them . Despite this , the Soviet corps equipped with these new tanks had lost most of them within weeks . The combat statistics for 1941 show that the Soviets lost an average of over seven tanks for every German tank lost . The Soviets lost a total of 20 , 500 tanks in 1941 ( approximately 2 , 300 of them T - 34s , as well as over 900 heavy tanks , mostly KVs ) . At least half the first summer ' s total T - 34 losses came about due to mechanical failure , lack of fuel , or abandonment , rather than direct fire from German tanks or artillery . There was a shortage of repair equipment and recovery vehicles , and it was not uncommon for early T - 34s to enter combat carrying a spare transmission on the engine deck . Other key factors diminishing the initial impact of T - 34s on the battlefield were the poor state of leadership , tank tactics , and crew training ; these factors were partially consequences of Stalin ' s purges of the Soviet officer corps in 1937 , reducing the army ' s morale and efficiency . This was aggravated by the loss of many of the best - trained personnel during the Red Army ' s disastrous defeats in 1941 . Typical crews went into combat with only their basic military training plus seventy - two hours of classroom instruction ; according to armour historian Steven J . Zaloga , Further combat ( 1942 – 1943 ) . German infantry began receiving increasing numbers of the Pak 40 75 mm as their invasion progressed , which were capable of penetrating the T - 34 ' s armour . Larger numbers of the 88 mm " Flak " guns also arrived , which could easily defeat a T - 34 even at long range , though their size and general unwieldiness meant that they were often difficult to move into position in the rough Russian terrain . In turn , the Soviets began incrementally upgrading the T - 34 . The Model 1942 featured increased armour and many simplified components . The Model 1943 ( confusingly also introduced in 1942 ) had more armour again , as well as increased fuel capacity and more ammunition . Also added were an improved engine air filter and a new clutch mated to an improved and more reliable five - speed transmission . Finally , the Model 1943 also had a new , slightly roomier ( but still two - man ) turret of a distinct hexagonal shape that was easier to manufacture , derived from the abandoned T - 34M project . The T - 34 was essential in resisting the German summer offensive in 1942 , and executing the double encirclement manoeuver that cut off the German Sixth Army at the Battle of Stalingrad in December 1942 . The Sixth Army was surrounded , and eventually surrendered in February 1943 , a campaign widely regarded as the turning point of the war on the Eastern Front . In 1943 , the Soviets formed Polish and Czech armies - in - exile , and these started to receive the T - 34 Model 1943 with hexagonal turret . Like the Soviet forces themselves , the Polish and Czech tank crews were sent into action quickly with little training , and suffered high casualties . In July 1943 , the Germans launched Operation Citadel , in the region around Kursk , their last major offensive on the Eastern Front in World War II and the debut of the Panther tank with its powerful , high - velocity 75 mm gun . The campaign featured the largest tank battles in history . The high - water mark of the battle was the massive armour engagement at Prokhorovka , which began on July 12 . Over 6 , 000 fully tracked armoured vehicles , 4 , 000 combat aircraft , and 2 million men are believed to have participated in these battles . Despite losing enormous numbers of T - 34s , the Red Army was able to replace its losses and steadily wear down the German forces until the offensive ground to a halt . The Soviet high command ' s decision to focus on one cost - effective design , cutting costs and simplifying production wherever possible while only allowing relatively minor improvements , had proven to be an astute choice for the first two years of the war . However , the battles around Kursk in the summer of 1943 demonstrated conclusively that the 76 . 2 mm gun of the T - 34 was no longer as effective as it was in 1941 . Soviet tank crews were unable to penetrate the frontal armour of the new German Panther or Tiger I tanks at standard combat ranges , and were forced to rely on flanking maneuvers and overwhelming numerical superiority , succeeding only at the cost of high casualties . T - 34 - 85 . After upgunned German Panzer IVs with the high - velocity 75 mm ( 2 . 