T 34 85 gun. History of creation

History of creation Japanese tank building began with medium tanks. In 1927, the Osaka Arsenal ("Osaka Rikugun Zoheisho") built an experimental double-turret tank No. 1 and a single-turret No. 2, which was later called the "Type 87". In 1929, based on the English “Vickers MkS” and

The history of creation Dedicated to those burned alive in tanks... IS-2 tank from the 7th Guards Heavy Tank Brigade at the Brandenburg Gate. Berlin, May 1945. Without exaggeration, it can be said that the IS-2 heavy tank traces its ancestry to the KV-1 and KV-13 tanks: the first tank

The history of the creation of the T-34-85 with the D-5T cannon. 38th separate tank regiment. The tank column "Dimitri Donskoy" was built at the expense of the Russian Orthodox Church. Ironically, one of the greatest victories of the Red Army in the Great Patriotic War was won at Kursk

In 1943, the tank units of the Wehrmacht possessed vehicles that, unlike in 1941, were not inferior to the tanks of the Red Army, and in some performance characteristics were superior to them. The appearance of the new Panzer kampfwagen VI Tiger and Panzer kampfwagen Panther finally confirmed the advantage of the Panzerwaffe.

In order to correct the situation and restore parity, it was necessary to radically change the T-34 medium tank, which had been in service since 1940. The T-34-85 became such a tank, capable of giving battle almost equally to any Wehrmacht tank.

The appearance of the T-34-85

Towards the development of more powerful art. systems began in January 1943. Five months later, the drawings of the new gun were ready, and in June the D-5T 85 mm guns were produced in metal. At the same time, other design bureaus were developing new artillery systems: S-53, S-50, LB-85.

In order to install a new gun in the T-34, it was necessary to make a new turret. Designing a tower with the installation of 85 mm art. The system was taken up by the design bureau of the Krasnoye Sormovo plant, as well as the designer of plant No. 183. As a result, two cast tower designs were released.

This plant was given an order for the production of “thirty-fours” with 85 mm artillery system.

In December 1943, the T-34 tank with an 85-mm artillery system under the designation T-34-85 was adopted by the Red Army. The main change in the modified vehicle was the installation of a new turret shape, with an extension of the turret shoulder strap.

With the advent of an enlarged turret, the main problem of the T-34-76 was eliminated, namely cramped conditions and the inability to add a fifth crew member. The D-5T artillery system with a caliber of 85 mm, developed at design bureau No. 9, was mounted in the turret.

Tank design

There were 5 rollers on each side (dual type with external shock absorption with a diameter of 830 mm). The suspension on the car was individual, spring type. The rear wheels were driving; the engagement of the ridges on the tracks was carried out by rollers installed on them. The idler wheels were cast and had a crank mechanism to adjust the track tension. The mass of each caterpillar was 1150 kg, the width of the link was 550 mm. The number of steel tracks was 72 (36 ridged and 36 ridgeless).

The power plant of the vehicle was a 12-cylinder diesel engine V-2-34, producing a maximum power of 500 hp.

The fuel tanks held 545 liters of DT diesel fuel, two additional external fuel tanks were installed, the volume of which was 90 liters each, but these tanks were not connected to the engine power supply system. Two tubular radiators installed at an angle provided engine cooling.

Air purification was carried out by Cyclone air purifiers in the amount of 2 units. The engine was started with compressed air stored in 2 cylinders (located in the control compartment) or using an electric starter.

The transmission included main final clutches, a gearbox (with 5 gears), final drives and brakes. The electrical wiring is made according to a single-wire circuit (with voltage 12 and 24V). The tank uses the following electrical equipment: starter, turret rotation mechanism drive motor, ventilation systems, lighting, instrumentation, etc. Radio communication was provided using the 9-RS radio station (reception and transmission); internally, TPU-3bisF devices were used for crew communication.

Initially, the installation of the D-5T artillery system with a caliber of 85 mm with a coaxial DT machine gun with ammunition of 56 rounds for the main gun and 1953 machine gun cartridges was carried out. For guidance, a PTK-5 panorama and a telescopic articulated sight were used.

The turret housed a new commander's cupola with two opening hatch doors and equipped with an MK-4 periscopic all-round viewing device.

The armor protection of the hull did not change and amounted to: armor of the front of the hull 45 mm (the angle of inclination of the sheets: upper 60°, lower 53°), armor protection of the rear of the vehicle 45 mm (top 48°, bottom 45°), side armor was 45 mm at an angle of 40°, and armor protection roof was 20 mm. The hull itself was welded, made from sheets of rolled armor.

In 1943, attempts were made to increase the T-34's armor to 75 mm (T-43 version). The design bureau was faced with the question: how much could the mass of the tank be increased without affecting its maneuverability? Installing a new gun on the T-43 project greatly increased the weight of the tank, so the idea of ​​​​increasing armor protection had to be abandoned.

The new turret of the T-34-85 tank had fairly good armor: the front of the turret had 90 mm of armor, the side armor was 75 mm, and the armor protection of the rear of the turret was 52 mm. The combat weight of the vehicle increased and amounted to 32 tons.

The crew of the T-34-85 tank consisted of 5 tankers. The location of the crew in the tank was as follows: the gunner (gun commander), commander and loader were in the turret, the driver and radio operator were in the vehicle body.

T-34-85 with ZIS-S-53 gun

At the beginning of 1944, the State Defense Committee adopted the T-34 with the ZIS-S-53 artillery system of 85 mm caliber. The reason for the abandonment of the D-5T gun was design flaws, for example, the lifting mechanism often failed. The first vehicles with the ZIS-S-53 cannon left the workshops in March 1944. The tank itself also underwent a number of design changes: com.

The turret was moved and installed in the area at the stern of the turret, which made it easier for the crew members to position themselves, the radio station was removed from the hull and installed on the turret, and the PTK-5 was dismantled.

Also replaced with new Multicyclone air purifiers. Otherwise, the design has not undergone any changes. In 1945, the double-leaf hatch of the turret was replaced with a hatch with one opening flap.

Number of T-34-85 produced during the Great Patriotic War

Combat use

The first T-34s, armed with an 85 mm gun, began to be delivered to the armored units of the Red Army at the end of the winter of 1944. One of the first combat units equipped with the modernized T-34 was the 38th separate tank regiment. The towers were painted with inscriptions “Dimitri Donskoy”; they were made with funds provided by the Russian Orthodox Church. In total, the regiment consisted of 21 units; in addition to the T-34-85, the regiment consisted of flamethrower versions of the T-34-76.

As part of the 58th Army, the tank regiment led combat operations on the territory of Ukraine. Another unit equipped with new equipment with a D-5T cannon was the 119th Tank Regiment. Since the tank was made with money collected from the residents of the Republic of Armenia, inscriptions in the national language “David of Sassoun” were written on the tank turrets, in honor of the hero of the republic. The regiment took part in hostilities as part of the 2nd Ukrainian Front.

In the early spring of 1944, the modernized “thirty-fours” began to be sent to tank brigades, as well as to tank and mechanized corps. Thus, the 2nd, 6th, 10th and 11th Tank Corps received new equipment. When forming the crews of new vehicles, a problem arose in the presence of a 5th crew member. The issue was resolved by staffing the tank crews with soldiers from the anti-tank rifle company.

New vehicles were primarily supplied to the best combat formations of the Red Army.

At the same time, the crews were given only a few hours to master the new tanks. Widespread use of the T-34-85 occurred in battles in Right Bank Ukraine, especially during the crossing of the Dniester.

In clashes with enemy armored vehicles, the new equipment performed well, but was still inferior to heavy German tanks. The 88 mm guns of the Tigers had high armor-piercing power, especially since the armor protection of the hull of the T-34s did not change, and in terms of power, the 85 mm gun of the Soviet tank was slightly inferior to the German 88 mm.

Also, T-34s with the 85th D-5T artillery system in the amount of 23 units in the early spring of 1944 entered service with the 7th Separate Guards Red Banner and Order of the Red Star Novgorod Tank Brigade, which led the offensive as part of the Karelian Front. The brigade also included 42 T-34s with a 76 mm gun and 10 Valentine IXs.

The offensive was successful, especially since the enemy (Finnish and German combat formations) had practically no tank units. With the liberation of Kirkenes in Norway, the front was disbanded.

During the offensive Operation Bagration in the summer of 1944, T-34-85s occupied most of the Red Army's armored fleet. Thus, of the 811 T-34s participating in the offensive, vehicles armed with the 85 mm artillery system accounted for more than 50% of the tank fleet.

Largest quantity The new "thirty-four" took part in the offensive operations of the Red Army in 1945. The 3rd TA of General P.S. Rybalko participating in the Vistula-Oder offensive operation. had on its staff 640 T-34-85 tanks, 22 T-34-76 tanks (used as minesweepers), as well as IS-2 heavy vehicles (21 units) and self-propelled artillery units (63 ISU-122 units, 63 units SU-85, 63 units SU-76 and 49 SU-57I).

