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This article is about the Soviet medium tank. For other uses, see T34 (disambiguation).
T-34
T-34-85 at Musée des Blindés
Type Medium tank
Place of origin Soviet Union
Service history
In service 1940–present
Used by Soviet Union and 39 others
Wars World War II and many others
Production history
Designer T-34 Main Design Bureau – KMDB
Designed 1937–1940
Produced 1940–1958
Number built 84,070
Specifications (T-34 Model 1941[3])
Weight 26.5 tonnes (29.2 short tons; 26.1 long tons)
Length 6.68 m (21 ft 11 in)
Width 3.00 m (9 ft 10 in)
Height 2.45 m (8 ft 0 in)
Crew 4
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Armor [1] hull front 47 mm /60° (upper part),
hull front 45 mm (1.8")/60° (lower part),
hull side 40 mm[2]/41°(upper part),
hull rear 45 mm,
hull top 20 mm,
hull bottom 15 mm;
turret front 60 mm (2.4"),
turret side 52 mm/30°,
turret rear 30 mm,
turret top 16 mm
Main
armament 76.2 mm (3.00 in) F-34 tank gun
(T-34/85: 85mm gun)
Secondary
armament 2 × 7.62 mm (0.308 in) DT machine guns
Engine 12-cyl. diesel model V-2
500 hp (370 kW)
Power/weight 17.5 hp/tonne
Suspension Christie
Operational
range 400 km (250 mi)
Speed 53 km/h (33 mph)
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T-34 tank
T-34 variantsT-43Type 63
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World War II tanks
ListCategory
Light Fiat L6/40M3/M5 StuartM22 LocustM24 ChaffeeMarmon-Herrington CTLSRenault R40T-26T-40T-60T-70TetrarchToldi
Medium Carro Armato P 4040 M Turan IFiat M11/39M2 MediumM3 LeeM4 ShermanPanzer IIIPanzer IVPanzer V PantherT-34T-43Sherman Firefly
Cruiser Mk IVMk V CovenanterMk VI CrusaderMk VII CavalierMk VIII CromwellMk VIII ChallengerCometRamSentinel
Infantry ChurchillT-26T-50Valentine
Heavy IS tankKV tankM26 PershingTiger ITiger II
HistoryWWIInterwarWWIICold WarTank
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Cold War tanks
ListCategory
MBTs AMX-30AMX 40AMX 50CenturionChallenger 1ChieftainCh'onma-hoEE-T1 OsórioK1 88Leopard 1Leopard 2M1 AbramsM60 PattonM-84MagachMBT-70MerkavaOF-40Stridsvagn 103T-54/55T-62T-64T-72T-80TAMTR-85Type 59Type 61Type 69/79Type 74Type 88Vijayanta
Light AMX-13M41 Walker BulldogM551 SheridanPT-76ScorpionSK-105 KürassierStingrayT92 Light TankType 62
Medium M46 PattonM47 PattonM48 PattonM60 PattonT-44
Heavy ConquerorIS-3M103T-10
HistoryWWIInterwarWWIICold WarTank
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Post-Cold War tanks
ListCategory
Under 120 mm gun
Ch'onma-hoRamses II
Under 50 tonnes
Al-ZarrarAl-KhalidP'okpoong-HoPT-91 TwardyT-84T-90Type 96Zulfiqar
Over 50 tonnes
ArieteArjunChallenger 2K1A1 88LeclercLeopard 2M1 AbramsMerkavaSabraType 90Type 99
Not in service
AltayBlack EagleEE-T1 OsórioK2 Black PantherM60-2000M-95 DegmanM-84AST-95Tank EXType 10Type 99KM
HistoryWWIInterwarWWIICold WarTank
The T-34 was a Soviet medium tank produced from 1940 to 1958. Although its armour and armament were surpassed by later tanks of the era, it has been often credited as the most effective, efficient and influential design of World War II.[4] First produced at the KhPZ factory in Kharkov (Kharkiv, Ukraine), it was the mainstay of Soviet armoured forces throughout World War II, and widely exported afterwards. 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.[5] In 1996, T-34 variants were still in service in at least 27 countries.
The T-34 was developed from the BT series of fast tanks and was intended to replace both the BT-5 and BT-7 tanks and the T-26 infantry tank in service.[6] At its introduction, it was the tank with the best balanced attributes of firepower, mobility, protection and ruggedness, although initially its battlefield effectiveness suffered from the unsatisfactory ergonomic layout of its crew compartment, scarcity of radios, and poor tactical employment. The two-man turret-crew arrangement required the commander to aim and fire the gun, an arrangement common to most Soviet tanks of the day; this proved to be inferior to three-man (commander, gunner, and loader) turret crews of German Panzer III and Panzer IV tanks.
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. In early 1944, the improved T-34-85 was introduced, with a more powerful 85 mm gun and a three-man turret design. By the war's end in 1945, the versatile and cost-effective T-34 had replaced many light and heavy tanks in service, and accounted for the majority of Soviet tank production. Its evolutionary development led directly to the T-54/55 series of tanks, built until 1981 and still operational as of 2010[update] 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 of the world's armies even today.
The T-34 was among the most important weapons fielded by the Red Army in World War II. At the time it was first fielded in 1940, commentators considered it one of the finest tank designs in the world.[7][8] By mid-war, the T-34 no longer