95 in ) gun were encountered in combat in 1942 , Morozov ' s design bureau began a project to design an entirely new tank , with the goals of increasing armour protection while adding modern features like a torsion - bar suspension and a three - man turret . This new tank , the T - 43 , was intended to be a universal tank to replace both the T - 34 and the KV - 1 heavy tank , developed in direct competition with the Chelyabinsk heavy tank design bureau ' s KV - 13 project . The German Tiger I tank appeared on the Eastern Front in late 1942 as a response to the T - 34 . Soviet firing tests against a captured Tiger in April 1943 showed that the T - 34 ' s 76 mm gun could not penetrate the front of the Tiger I at all , and the side only at very close range . An existing Soviet 85 mm antiaircraft gun , the 52 - K , was found to be very effective against the frontal armour of the Tiger I , and so a derivative of the 52 - K was developed for tanks . The Soviets thus had already embarked on the 85 mm gun upgrade path before encountering the German Panther tank at the Battle of Kursk . Unfortunately , the T - 43 prototype ' s heavier armour was still not proof against the Tiger ' s 88 mm ( 3 . 46 in ) gun , and its mobility was found to be inferior to the T - 34 ' s , even before installing the heavier 85 mm gun . Although the T - 43 shared over 70 % of its components with the T - 34 , manufacturing it would still have required a significant slow - down in production . Consequently , the T - 43 was cancelled . The failure of the T - 43 project left the Red Army without the upgrade to the T - 34 / 76 it needed to counter the increasing presence of the Tiger I . The Soviet command then made the difficult decision to retool the factories to produce an improved version of the T - 34 , with a turret ring enlarged from 1 , 425 mm ( 56 in ) to 1 , 600 mm ( 63 in ) , allowing a larger turret to be fitted ( and thus a larger gun ) . The T - 43 ' s turret design was hurriedly adapted by Vyacheslav Kerichev at the Krasnoye Sormovo Factory to fit the T - 34 . This was seen as a compromise between advocates for the T - 43 , and others in the high command who wanted to continue to build as many 76 mm - armed T - 34s as possible without interruption . The resulting new T - 34 - 85 tank had the 85 mm gun and , finally , a three - man turret with radio ( previously in the hull ) . Now the commander needed only to command the tank , leaving the operation of the gun to the gunner and the loader . A T - 34 - 85 initially cost about 30 percent more to produce than a Model 1943 , at 164 , 000 rubles ; by 1945 this had been reduced to 142 , 000 rubles . During the course of the Great Patriotic War the cost of a T - 34 tank was reduced by almost half , from 270 , 000 rubles in 1941 , while in the meantime its top speed remained about the same , and its main gun ' s armour penetration and turret frontal armour thickness both nearly doubled . The T - 34 - 85 gave the Red Army a tank with better armour and mobility than the German Panzer IV tank and Sturmgeschütz III assault gun , though it could not match the Panther ' s armour or its 7 . 5 cm KwK 42 gun . However , the improved firepower made it much more effective against Panthers than earlier models . The decision to improve the existing design instead of tooling up for a completely new one also allowed the Soviets to manufacture tanks in such numbers that the difference in capabilities could be considered insignificant . The improved T - 34 - 85 became the standard Soviet medium tank , with an uninterrupted production run until the end of the war . In comparison with the T - 34 - 85 program , the Germans instead chose an upgrade path based on the introduction of completely new , expensive , heavier , and more complex tanks , greatly slowing the growth of their tank production and allowing the Soviets to maintain a substantial numerical superiority in tanks . In May 1944 , the Soviets had increased T - 34 - 85 production to 1 , 200 tanks per month . In the entire war , production figures for all Panther types reached no more than 6 , 557 , and for all Tiger types 2 , 027 . Production figures for the T - 34 - 85 alone reached 22 , 559 . Manchurian campaign ( August 1945 ) . Just after midnight on August 9 , 1945 , under cover of a torrential downpour and through terrain believed by the Japanese to be impassable by armoured formations , the 1st Far Eastern Front ( one of ) invaded Japanese - occupied Manchuria . The Red Army combined - arms forces achieved complete surprise and used a powerful , deep - penetrating attack in a classic double encirclement pattern , spearheaded by the T - 34 - 85 . The opposing Japanese forces had been reduced as elite units had been drawn off to other fronts and the remaining forces were in the middle of redeployment to a form a defence - in - depth . The few Japanese tanks remaining to face them were mainly Type 97 Chi - Ha medium tanks , whose low - velocity 57 mm gun was no match for them ; and the Japanese had no artillery larger than 75 mm , no modern anti - tank weapons , and weak support from IJAAF forces , engineering , and communications . Japanese forces were overwhelmed though some put up resistance . The US dropped the second atomic bomb on August 9 , and the Japanese emperor transmitted a surrender order on August 14 but the Kwangtung Army was not given a formal cease fire until August 17 . Korean War ( 1950 – 1951 ) . Many Soviet - client and former Soviet - client states used T - 34 - 85s after the end of World War II . A full brigade equipped with about 120 North Korean T - 34 - 85s spearheaded the invasion of South Korea in June 1950 . Additional T - 34 tanks later joined the first assault force after it had penetrated into South Korea . The North Korean tanks had overwhelming early successes against South Korean infantry , Task Force Smith , and U . S . M24 Chaffee light tanks . The World War II - era 2 . 36 - inch bazooka s used by the Americans were useless against the T - 34s , as were the 75 mm cannons of the M24 Chaffee . The North Korean T - 34s lost their momentum when they encountered U . S . M26 heavy tanks and ground - attack aircraft , and when the U . S . infantry upgraded their anti - tank weapons to 3 . 5 - inch Super Bazookas hurriedly airlifted from the United States . The M4 Sherman ( M4A3E8 model ) and British tanks such as the Centurion , Churchill , and Cromwell also entered the war . The tide turned in favour of the United Nations forces in August 1950 , when the North Koreans suffered major tank losses during a series of battles in which their foes brought their newer equipment to bear . The U . S . landings at Inchon on September 15 cut off the North Korean supply lines , causing their armoured forces and infantry to run out of fuel , ammunition , and other supplies . As a result , the North Koreans had to retreat , and many T - 34s and heavy weapons were abandoned . By the time the North Koreans had fled from the South , a total of 239 T - 34s and 74 SU - 76s had been lost . After November 1950 , North Korean armour was rarely encountered . A few more tank engagements occurred when China entered the conflict in February 1951 with four regiments of tanks ( a mix of mostly T - 34 - 85 tanks , a few IS - 2 tanks , and other AFVs ) . However , because these tanks were dispersed with the infantry , tank to tank battles with UN forces were uncommon . China produced T - 34 tanks under the designation Type 58 , though production soon stopped when the Type 59 became available . A 1954 survey concluded that there were in all 119 tank vs . tank actions involving U . S . Army and Marine units during the Korean War , with 97 T - 34 - 85 tanks knocked out and another 18 probable . The M4A3E8 was involved in 50 % of the tank actions , the M26 in 32 % , and the M46 in 10 % . The M26 and M46 proved to be an overmatch for the T - 34 - 85 as their 90 mm HVAP round could punch all the way through the T - 34 from the front glacis armour to the back , whereas the T - 34 - 85 had difficulty penetrating the armour of the M26 or the M46 . The M4A3E8 , firing 76 mm HVAP rounds , was a closer match to the T - 34 - 85 as both tanks could destroy each other at normal combat ranges ; however , the HVAP round gave the M4A3E8 an advantage in penetration . Use in other countries . The Soviet and Finnish armies used T - 34s until the 1960s ; the former included the 76 . 