In the battles for Berlin, the T-34-85 faced a very big problem, namely the widespread use of faust cartridges by the enemy.

Ease of production and use, as well as combat in urban conditions - all this made the Faustniks another dangerous opponent of Soviet tankers in the battles for the capital of the Reich.

In order to somehow protect their vehicles from shots from hand-held anti-tank grenade launchers, the crews hung various devices on their tanks. But, despite the active use of grenade launchers in battles, most of the T-34-85’s losses were caused by enemy artillery.

In the battles with Japan in the summer of 1945, 670 T-34-85 tanks took part, and along with them, the armored units of the Red Army operating against Japanese units included obsolete models T-26 and BT-7. The main striking force was the 6th Tank Army, its fleet consisted of 408 brand new T-34-85s, which arrived from two factories: No. 174 and No. 183.

A small number of "thirty-fours" were captured by German troops and their allies and were later used by them, for example by formations of the SS Wiking division. At the end of the war, T-34-85 also entered the armies of the USSR's allies (Poland, Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia), and later to the countries that were part of the Warsaw Warsaw War.

T-34-85 in the post-war period

Production of the last serial "thirty-four" ended in 1946, and was replaced by the middle one. In the post-war period, the T-34-85 was still the main tank; it remained in this status until the 1950s. The T-44 was supplied to the troops in small quantities, and the production of the T-54 occurred at a very slow pace.

As the armored tank fleet of the USSR was updated, the T-34-85 passed into training status and was gradually removed from service, and, for example, the vehicles located in the training units of the Trans-Baikal and Far Eastern districts were used until the beginning of the 1970s.

After the end of the war, the T-34-85 took part in almost all military conflicts: in Korea, Vietnam, Kampuchea, the Middle East, Cuba, Afghanistan and others. The "thirty-four" also took part in military conflicts in Europe: the Hungarian uprising of 1956, military clashes between Turks and Cypriots on the island of Cyprus and the war in Yugoslavia in the 1990s.

The T-34-85 was in service with the ATS countries, a number of African countries, and was also in service in the states of Southeast Asia. Today, the “thirty-four” continue to carry out military service in several countries (Vietnam, Guinea, Yemen, North Korea, Laos, Cuba, etc.).

Performance characteristics of the T-34-85 tank and similar armored vehicles

Analogues of the “thirty-four” with 85 mm art. the system was the German “four” late modifications (Pz Kpfw IVH, J) and . At the same time, the powerful gun allowed the T-34-85 to fight heavier Wehrmacht armored vehicles than its competitors.

The T-34-85 in almost all characteristics was better than similar vehicles from both Germany and the Allied countries. Despite its greater mass, thanks to its more powerful engine, the T-34 was noticeably faster and more maneuverable than the American and German tanks. The Soviet tank was inferior only in the armor protection of the front of the hull.

The Soviet medium tank T-34-85 in many ways surpassed its predecessor, the T-34-76. Ease of manufacture and maintainability, ease of use and maneuverability - all this, coupled with good weapons, led to success on the battlefield and allowed him to become the most popular and one of best tanks Second World War.

In addition, high performance characteristics The T-34-85 contributed to the use of the tank in many world military conflicts, in which it took part until the 90s of the 20th century.

Video

T-34-85

Ironically, one of the greatest victories of the Red Army in the Great Patriotic War, near Kursk, was won at a time when Soviet armored and mechanized troops were qualitatively inferior to the German ones (see “Armor Collection” No. 3, 1999). By the summer of 1943, when the most painful design flaws of the T-34 were eliminated, the Germans had new “Tiger” and “Panther”, which were noticeably superior to ours in the power of weapons and the thickness of the armor. Therefore, during the Battle of Kursk, Soviet tank units, as before, had to rely on their numerical superiority over the enemy. Only in isolated cases, when the “thirty-fours” managed to get close to the German tanks, did the fire of their guns become effective. The issue of a radical modernization of the T-34 tank was urgently on the agenda.
It cannot be said that by this time attempts had not been made to develop more advanced tanks. This work, suspended at the outbreak of war, resumed in 1942, as the ongoing modernization was completed and the shortcomings of the T-34 were eliminated. Here, first of all, the T-43 medium tank project should be mentioned.
This combat vehicle was created taking into account the requirements for the T-34 - strengthening its armor protection, improving the suspension and increasing the volume of the fighting compartment. Moreover, the design basis for the pre-war T-34M tank was actively used.
The new combat vehicle was 78.5% unified with the serial T-34. The shape of the T-43 hull basically remained the same, as well as the transmission, chassis elements, etc. The main difference was the strengthening of the armor of the front, side and rear hull plates to 75 mm, the turret to 90 mm. In addition, the driver's position and position were moved to the right side of the hull, and the radio operator's position and the installation of the DT machine gun were eliminated. In the bow of the hull on the left was placed in an armored enclosure; the side tanks were seized. The tank received a torsion bar suspension. The most significant innovation, which sharply distinguished the T-43 from the T-34 in appearance, was the three-seater cast with an extended shoulder strap and a low-profile commander's cupola.
Since March 1943, two prototypes of the T-43 tank (they were preceded by the T-43-1, built at the end of 1942, which had a driver's hatch and a commander's cupola shifted to the rear of the turret) were tested, including front-line tests , as part of a separate tank company named after NKSM. They found that the T-43, due to its increased weight to 34.1 tons, is somewhat inferior to the T-34 in terms of dynamic characteristics (decreased to 48 km/h), although it is significantly superior to the latter in terms of smoothness. After replacing eight on-board fuel tanks (in the T-34) with one smaller capacity in the bow, the T-43's cruising range was correspondingly reduced by almost 100 km. Tankers noted the spaciousness of the fighting compartment and greater ease of maintenance of weapons.
After testing, at the end of the summer of 1943, the T-43 was adopted by the Red Army. Preparations for its serial production have begun. However, the results of the Battle of Kursk made significant adjustments to these plans.
At the end of August, a meeting was held at plant No. 112, which was attended by the People's Commissar of the Tank Industry V.A. Malyshev, the commander of the armored and mechanized forces of the Red Army Y.N. Fedorenko and senior officials of the People's Commissariat of Armaments. In his speech, V.A. Malyshev noted that victory in the Battle of Kursk came at a high price to the Red Army. Enemy tanks fired at ours from a distance of 1500 m, but our 76-mm tank guns could hit “tigers” and “panthers” only from a distance of 500 - 600 m. “Figuratively speaking,” said the People’s Commissar, “the enemy has arms one and a half kilometers long.” , and we are only half a kilometer away. It is necessary to immediately install a more powerful gun in the T-34."
In fact, the situation was much worse than V.A. Malyshev described it. But attempts to correct the situation have been made since the beginning of 1943.
Back on April 15, the State Defense Committee, in response to the appearance of new German tanks on the Soviet-German front, issued Resolution No. 3187ss “On measures to strengthen anti-tank defense,” which obliged the GAU to subject anti-tank and tank guns that were in mass production to field tests, and in 10 -day deadline to submit yours. In accordance with this document, the deputy commander of BT and MB, Lieutenant General of Tank Forces V.M. Korobkov, ordered the use of a captured “Tiger” during these tests, which took place from April 25 to 30, 1943 at the NIIBT Test Site in Kubinka. The test results were disappointing. Thus, the 76-mm armor-piercing tracer shell of the F-34 cannon did not penetrate the side armor of a German tank even from a distance of 200 m! The most effective means of combating the enemy’s new heavy vehicle turned out to be the 85-mm 52K anti-aircraft gun of the 1939 model, which penetrated its 100-mm frontal armor from a distance of up to 1000 m.
On May 5, 1943, the State Defense Committee adopted Resolution No. 3289ss “On strengthening the artillery armament of tanks and self-propelled guns.” In it, the NKTP and NKV were given specific tasks to create tank guns with anti-aircraft ballistics.
Back in January 1943, the design bureau of plant No. 9, headed by F.F. Petrov, began developing such a gun. By May 27, 1943, working drawings of the D-5T-85 gun, designed according to the type of German self-propelled tank guns and characterized by low weight and short recoil length, were released. In June, the first D-5Ts were manufactured in metal. Around the same time, prototypes of other 85-mm tank guns were ready: TsAKB (chief designer V.G. Grabin) presented the S-53 guns (lead designers T.I. Sergeev and G.I. Shabarov) and S-50 (leading designers V.D. Meshchaninov, A.M. Volgevsky and V.A. Tyurin), and artillery plant No. 92 - the LB-85 cannon by A.I. Savin. Thus, by mid-1943, four versions of the 85-mm gun, intended to arm a medium tank, were ready for testing. But which one?
The T-43 fell away quite quickly - this vehicle, even with a 76-mm cannon, weighed 34.1 tons. Installing a more powerful, and therefore heavier, gun would have entailed a further increase in weight, with all the ensuing negative consequences. In addition, the transition of factories to the production of a new tank, although it had much in common with the T-34, would inevitably cause a decrease in production volumes. And it was holy! As a result, serial production of the T-43 never began. In 1944, an 85-mm cannon was installed on it on a trial basis, and that was the end of it.
Meanwhile, the D-5T cannon was quite successfully arranged in the promising IS heavy tank. To install the D-5T in the T-34 medium tank, it was necessary to increase the diameter of the turret ring and install a new turret. The design bureau of the Krasnoye Sormovo plant, headed by V.V. Krylov, and the tower group of plant No. 183, led by A.A. Moloshtanov and M.A. Nabutovsky, worked on this problem. As a result, two cast towers with a clear ring diameter of 1600 mm appeared, very similar to each other. Both of them resembled (but did not copy) the turret of the experimental T-43 tank, which was taken as the basis for the design.
The progress of work was negatively affected by the promise of the TsAKB management to install an 85-mm S-53 cannon in the standard turret of the T-34 tank with a shoulder strap diameter of 1420 mm. V.G. Grabin ensured that Plant No. 112 allocated him a production tank, on which the TsAKB redesigned the front part of the turret, in particular, the gun trunnions were moved forward by 200 mm. Grabin tried to approve this project from V.A. Malyshev. However, the latter had serious doubts about the feasibility of such a decision, especially since tests of the new gun in the old turret, carried out at the Gorokhovets training ground, ended in failure. Two people, who were in the now even more cramped tower, could not properly operate the gun. Sharply decreased and. Malyshev ordered M.A. Nabutovsky to fly to plant No. 112 and sort everything out. At a special meeting, in the presence of D.F. Ustinov and Y.N. Fedorenko, Nabutovsky completely criticized the Grabin project. It became obvious that there was no alternative to a tower with an extended shoulder strap.
At the same time, it turned out that the S-53 cannon, which won the competitive tests, could not be installed in the turret designed by the Sormovichi team. When installed in this turret, the gun's vertical aiming angle was limited. It was necessary to either change the design of the turret, or install another gun, for example the D-5T, which would be freely assembled into the Sormovo turret.
According to the plan, the Krasnoye Sormovo plant was supposed to produce 100 T-34 tanks with the D-5T cannon by the end of 1943, but the first combat vehicles of this type left its workshops only at the beginning of January 1944, that is, in fact, before the official adoption of the new tank for service. GKO Resolution No. 5020ss, in accordance with which the T-34-85 was adopted by the Red Army, was published only on January 23, 1944.
Tanks armed with the D-5T cannon were noticeably different from later vehicles in appearance and internal design. The tank's turret was double, and the crew consisted of four people. On the roof of the tower there was a commander's cupola, strongly shifted forward, with a double-leaf lid that rotated on a ball bearing. A viewing periscope MK-4 was fixed in the lid, allowing for all-round visibility. For firing from a cannon and a coaxial machine gun, a telescopic articulated sight TSh-15 and a panorama PTK-5 were installed. Both sides of the tower had viewing slots with triplex glass blocks. The radio station was located in the hull, and its antenna input was on the starboard side, just like the T-34 tank. consisted of 56 shots and 1953 rounds of ammunition. , the transmission and chassis have undergone virtually no changes. These tanks differed somewhat depending on the time of production. For example, early production vehicles had one turret, while most subsequent ones had two.
It should be noted that the T-34-85 discussed above in statistical reporting does not appear to appear. In any case, today there are significant discrepancies in the estimates of the number of vehicles produced given in the literature. Basically, the numbers fluctuate in the range of 500 - 700 tanks. In fact, much less! The fact is that in 1943, 283 D-5T guns were produced, in 1944 - 260, and in total - 543. Of this number, 107 guns were installed on IS-1 tanks, 130 (according to other sources, no more than 100) - on KV-85 tanks, several guns were used on prototypes of combat vehicles. Thus, the number of T-34 tanks produced with the D-5T cannon is close to 300 units.
As for the S-53 gun, its installation in the Nizhny Tagil turret did not cause any difficulties. By decree of the State Defense Committee of January 1, 1944, the S-53 was adopted by the Red Army. The production of these guns began in commissioning mode in March, and in production in May. Accordingly, in March, the first T-34-85 tanks armed with S-53 left the workshops of plant No. 183 in Nizhny Tagil. Following the lead plant, plants No. 174 in Omsk and No. 112 “Krasnoe Sormovo” began production of such machines. At the same time, the Sormovichi people still installed D-5T cannons on some of their tanks.
Field tests, which continued despite the start of production, revealed significant defects in the S-53 recoil devices. Artillery Plant No. 92 in Gorky was instructed to carry out its modification on its own. In November-December 1944, production of this gun began under the designation ZIS-S-53 (“ZIS” is the index of Artillery Plant No. 92 named after Stalin, “S” is the index of TsAKB). In total, 11,518 S-53 guns and 14,265 ZIS-S-53 guns were manufactured in 1944-1945. The latter were installed on both T-34-85 and T-44 tanks.
The "thirty-four" with S-53 or ZIS-S-53 guns had a three-seater turret, and the commander's cupola was moved closer to its stern. The radio station was moved from the building to the tower. Viewing devices were installed only of a new type - MK-4. The commander's panorama of PTK-5 was confiscated. The engine was also taken care of: the “” air cleaners were replaced with more efficient “Multicyclone” types. The remaining units and systems of the tank have undergone virtually no changes.
As was the case with the T-34, the T-34-85 tanks had some differences from each other due to manufacturing technology at different factories. The towers differed in the number and location of casting seams, and the shape of the commander's cupola. The chassis used both stamped road wheels and cast ones with developed fins.
In January 1945, the double-leaf hatch cover of the commander's cupola was replaced with a single-leaf one. On post-war tanks (Krasnoe Sormovo plant), one of the two fans installed in the rear of the turret was moved to its central part, which contributed to better ventilation of the fighting compartment.
At the end of the war, an attempt was made to strengthen the tank's armament. In 1945, field tests were carried out on prototypes of the T-34-100 medium tanks with a turret ring widened to 1700 mm, armed with 100 mm LB-1 and D-10T cannons. On these tanks, the mass of which reached 33 tons, the front-mounted machine gun was removed and the crew was reduced by one person; tower height reduced; the thickness of the bottom, the roof over the engine and the turret roof has been reduced; fuel tanks were moved to the control department; driver's seat lowered; the suspension of the 2nd and 3rd road wheels is made in the same way as the suspension of the first rollers; Five-roller drive wheels are installed. The T-34-100 tank was not accepted for service - the 100-mm gun turned out to be “too heavy” for the T-34. This work generally made little sense, since the new T-54 medium tank with the 100-mm D-10T cannon had already been put into service.
Another attempt to strengthen the armament of the T-34-85 was made in 1945, when the TsAKB developed a modification of the ZIS-S-53, equipped with a single-plane gyroscopic stabilizer - the ZIS-S-54. However, this artillery system did not go into production.
But another version of the T-34-85 with weapons different from the base tank was mass-produced. We are talking about the OT-34-85 flamethrower tank. Like its predecessor, the OT-34, this vehicle was equipped with an automatic piston tank flamethrower ATO-42 from factory No. 222 instead of a frontal machine gun.
In the spring of 1944, at the former plant No. 183, restored after the liberation of Kharkov, which was assigned No. 75, prototypes of the AT-45 heavy tractor were produced, intended for towing guns weighing up to 22 tons. The AT-45 was designed on the basis of units of the T-34-85 tank . The same B-2 was installed on it, but with power reduced to 350 hp. at 1400 rpm. In 1944, the plant produced two AT-45 tractors, two of which were sent to the troops for testing in combat conditions. The production of tractors was stopped in August 1944 due to preparations at plant No. 75 for the production of a new model of the T-44 medium tank. It would not be superfluous to remember that this tractor was not the first built on the basis of the T-34 units. Thus, back in August 1940, the project of an AT-42 artillery tractor weighing 17 tons, with a platform with a lifting capacity of 3 tons was approved. With a V-2 engine power 500 hp it was supposed to reach a speed of up to 33 km/h with a towing force on the hook of 15 tons. Prototypes of the AT-42 tractor were produced in 1941, but further work on their testing and production had to be curtailed due to the evacuation of the plant. from Kharkov.
General production of T-34-85 tanks


Serial production of the T-34-85 in the Soviet Union ceased in 1946 (according to some sources, it continued in small batches at the Krasnoye Sormovo plant until 1950). As for the number of T-34-85 tanks produced by one plant or another, then, as in the case of the T-34, there are noticeable discrepancies in the figures given in different sources.
This table shows data for 1944 and 1945 only. The T-34-85 commander and OT-34-85 were not produced in 1946.
Production of T-34-85 tanks by NKTP plants