2 mm - armed versions until at least 1968 , when they were used in filming the sequel to the film " The Living and the Dead " . The Finnish tanks were captured from the attacking Soviets or trophies purchased from Germany . Many of the Т - 34 - 85s were enhanced with Finnish or Western equipment , such as improved optics . T - 34s equipped many of the Eastern European ( later Warsaw Pact ) armies , and armies of other Soviet client states . They served in the suppression of the East German uprising of June 17 , 1953 , as well as of the Hungarian revolution of 1956 . Cypriot National Guard forces equipped with some 35 T - 34 - 85 tanks helped to support a coup by the Greek junta against President Archbishop Makarios on July 15 , 1974 . They also saw extensive action against Turkish forces during the Turkish invasion in July and August 1974 , with two major actions at Kioneli and at Kyrenia on July 20 , 1974 . The T - 34 - 85 was also used in the Middle East , the Vietnam War , and even as recently as the Bosnian War . In May 1995 , a Serb T - 34 - 85 attacked an UNPROFOR outpost manned by the 21st Regiment of the Royal Engineers in Bosnia , maiming a British peacekeeper . Croatia inherited 25 or 30 from Yugoslavia , but has since withdrawn them from service . T - 34s were sporadically available in Afghanistan , but it is not known if T - 34s were used against coalition troops , and Saddam Hussein had T - 34s in the Iraqi army in the early 1990s . Several African states , including Angola and Somalia , have employed T - 34 - 85s in recent years . T - 34 - 85s were deployed by Angola and Cuba during the Angolan Civil War in order to combat UNITA and the South African Defence Force . It was useful against light infantry , but showed to be vulnerable against the South African armoured vehicles . Successors . In 1944 , pre - war development of a more advanced T - 34 tank was resumed , leading to the T - 44 . The new tank had a turret design based on the T - 34 - 85 ' s , but featured a new hull with torsion - bar suspension and transversely mounted engine ; it had a lower profile than the T - 34 - 85 and was simpler to manufacture . Between 150 and 200 of these tanks were built before the end of the war . With substantial drivetrain changes , a new turret , and 100 mm gun , it became the T - 54 , starting production in 1947 . Operators . The following countries have used the T - 34 . As of 1996 , it remained in service in 27 of those countries , indicated by asterisk s ( * ) . Europe and the Americas Middle East and Asia Africa As of 2012 , the T - 34 is mostly in reserve , used in a light tank role , or treated as an infantry backup . In some Third World countries , it is also considered a secondary or even primary tank where more modern tank designs have not entered service yet . Red = former operators < br > Black = current operators < br > Pink = recent operators ; uncertain if still using Symbolism . A T - 34 - 85 tank monument in the East German city of Karl - Marx - Stadt ( Chemnitz ) became the target of a 1980 bomb - attack that inflicted minor damage on the vehicle and blew out nearby windows . The bomber , Josef Kneifel , was sentenced to life imprisonment in Bautzen , but was released after a deal with the West German government in 1987 . After German unification in 1990 , the tank was transferred to a museum in Ingolstadt . Another such tank , mounted atop the monument to Soviet tank crews in Prague , was the focus of significant controversy . The monument , also known locally as ' Saint Tank , ' intended to represent Lt I . G . Goncharenko ' s T - 34 - 85 , the first Soviet tank to enter Prague in May 1945 , actually bore an IS - 2m heavy tank . To many in Prague , the tank was also a reminder of the Soviet invasion which ended the Prague Spring of 1968 . The tank was painted pink by artist David Černý in 1991 . Following an official protest from the Russian government , the arrest of Černý , a coat of official green paint , public demonstrations , and a further coat of pink paint applied by fifteen parliamentary deputies , the tank was finally removed to a military museum . " Four Tankers and a Dog " ( " Czterej pancerni i pies " ) , a very successful war - themed Polish television series of the 1960s , adapted the novel of the same name by the Polish writer Janusz Przymanowski ( 1922 – 1998 ) , himself a People ' s Army of Poland volunteer . The series made T - 34 tank number 102 an icon of Polish popular culture . It was also shown in other