When comparing the data from the two tables, a discrepancy in the number of tanks produced in 1944 is visible. And this is despite the fact that the tables are compiled according to the most frequently occurring and most reliable data. In a number of sources you can find other figures for 1945: 6208, 2655 and 1540 tanks, respectively. However, these numbers reflect the production of tanks in the 1st, 2nd and 3rd quarters of 1945, that is, around the end of World War II. Discrepancies in the figures do not make it possible to absolutely accurately indicate the number of T-34 and T-34-85 tanks produced from 1940 to 1946. This number ranges from 61,293 to 61,382 units.
Foreign sources provide the following figures for the production of T-34-85 in the USSR in the post-war years: 1946-5500, 1947-4600, 1948-3700, 1949-900, 1950 - 300 units. Judging by the number of zeros, these figures are most likely very approximate. If we take as a basis the number of vehicles produced in 1946, which is doubled in these sources, and assume that all other figures are also inflated, it turns out that 4,750 T-34-85 tanks were produced in 1947 - 1950. This really seems to be true. In fact, one cannot seriously assume that our tank industry has been idle for almost five years? Production of the T-44 medium tank ceased in 1947, and factories began mass production of the new T-54 tank almost only in 1951. As a result, the number of T-34 and T-34-85 tanks manufactured in the USSR exceeds 65 thousand.
Despite the arrival of new T-44 and T-54 tanks into the army, the T-34s made up a significant part of the tank fleet of the Soviet Army in the post-war years. Therefore, these combat vehicles were modernized during major repairs in the 50s. First of all, the changes affected the engine, which as a result received the name B-34-M11. Two VTI-3 air cleaners with ejection dust extraction were installed; a nozzle was built into the cooling and lubrication systems; the GT-4563A generator with a power of 1000 W was replaced by the G-731 generator with a power of 1500 W.
For driving a car at night, the driver received a BVN. At the same time, an FG-100 IR illuminator appeared on the right side of the hull. The MK-4 observation device in the commander's cupola was replaced by the TPK-1 or TPKU-2B commander's observation device.
Instead of the DT machine gun, a modernized DTM machine gun was installed, equipped with a PPU-8T telescopic sight. Instead of the PPSh submachine gun, an AK-47 was introduced into the personal weapons of the crew members.
Since 1952, the 9-R radio station was replaced by the 10-RT-26E radio station, and the TPU-Zbis-F intercom was replaced by the TPU-47.
Other systems and units of the tank have not undergone any changes.
The vehicles modernized in this way became known as T-34-85 model 1960.
In the 60s, tanks were equipped with more advanced TVN-2 night vision devices and R-123 radio stations. The chassis was equipped with road wheels borrowed from the T-55 tank.
Some of the tanks in the late 50s were converted into T-34T evacuation tractors, which differed from each other in the presence or absence of a winch or rigging equipment. The tower was dismantled in all cases. Instead, a cargo truck was installed in the maximum configuration version. Tool boxes were mounted on the fender liners. Platforms for pushing tanks using logs were welded to the bow plates of the hull. On the right, in the front part of the hull, a boom crane with a lifting capacity of 3 tons was installed; in the middle part of the hull there is a winch driven by an engine. Only the front-mounted machine gun was retained.
Some T-34T tractors, as well as linear tanks, were equipped with BTU bulldozers and STU snowplows.
To ensure the repair of tanks in the field, the SPK-5 self-propelled crane was developed and mass-produced (or rather, converted from linear tanks), then SPK-5/10M. Crane equipment with a lifting capacity of up to 10 tons made it possible to remove and install tank turrets. The vehicle was equipped with a V-2-34Kr engine, which differed from the standard one in the presence of a power take-off mechanism.
In the 60s - 70s, a significant number of tanks, after the dismantling of weapons, were converted into chemical reconnaissance vehicles.
In 1949, Czechoslovakia acquired a license to produce the T-34-85 medium tank. Design and technological documentation was transferred to her, and technical assistance was provided by Soviet specialists. In the winter of 1952, the first Czechoslovak-made T-34-85 left the workshops of the CKD Praha Sokolovo plant (according to other sources, the Stalin plant in the city of Rudy Martin). "Thirty-fours" were produced in Czechoslovakia until 1958. A total of 3,185 units were produced, a significant part of which were exported. On the basis of these tanks, Czechoslovak designers developed the MT-34 bridge laying vehicle, the CW-34 evacuation tractor and a number of other vehicles.
The Polish People's Republic acquired a similar license in 1951. The production of T-34-85 tanks was launched at the Burnar Labedy plant. The first four vehicles were assembled by May 1, 1951, and some of the components and assemblies were brought from the USSR. In 1953 - 1955, the Polish Army received 1,185 tanks of its own production, and a total of 1,380 T-34-85 were produced in Poland.
Polish "thirty-fours" were modernized twice under the T-34-85M1 and T-34-85M2 programs. During these upgrades, they received a pre-heater, the engine was adapted to run on different types of fuel, mechanisms were introduced to make it easier to control the tank, and ammunition was placed differently. Thanks to the introduction of a remote control system for the forward machine gun, the tank crew was reduced to 4 people. Finally, the Polish “thirty-fours” were equipped with underwater driving equipment.
On the basis of the T-34-85 tanks in Poland, several samples of engineering and repair and recovery vehicles were developed and produced.
In total, over 35 thousand units of T-34-85 tanks (including those produced in Czechoslovakia and Poland) were produced, and if we add in the T-34 tanks - 70 thousand, which makes the “thirty-four” the most mass-produced combat vehicle in the world.
DESIGN DESCRIPTION
In terms of its layout, location of the main components and assemblies, the T-34-85 tank is basically identical to the T-34 (for more information about it, see “Armor Collection” No. 3, 1999).
The control compartment was located in the bow of the tank. It contained the seats of the driver and machine gunner, a gearbox slide, levers and pedals of control drives, a DT machine gun in a ball mount, instrumentation, two compressed air cylinders, part of the ammunition and spare parts, TPU, etc.
In front of the driver's seat, in the upper frontal plate of the hull there was an entrance hatch, closed by an armored cover in which surveillance devices were installed.
In front of the machine gunner's seat in the bottom of the tank there was an emergency exit hatch, closed with a lid.
The fighting compartment occupied the middle part of the hull behind the control compartment and in the turret.
The latter housed the tank's armament, sighting devices, observation devices, turret rotation and stopper, part of the ammunition load, radio station, TPU devices, seats for the tank commander, gunner and loader.
The main part of the ammunition was located in the fighting compartment on the bottom and near the sides. Four fuel tanks were located behind the removable side inclined sheets.
The power compartment was located behind the combat compartment and was separated from it by a removable partition.
In front of the power compartment, the engine was installed on a pedestal. On both sides of it were water radiators, two fuel tanks, two oil tanks and four batteries - two on each side. An oil cooler was mounted on the left water radiator.
In the aft part of the power compartment behind the fan partition there was a main clutch with a fan, side clutches with brakes, an electric starter, final drives, two fuel tanks and two air cleaners.


Tank body: 1 - final drive; 2 - caterpillar finger striker; 3 - balancer limiter stand; 4 - balancer support bracket; 5 - cutout for the balancer pin; 6 - hole for the balancer axis; 7 - guide wheel crank bracket; 8 - armored plug above the worm shank of the track tension mechanism; 9 - beam of the bow of the hull; 10-tow hook; 11 - towing hook latch; 12 - bonks for attaching spare tracks; 13.16 - protective strips; 14 - armor protection of the machine gun; 15 - driver's hatch cover; 17 - headlight bracket: 18 - signal bracket; 19 - handrail; 20 - saw bracket; 21 - brackets for the external fuel tank.
FRAME The tank has not undergone any fundamental changes compared to the T-34. All of them basically boiled down to simplifying the design. Thus, the front beam was removed from the bow, and the upper and lower frontal sheets were joined end-to-end. Bonnets were welded to the upper frontal sheet for attaching spare tracks. The hole for inserting the antenna in the right upper side sheet was eliminated. In the aft part of the upper side plates, fastenings for external oil and fuel tanks were welded, and protective strips were welded to the upper edges, protecting the turret ring from damage by bullets and shell fragments. Brackets for attaching BDSh smoke bombs were installed on the upper stern sheet.


T-34-85 tank armor scheme
TOWER was a shaped steel casting. In the front part there were embrasures for installing a cannon, a coaxial machine gun and a sight. From the outside, four eyes and three handrails were welded to the side walls of the tower, and on the rear wall there were six brackets for fastening the tarpaulin.
In the side walls of the tower on each side there was one hole for firing from personal weapons, which were closed with armored plugs and latches. Tanks of early production with the D-5T gun had inspection slits above these holes; vehicles produced in 1944-1945 only had a viewing slit on the right side of the turret, near the loader's position. The T-34-85 post-war production did not have viewing slots in the turret.