Soviet - bloc countries where it was also well received , surprisingly even in the German Democratic Republic ( East Germany ) . At the beginning of the 21st century reruns of the black and white series still manage to attract a large audience . In Budapest on 23 October 2006 , the 2006 protests in Hungary climaxed during the 50th anniversary of the Hungarian Revolution of 1956 . Protesters managed to start an unarmed T - 34 tank which was part of a memorial exhibit , and used it in riots against police forces . The tank drove a few hundred metres , then stopped in front of the police , causing no personal injury . Variants . There were two main production families of the T - 34 , each with subvariants . Identification of T - 34 variants can be complicated . Turret castings , superficial details , and equipment differed between factories ; new features were added in the middle of production runs , or retrofitted to older tanks ; damaged tanks were rebuilt , sometimes with the addition of newer - model equipment and even new turrets . The Red Army never had a consistent policy for naming the T - 34 . Since at least the 1980s however , many academic sources ( notably , AFV expert Steven Zaloga ) have used Soviet - style nomenclature : " T - 34 " for the models armed with 76 . 2 mm guns , and " T - 34 - 85 " for models armed with 85 mm guns , with minor models distinguished by year , as " T - 34 Model 1940 " . Some Russian historians use different names : they refer to the first T - 34 as the " T - 34 Model 1939 " instead of 1940 , all T - 34s with the original turret and F - 34 gun as " Model 1941 " instead of Models 1941 and 1942 , and the hexagon al - turret T - 34 as " Model 1942 " instead of 1943 . German military intelligence in World War II referred to the two main production families as " T - 34 / 76 " and " T - 34 / 85 " , with subvariants receiving letter designations such as " T - 34 / 76A " — this nomenclature has been widely used in the West , especially in popular literature . When the German Wehrmacht used captured T - 34s , it designated them " Panzerkampfwagen T - 34 ( r ) " , where the " r " stood for " russisch " ( " Russian " ) . The Finns referred to the T - 34 as the " Sotka , " after the Common Goldeneye , a sea duck , because the side silhouette of the tank resembled a swimming waterfowl . The T - 34 - 85 was called " pitkäputkinen Sotka " ( " long - barreled Sotka " ) . The T - 34 ( German designation : T - 34 / 76 ) was the original tank with a 76 . 2 mm gun in a two - man turret . The T - 34 - 85 ( German designation : T - 34 / 85 ) was a major improvement with an 85 mm gun in a three - man turret . All T - 34 - 85 models are externally very similar . Surviving vehicles . Partly due to the large number produced , there are hundreds of surviving T - 34s . Examples of this tank are in the collections of most significant military museums , and hundreds more serve as war memorials . Many are in private ownership , and demilitarised working tanks change hands for U . S . $ 20 , 000 – 40 , 000 . Some still may serve in a second - line capacity in a number of Third World militaries , while others may find use in a civilian capacity , primarily in film making . In many World War II films , such as " Saving Private Ryan " , " The Battle of Neretva " , and " Kelly ' s Heroes " , T - 34 - 85 tanks were modified to resemble Tiger I tanks , due to the rarity of the latter vehicle . In 2000 , a T - 34 Model 1943 was recovered that had spent 56 years at the bottom of a bog in Estonia . The tank had been captured and used by retreating German troops , who dumped it in the swamp when it ran out of fuel . The anaerobic environment of the bog preserved the tank and ensured there were no signs of oil leakage , rust , or other significant water damage . The engine was restored to full working order . Other significant surviving T - 34s include a Model 1941 at the U . S . Army Ordnance Museum in Aberdeen , Maryland — one of the oldest surviving vehicles . The French Musee des Blindes at Saumur holds two T - 34s , including one in full working condition that is displayed in action at its summer " Carrousel " live tank exhibition . The Mandela Way T - 34 Tank , a privately owned T - 34 - 85 named after the street it is sited in near Bermondsey , London , is frequently repainted by artists and graffitists .