Turret of a post-war tank produced by the Krasnoye Sormovo plant: 1 - loader hatch cover; 2 - caps over fans; 3 - hole for installing the tank commander's observation device; 4 - commander's cupola hatch cover; 5 - commander's cupola; 6 - viewing slot; 7 - antenna input glass; 8 - handrail; 9 - hole for installing a gunner's observation device; 10 - hole for firing from personal weapons; 11 - eye: 12 - sight embrasure; 13 - visor; 14 - axle tide; 15 - machine gun embrasure; 16 - hole for installing a loader observation device.
A cast cylindrical commander's cupola was installed in the roof of the tower on the left side. For all-round observation, five viewing slots were cut in the walls of the turret and covered with protective glass. In the turret roof, which rotated on a ball bearing, there was a hatch with a double-leaf lid and a hole for a viewing device in one of the doors. For tanks produced in 1945 - 1946 with a turret with a single-leaf lid, the viewing device was installed in the non-folding part of the turret roof.
To the right of the turret there was a round loader's hatch, closed with a lid. In addition, in the roof of the turret there were two holes for installing MK-4 surveillance devices for the gunner and loader and two ventilation hatches, closed by armored caps welded to the roof, under which fans of the fighting compartment were installed.
The ball (but not spherical, as is sometimes written) support of the tower was an angular contact ball bearing, its rings were the shoulder straps of the tower. When the tower rotated, the upper shoulder strap rolled on balls along the lower shoulder strap. On the inside of the lower shoulder strap, teeth were cut, with which the turret rotation mechanism was engaged. 11 grips, attached to the upper shoulder strap with bolts, extended their protrusions beyond the edge of the lower shoulder strap, protecting the tower from tipping over.
The tower was rotated by an electric turning mechanism or manually. When the electric drive was operating, the maximum rotation speed of the tower reached 4.2 rpm.
WEAPONS. Early production tanks were equipped with an 85-mm D-5T (or D-5-T85) cannon with a barrel length of 48.8 calibers (according to other sources - 52 calibers). Gun weight 1530 kg. The maximum rollback length is 320 mm. The gun had a wedge breech, similar in design to the breech of the F-34 cannon, and a semi-automatic copy type. The recoil devices consisted of a hydraulic recoil brake and a hydropneumatic knurl and were located above the barrel: on the right side - the knurl, on the left - the recoil.
Since March 1944, the T-34-85 tank was equipped with an 85-mm S-53 (and then ZIS-S-53) gun model 1944 with a barrel length of 54.6 calibers. The mass of the swinging part of the gun without armor is 1150 kg. The maximum rollback length is 330 mm. Vertical aiming from - 5° to +22°. The gun bolt is a vertical wedge with a semi-automatic copy type.
The gun's trigger mechanism consisted of electric and mechanical (manual) triggers. The electric release lever was located on the handle of the flywheel of the lifting mechanism, and the manual release lever was located on the left shield of the gun fence.
The tank was equipped with two 7.62-mm DT machine guns, one of which was paired with a cannon, and the other was mounted in a ball mount in the front hull plate.
For direct fire from the D-5T cannon, the TSh-15 telescopic sight and the PTK-5 periscopic sight were used, and from the S-53 cannon, the TSh-16 telescopic sight was used.
For firing from 85-mm tank guns, standard ones from the 85-mm anti-aircraft gun model 1939 were used:
- unitary with an armor-piercing tracer blunt-headed projectile (BR-365) with a ballistic tip with MD-5 and MD-7 fuses;
- a unitary cartridge with an armor-piercing tracer sharp-headed projectile (BR-365K) with an MD-8 fuse;
- unitary cartridge with a fragmentation steel grenade (O-365K) with a KTM-1 fuse;
- a unitary cartridge with a sub-caliber armor-piercing tracer projectile BR-365P (adopted into service in February 1944).
The gun's ammunition consisted of 55 artillery rounds (fragmentation - 36, armor-piercing - 14, sub-caliber - 5) and was placed in the hull and turret of the tank in three types of stowage: rack, clamp and boxes.
The rack for 12 shots was located in the niche of the tower. It included fragmentation grenade shots.


Characteristics of projectiles
The clamp racks were located: on the right side of the turret - for 4 artillery rounds; in the control compartment on the starboard side of the hull - for 2 artillery rounds; in the right rear corner of the fighting compartment - for 2 artillery rounds. On the right side of the turret shots with armor-piercing shells were stacked, and in the control and combat compartments - with sub-caliber shells.
Six boxes located on the bottom of the fighting compartment contained 35 rounds, of which: 24 with a fragmentation grenade, 10 with an armor-piercing projectile and 1 with a sub-caliber one.
ENGINE AND TRANSMISSION. The T-34-85 tank was equipped with a 12-cylinder, four-stroke, non-compressor V-2-34. The nominal was 450 hp. at 1750 rpm, operational - 400 hp. at 1700 rpm, maximum - 500 hp. at 1800 rpm. Cylinder diameter 150 mm. The piston stroke of the left group is 180 mm, the right one is 186.7 mm. The cylinders were arranged in a V-shape at an angle of 60°. Compression ratio 14 - 15. Dry engine weight with electric generator without exhaust manifolds 750 kg.
Fuel - diesel, grade DT or gas oil grade "E" according to OST 8842. The capacity of the fuel tanks is 545 l. Outside, on the sides of the hull, two fuel tanks of 90 liters each were installed. External fuel tanks were not connected to the engine power system.
The fuel supply is forced, using a twelve-plunger fuel pump NK-1.
Lubrication system - circulation, under pressure. Oil circulation was carried out by a three-section gear oil pump. The capacity of internal oil tanks is 76 l, external - 90 l.
The cooling system is liquid, closed, with forced circulation. There are two tubular radiators, installed on both sides of the engine and tilted towards it. Radiator capacity 95 l.
To clean the air entering the engine cylinders, two Multicyclone air cleaners were installed on the tank.
The engine was started by an ST-700 electric starter with a power of 15 hp. or compressed air (two cylinders were installed in the control compartment).
The transmission consisted of a multi-disc main dry friction clutch (on steel), a gearbox, final clutches, brakes and final drives.
The gearbox is five-speed, with constant mesh gears. Onboard clutches are multi-disc, dry (steel on steel), brakes are floating, band, with cast iron linings. Final drives are single-stage.
CHASSIS The tank, applied to one side, consisted of five dual rubber-coated road wheels with a diameter of 830 mm.


Chassis: 1 - driving; 2 - caterpillar; 3 - support roller; 4 - balancer; 5 - roller axis; 6 - guide wheel; 7 - balancer axis; 8 - dust cover for suspension; 9 - traverse; 10 - shield; 11 - springs; 12 - axle.
Suspension - individual, spring.
The rear drive wheels had six rollers for engagement with the ridges of the track tracks.
The guide wheels are cast, with a crank mechanism for tensioning the tracks.
The tracks are steel, fine-linked, with ridge gearing, 72 tracks each (36 with a ridge and 36 without a ridge). The track width is 500 mm, the track pitch is 172 mm. The weight of one caterpillar is 1150 kg.
ELECTRICAL EQUIPMENT was performed using a single-wire circuit. Voltage 24 and 12 V. Sources: GT-4563A generator with a power of 1 kW and four 6-STE-128 batteries with a capacity of 128 Ah each. Consumers: ST-700 electric starter, electric motor of the tower turning mechanism, electric fan motors, control devices, external and internal lighting equipment, electric signal, radio station umformer and TPU lamps.
MEANS OF COMMUNICATION. The T-34-85 was equipped with a short-wave transceiver simplex telephone radio station 9-RS and an internal tank intercom TPU-3-bisF.
COMBAT USE
In February - March 1944, T-34-85 tanks began to enter service with the troops. In particular, around this time they were received by formations of the 2nd, 6th, 10th and 11th Guards Tank Corps. Unfortunately, the effect of the first combat use of the new tanks was low, since the brigades received only a few vehicles. The majority of them were “thirty-fours” with 76-mm guns. In addition, very little time was allocated in combat units for retraining crews. This is what M.E. Katukov, who commanded the 1st Tank Army, which fought heavy battles in Ukraine, wrote in his memoirs in the April days of 1944: “We experienced joyful moments in those difficult days. One of these is the arrival of tank reinforcements. The army received it, though small quantity, new "thirty-fours", armed not with the usual 76 mm, but with an 85 mm cannon. The crews that received the new “thirty-fours” had to be given only two hours of time to master them. We couldn't give more then. The situation on the ultra-wide front was such that new tanks with more powerful weapons had to be brought into battle as soon as possible.”


Commander's turrets
Left: Model 1944, cylindrical in shape with a double-leaf lid
Right: Model 1945 with rounded top edge and single door lid
One of the first T-34-85s with the D-5T cannon was received by the 38th Separate Tank Regiment. This unit had a mixed composition: in addition to the T-34-85, it also contained OT-34 flamethrower tanks. All combat vehicles of the regiment were built at the expense of the Russian Orthodox Church and bore the name “Dimitri Donskoy” on their sides. In March 1944, the regiment became part of the 53rd Combined Arms Army and took part in the liberation of Ukraine.
T-34-85s were used in significant numbers during the offensive in Belarus, which began at the end of June 1944. They already made up more than half of the 811 “thirty-fours” that took part in this operation. The T-34-85 was used en masse in combat operations in 1945: in the Vistula-Oder, Pomeranian, and Berlin operations, and in the battle of Lake Balaton in Hungary. In particular, on the eve of the Berlin operation, the staffing of tank brigades with combat vehicles of this type was almost one hundred percent.
It should be noted that during the rearmament of tank brigades, some organizational changes occurred in them. Since the crew of the T-34-85 consisted of five people, the personnel of the anti-tank rifle company of the brigade’s submachine gun battalion were called upon to complete the crews.
Until mid-1945, the Soviet tank units stationed in the Far East were armed mainly with obsolete BTs and T-26s. By the beginning of the war with Japan, the troops received 670 T-34-85 tanks, which made it possible to equip the first battalions in all separate tank brigades and the first regiments in tank divisions with them. The 6th Guards Tank Army, transferred to Mongolia from Europe, left its combat vehicles in the previous deployment area (Czechoslovakia) and already received 408 T-34-85 tanks from factories No. 183 and No. 174. Thus, vehicles of this type took a direct part in the defeat of the Kwantung Army, being the striking force of tank units and formations.
In addition to the Red Army, T-34-85 tanks entered service with the armies of several countries participating in the anti-Hitler coalition.
The first tank of this type in the Polish Army was the T-34-85 with the D-5T cannon, transferred on May 11, 1944 to the 3rd training tank regiment of the 1st Polish Army. As for the combat units, the first to receive these tanks—20 units—was the 1st Polish Tank Brigade in September 1944 after the battles near Studzianki. In total, in 1944-1945, the Polish Army received 328 T-34-85 tanks (the last 10 vehicles were transferred on March 11). The tanks came from factories No. 183, No. 112 and repair bases. During the fighting, a significant part of the combat vehicles was lost. As of July 16, 1945, there were 132 T-34-85 tanks in the Polish Army.
All these machines were quite worn out and required major repairs. To carry it out, special brigades were created, which, at the sites of recent battles, removed serviceable components and assemblies from damaged Polish and Soviet tanks. It is interesting to note that during the renovation, a number of “synthesized” tanks appeared, when the early T-34 had its turret plate changed and a turret with an 85 mm gun installed.
The 1st Separate Czechoslovak Brigade received the T-34-85 at the beginning of 1945. It then included 52 T-34-85 and 12 T-34. The brigade, being operationally subordinate to the Soviet 38th Army, took part in heavy battles for Ostrava. After the capture of Olomouc on May 7, 1945, the remaining 8 tanks of the brigade were transferred to Prague. The number of T-34-85 tanks transferred to Czechoslovakia in 1945 varies from 65 to 130 units in different sources.
At the final stage of the war, two tank brigades were formed in the People's Liberation Army of Yugoslavia. The 1st Tank Brigade was armed by the British, and its MZAZ light tanks landed on the Adriatic coast of Yugoslavia in July 1944. The 2nd Tank Brigade was formed with the help of the Soviet Union at the end of 1944 and received 60 T-34-85 tanks.
A small number of T-34-85s were captured by German troops, as well as troops of states allied with Germany. There were only a few of these tanks used by the Wehrmacht, which is understandable - in 1944-1945, the battlefield in most cases remained with the Red Army. The facts of the use of individual T-34-85s by the 5th SS Viking Panzer Division, the 252nd Infantry Division and some other units are reliably known. As for Germany's allies, in 1944 the Finns, for example, captured nine T-34-85s, six of which were used by the Finnish army until 1960.
As often happens in war, the battle sometimes changed hands several times. In the spring of 1945, the 5th Guards Tank Brigade, which fought as part of the 18th Army on the territory of Czechoslovakia, captured a T-34-85 medium tank from the Germans. It is interesting to note that at that time the brigade's equipment consisted of light T-70 tanks, medium T-34 tanks and a battalion of captured Hungarian tanks. The captured vehicle became the first T-34-85 tank in this brigade.


Placement of ammunition racks in the tank: 1 - stowage of artillery rounds on the right side of the turret; 2 - placement of artillery rounds in the tower niche; 3 - placement of artillery rounds in the right corner of the fighting compartment; 4 - stacking of machine-gun magazines to the left of the driver’s seat; 5 - placement of artillery rounds on the floor of the fighting compartment in boxes; 6 - stowage of machine-gun magazines on the lower bow plate of the hull: 7 - stowage of machine-gun magazines in the control compartment to the right of the machine gunner’s seat; 8 - placement of artillery rounds in the control compartment; 9 - stacking of machine gun magazines on the right side of the turret.
After the end of World War II, the T-34-85 for quite a long time - almost until the mid-50s - formed the basis of the tank fleet of the Soviet Army: the T-44 tank entered service in limited quantities, and the T-54 was adopted too slowly by industry. As the troops become saturated with modern armored vehicles T-34-85 tanks were transferred to training units and also placed in long-term storage. In training units of a number of military districts, in particular in Transbaikal and Far Eastern, these combat vehicles were used until the early 70s. The author currently has no information about the presence of the T-34-85 in the troops, but there has not yet been a formal order from the Minister of Defense to remove the tank from service with the Russian Army.
As part of the Soviet Army, T-34-85 tanks did not take part in hostilities in the post-war years. There are known facts of combat use of “thirty-fours” in some “hot spots” in the CIS, for example, during the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict. Moreover, sometimes even memorial tanks were used for this purpose.
Outside the Soviet Union, the T-34-85 participated in combat operations on almost all continents until very recently. Unfortunately, it is not possible to indicate the exact number of tanks of this type transferred to another country, especially since these deliveries were carried out not only from the USSR, but also from Poland and Czechoslovakia.
After 1945, the T-34-85 was at various times in service in Austria, Albania, Algeria, Angola, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bulgaria, Hungary, Vietnam, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, East Germany, Egypt, Israel (captured Egyptian) , Iraq, Cyprus, China, North Korea, Congo, Cuba, Laos, Lebanon, Libya, Mali, Mozambique, Mongolia, Poland, Romania, North Yemen, Syria, Somalia, Sudan, Togo, Uganda, Finland (captured Soviet), Czechoslovakia, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, South Africa (trophy Angolan), Yugoslavia, South Yemen. As of 1996, tanks of this type were still available in the armies of Cuba (400 units, mainly in coastal defense), Albania (70), Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Angola (58), Guinea-Bissau (10), Mali (18 ), Afghanistan and Vietnam.
The arena for the most widespread use of the Thirty-Four after World War II was Asia.
...At 5 o'clock in the morning on June 25, 1950, the T-34-85 of the 109th Tank Regiment of the Korean People's Army (KPA) crossed the 38th parallel and the Korean War began.
The creation of armored units of the KPA began back in 1945, when the 15th training tank regiment was formed, which was armed with American Stuart and Sherman tanks received from the Chinese, as well as two Soviet T-34-85s. The training of Korean military personnel was carried out by 30 Soviet tank instructors. In May 1949, the 105th Tank Brigade was formed on the basis of the regiment. By the end of the year, all three of its regiments (107th, 109th and 203rd) were fully equipped with “thirty-fours”, 40 vehicles each. By June 1950, the KPA had 258 T-34-85 tanks. In addition to the 105th brigade, 20 vehicles were in the 208th training tank regiment, and the rest in the newly formed 41st, 42nd, 43rd, 45th and 46th tank regiments (in reality - battalions, 15 tanks each) and in the 16th and 17th tank brigades (actually regiments of 40-45 vehicles each). The superiority of the North Korean troops, in terms of the quantity and quality of armored vehicles, was complete, since the South Korean army did not have a single tank at all, and the 8th American Army, stationed in South Korea and Japan, had at that time only four separate tank battalions, armed with M24 Chaffee light tanks.
Mountain character of the central part Korean Peninsula did not allow the use of large masses of tanks, so tank regiments were assigned to the 1st, 3rd and 4th KPA infantry divisions, which struck in the direction of Seoul. The success of the tank attacks was complete! The South Korean infantry units were completely demoralized. Not only had many soldiers never seen a tank before in their lives, but they also very quickly became convinced that their anti-tank weapons - 57-mm cannons and 2.36-inch bazookas - were powerless against the T-34-85. On June 28, 1950, Seoul fell.
A week later, a significant event occurred - on July 5, 33 T-34-85 tanks of the 107th KPA regiment attacked the positions of the 24th infantry division US Army. The Americans tried to repel the tank attack with fire from 105 mm howitzers and 75 mm recoilless guns. However, it turned out that high explosive shells ineffective, and there were only six 105-mm cumulative shells. They managed to knock out two tanks from a distance of 500 yards. During this battle, American infantry fired 22 shots at tanks from 2.36-inch bazookas - all to no avail!
On July 10, 1950, the first tank battle took place between a T-34-85 and an M24 from Company A of the 78th Tank Battalion. Two M24s were shot down, the T-34s had no losses. 75 mm American shells did not penetrate their frontal armor. The next day, Company A lost three more tanks, and by the end of July it practically ceased to exist - it only had two tanks out of 14 left! Such results completely demoralized the American tank crews and greatly upset the infantrymen, who now did not see any effective anti-tank weapon in the M24. The infantrymen experienced some relief only after they began using the 3.5-inch “super bazookas.” In the battles for Daejeon, the 105th Brigade lost 15 T-34-85s, seven of which were destroyed by super bazooka fire.
The Thirty-Four met a worthy opponent only on August 17, 1950. T-34-85 of the 107th Tank Regiment attacked the positions of the 1st Brigade Marine Corps USA on the Busan bridgehead. The North Korean tank crews, accustomed to victories, saw the well-known M24s in front of them and confidently went into battle. However, they were mistaken - it was a Pershing from the 1st Tank Battalion of the US Marine Corps. Three T-34-85s were shot down by combined fire from 90-mm Pershing and Super Bazooka guns. From that moment on, a turning point occurred in tank battles. North Korean tank crews, well trained in offensive operations, turned out to be unprepared for combat with American tanks in conditions of positional warfare. The higher combat training of American crews had an effect. By September 1950, a balance of power had been established in the Busan bridgehead. Having landed at Inchon, the Americans turned the tide of events in their favor.
From Inchon there was a short route to Seoul, in the area of ​​which there were only 16 T-34-85s from the 42nd Tank Regiment with unfired crews and 10-15 tanks of the 105th Brigade. In the battles of September 16-20, almost all of these vehicles were destroyed.
The first battle of the T-34-85 with the Shermans took place on September 27. 10 "thirty-fours" attacked M4AZE8 of the 2nd platoon of company C of the 70th tank battalion. Three Shermans were hit in a matter of seconds. Then one T-34-85 ironed a transport convoy, smashing 15 trucks and jeeps into splinters, and was hit at point-blank range from a 105-mm howitzer. Another four T-34-85s fell victim to bazooka fire, and two North Korean tanks knocked out the main forces of the 70th tank battalion that approached from the rear.
By the end of the year, North Korean troops lost 239 T-34-85 tanks, most of which were knocked out by bazooka fire and aircraft. In battles with tanks, according to American data, 97 T-34-85s were shot down. With return fire, North Korean tanks destroyed only 34 American combat vehicles. At the same time, the T-34-85 was clearly superior to the M24 Chaffee in all respects. In terms of their characteristics, the “thirty-four” were similar to the M4AZE8, but had more powerful weapons. If the T-34-85 easily hit the Sherman at a direct shot distance with conventional armor-piercing shells, the American tank achieved a similar result only when using sub-caliber and cumulative shells. The only ones that were too tough for the T-34-85 in Korea were the M26 Pershing and M46 Patton, which had more powerful armor protection and weapons.
In 1959, the first tank unit of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam was formed - the 202nd Tank Regiment, armed with the T-34-85. In 1967-1975, these tanks were used in battles against American troops along with the more modern T-54, T-55, PT-76 and proved themselves to be good. In any case, the last batch of thirty-fours arrived from the USSR in 1973. T-34-85 from the 273rd Tank Regiment of the Vietnamese People's Army took part in last battle this war - the capture of Saigon in April 1975.
Subsequently, T-34-85 fought in Kampuchea, and in 1979 they took part in repelling the attack of Chinese troops on the northern provinces of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam. Some of the "thirty-four" were converted by the Vietnamese into ZSU. Instead of standard turrets, they were equipped with open-top armored conning towers with twin Chinese 37-mm Type 63 automatic anti-aircraft guns. According to other sources, these combat vehicles were manufactured in China.
The last Asian theater of operations where the T-34-85 fought was Afghanistan. Moreover, combat vehicles of this type were used in the 80s by both regular units of the Afghan army and the Mujahideen.
T-34-85 tanks were used in the most significant quantities during numerous wars in the Middle East.
The first 230 Thirty-Fours arrived in Egypt in 1953-1956. These were Czechoslovak-made tanks. Some of them were destroyed during the Anglo-French-Israeli intervention against Egypt in October - November 1956. Israeli tank crews, who fought in Shermans and AMX-13s, knocked out 26 T-34-85s. There were no military clashes between Egyptian and Anglo-French tanks.
A new large batch of T-34-85 - 120 vehicles - was delivered to the banks of the Nile from Czechoslovakia before the end of 1956. It was followed by the second (in 1962-1963), and in 1965-1967 - the third, another 130 tanks. In the early 60s, deliveries of "thirty-fours" from the USSR and Czechoslovakia began to Syria.
During the Six Day War of 1967, these tanks were in the first line of tank units along with the T-54. As you know, the Arabs were defeated in this war. On the Sinai Peninsula, Israeli troops knocked out and captured 251 T-34-85 tanks. Syrian losses were significantly lower, both due to the smaller number of armored vehicles involved and due to the conditions of their use - the Golan Heights is not the Sinai. It is interesting to note that in the Golan, former opponents fought against Israeli troops under the Syrian flag: German Pz.lVAusf.l tanks, received in the late 40s from Czechoslovakia and France, and T-34-85.
In the Yom Kippur War of 1973, T-34-85s were used on a much smaller scale and were used mainly for auxiliary tasks. Like the Israeli Shermans, many of them underwent modernization and alterations on the eve of this war.
In an effort to strengthen the tank's armament, the Egyptians managed to install a Soviet 100-mm BS-3 field gun on it. At the same time, the turret shoulder strap remained the same. True, only the front and lower parts of the standard turret have been preserved.
Instead of everything else, a rather cumbersome superstructure of a simple shape was built from light armor plates. A significant part of the armor plates on the sides and roof of this new turret were folding, which, on the one hand, facilitated the work of the crew in servicing the gun during firing, and on the other, solved the issue of ventilation of the fighting compartment. The combat weight of the vehicle has increased slightly, but the dynamic characteristics have remained virtually unchanged. Not stopping there, Egyptian designers installed a 122-mm D-30 howitzer in a turret similar in design, but slightly larger in size! It goes without saying that both of these vehicles could not be used as tanks. We were talking only about their use as self-propelled artillery units. Unfortunately, there is no data on the number of vehicles converted in this way, as well as on their participation in hostilities. The leading role in tank battles went to the modern T-55 and T-62.
Unlike the Egyptians, the Syrians took a different, simpler path. They decided to install the D-30 howitzer on the roof of the front part of the hull, while firing backwards. The tower was naturally dismantled. Five steel boxes for shells were attached to the sides of the hull. A folding working platform for the gun crew was mounted above the frontal armor plate. Inside the hull there were places for storing ammunition and crew seats. Before installation on a tank prepared in this way, the lower one with wheels was removed from the gun and the shield was cut off. The conversion of tanks was carried out at the artillery school in Catanach and the armored school in El Kaboun.
Due to the weight being reduced to 20 tons, the dynamic characteristics of the vehicle even increased. The specific ratio has also become smaller. Naturally, the ballistic characteristics of the D-30 remained the same. The disadvantage of such a howitzer installation, which had all-round firing in the towed version, is the limited guidance sector. Formally, here too the gun could rotate 360°, but fire was conducted only in the 120° guidance sector at the rear of the tank. The ammunition load of the T-34-122 self-propelled gun consisted of 120 shells (80 inside the vehicle and 40 in boxes on the sides of the hull).
The first to receive these self-propelled guns at the beginning of 1972 were the artillery battalions of the 4th and 91st tank brigades (18 vehicles each) of the 1st Armored Division. By the beginning of the 1973 war, both Syrian armored divisions (1st and 3rd) were armed with the T-34-122. During combat operations, these vehicles were primarily used to conduct surprise fire raids on areas and provide direct fire support to troops. At the end of the war they had to repel attacks Israeli tanks, and mostly without success, mainly due to insufficient preparation of crews for firing at moving targets.
These self-propelled guns went into battle again in Lebanon in 1976, and then in 1982. Another drawback of these vehicles was reflected here - on narrow mountain roads the self-propelled guns often could not turn around to fire. This was the last war in which the T-34-122 took part. Soon, modern self-propelled artillery units 2S1 and 2SZ arrived from the USSR, which began to replace the “thirty-four” in the artillery units of armored divisions. At the same time, the latter were transferred to the reserve.
In addition to Egypt and Syria, in the Middle East the T-34-85 was used by both sides during the war between North and South Yemen in 1962 - 1967. During the Lebanese Civil War, they were used by both various Lebanese warring factions and units of the Palestine Liberation Organization, which received 60 tanks from Hungary. Finally, Iraqi T-34-85s were used during the war with Iran in the 80s.
The African continent was also a battlefield for the T-34. They first took part in hostilities in Western Sahara in 1970. Ethiopia used them in Eritrea and against Somalia in 1977-1978. However, T-34-85s were also present in the Somali army that invaded the Ethiopian Ogaden province.
According to Western data, the first T-34-85s entered the FAPLA (Angolan Army) units in 1975, even before the country’s formal declaration of independence. In 1976, 85 tanks of this type were delivered there, which took part in battles with units of the UNITA movement and units of the South African army. At the same time, they were very effectively used against the South African Panhard AML-90 armored vehicles. Several tanks subsequently ended up in the possession of rebels in Namibia, where they took part in the fighting against South African troops in 1981. At the same time, some of the tanks were hit by fire from 90-mm cannons of Ratel-90 armored vehicles, and a number of them were captured by the South Africans.
The only country Latin America The first country that ever possessed T-34-85 tanks was Cuba. In 1960, it signed the first agreements on the supply of weapons and military equipment with the USSR and Czechoslovakia. Soon the first batch of tanks - about three dozen T-34-85s - arrived in Cuba.
Meanwhile, preparations were in full swing for the invasion of Cuba by the “2506 Brigade,” formed from “gusano” emigrants to overthrow Fidel Castro. The brigade included up to 10 M4 Sherman tanks (according to other sources - M41) and 20 armored vehicles. The landings began on April 17, 1961 in the Bay of Cochinos near Playa Larga and Playa Giron, and at first the invading forces were resisted only by small units of the people's militia - "milisianos". By noon on April 17, when the intentions of the “gusanos” became clear, F. Castro arrived at the position for direct command of the troops. An infantry regiment, a tank battalion and a division of 122-mm howitzers were moving towards the landing area.
On the evening of April 17, the Milisianos, with the support of several T-34-85 tanks that arrived in time, tried to advance in the direction of Playa Larga. Unable to deploy into battle formation in the swampy terrain, the tanks moved in a column along the highway, preventing each other from firing. The “Gusanos” let them get closer and knocked out the lead “thirty-four” with three bazookas at once. The remaining tanks retreated, and the infantry also returned to their original positions. By the morning of April 18, the entire tank battalion from Santa Clara arrived at the battle site under its own power, and two more tank companies were transferred from Managua on trailers. After several hours of artillery preparation, eight battalions of the army and police went on the offensive. T-34-85 tanks and SU-100 self-propelled guns moved behind the infantry combat formations, supporting them with continuous fire. By 10.30 in the morning they took Playa Larga and went out to where they transferred fire to the landing boats trying to approach the shore.
On April 19 at 17.30, units of the Cuban army and people's militia stormed the village of Playa Giron - the last point of defense of the “2506 brigade”. The first company to enter the village was a company of T-34-85 tanks; in the lead vehicle was Fidel Castro himself, who personally led the attack. The last two Shermans of the counter-revolutionaries were shot down in Playa Girón. Government troops lost only one T-34-85 during the entire operation.
In combat on European continent after World War II, the T-34-85 was used three times. The first time was in 1956 in Hungary. In Budapest, the rebels captured five tanks of the Hungarian People's Army, and they then took part in battles with units of the Soviet Army that entered the city.
In 1974, during the Turkish intervention in Cyprus, T-34-85 tanks supplied to Greek Cypriots from Yugoslavia and Poland fought with Turkish troops.
The last case of combat use of T-34-85 tanks took place during the civil war in Yugoslavia in 1991 - 1997. Combat vehicles of this type were used here by all warring parties, since before the collapse of Yugoslavia they were available in the territorial defense forces of almost all union republics. The Thirty-Fours performed well in combat, although they were the most outdated tanks in this war. The crews tried to compensate for the weakness of their armor by hanging steel sheets or sandbags on the sides. True, the T-34-85 was mainly used not as tanks, but as self-propelled artillery mounts, firing from the spot.
A story about the use of T-34-85 tanks in Yugoslavia would not be complete without mentioning the attempt to thoroughly modernize them, undertaken in this country in the late 40s. The main reason At this event, there was a desire to modernize the tank and, in this form, to launch its own mass production in Yugoslavia, and not to purchase licenses for its production from the USSR, relations with which then sharply deteriorated.
The changes did not affect, perhaps, only the chassis, suspension and engine. The transmission has undergone some improvements. The most significant innovations were made to the design of the hull and turret. Upper part The hull was slightly expanded, and she received side chines in the bow. Because of this, the directional machine gun had to be moved closer to the axis of the vehicle. The roof of the engine compartment was replaced with a new one, and the three standard cylindrical fuel tanks were replaced with semi-cylindrical ones. The tank received a completely new streamlined cast turret. Since the Yugoslav industry was not able to produce such large castings, the turret was welded from six cast parts.
The ZIS-S-53 gun has also undergone modernization. A muzzle brake of the original shape was installed on it. According to other sources, the tank was equipped with a 75-mm cannon, developed on the basis of the German KwK39. A 7.62-mm Browning M1919A4 anti-aircraft machine gun was mounted on the rotating double-leaf loader hatch.
It should be noted that all these improvements actually increased the projectile resistance of the hull and turret, but they could not significantly improve the vehicle’s performance. For this reason, as well as due to technical difficulties, the mass "thirty-four" was never deployed. Only 7 tanks were produced, which took part in the parade on May 1, 1950 in Belgrade.
MACHINE ASSESSMENT
The T-34-85 medium tank, in essence, represents a major modernization of the T-34 tank, as a result of which a very important drawback of the latter was eliminated - the cramped fighting compartment and the associated impossibility of complete division of labor among the crew members. This was achieved by increasing the diameter of the turret ring, as well as by installing a new three-man turret of significantly larger dimensions than the T-34. At the same time, the design of the body and the arrangement of components and assemblies in it have not undergone any significant changes. Consequently, there are still disadvantages inherent in vehicles with a stern-mounted engine and transmission.
As is known, two layout schemes with a bow and stern transmission are most widely used in tank building. Moreover, the disadvantages of one scheme are the advantages of another.
The disadvantage of the layout with a rear-mounted transmission is the increased length of the tank due to the placement in its hull of four compartments that are not aligned along the length, or the reduction in the volume of the fighting compartment with a constant length of the vehicle. Due to the large length of the engine and transmission compartments, the combat compartment with a heavy turret is shifted to the nose, overloading the front rollers, leaving no space on the turret plate for the central or even side placement of the driver's hatch. There is a danger that the protruding gun will “stick” into the ground when the tank moves through natural and artificial obstacles. The control drive connecting the driver with the transmission located in the stern becomes more complicated.


T-34-85 tank layout diagram
There are two ways out of this situation: either increase the length of the control (or combat) compartment, which will inevitably lead to an increase in the overall length of the tank and a deterioration in its maneuverability due to an increase in the L/B ratio - the length of the supporting surface to the track width (for the T-34- 85 it is close to the optimal - 1.5), or radically change the layout of the engine and transmission compartments. What this could lead to can be judged by the results of the work of Soviet designers when designing the new medium tanks T-44 and T-54, created during the war and put into service in 1944 and 1945, respectively.
These combat vehicles used a layout with a transverse (and not longitudinal, like the T-34-85) placement of a 12-cylinder V-2 diesel engine (in the B-44 and B-54 variants) and a combined significantly shortened (by 650 mm ) engine and transmission compartment. This made it possible to lengthen the fighting compartment to 30% of the hull length (for the T-34-85 - 24.3%), increase the diameter of the turret ring by almost 250 mm and install a powerful 100-mm cannon on the T-54 medium tank. At the same time, we managed to move the turret towards the stern, making room on the turret plate for the driver's hatch. The exclusion of the fifth crew member (the gunner from the course machine gun), the removal of the ammunition rack from the fighting compartment floor, the transfer of the fan from the engine crankshaft to the stern bracket and the reduction in the overall height of the engine ensured a decrease in the height of the hull of the T-54 tank (compared to the hull of the T-34- 85) by approximately 200 mm, as well as a reduction in the reserved volume by approximately 2 cubic meters. and increased armor protection by more than two times (with an increase in mass of only 12%).
During the war they did not go for such a radical rearrangement of the T-34 tank, and, probably, this was the right decision. At the same time, the diameter of the turret ring, while maintaining the same hull shape, was practically limiting for the T-34-85, which did not allow placing a larger caliber artillery system in the turret. The tank's armament modernization capabilities were completely exhausted, unlike, for example, the American Sherman and the German Pz.lV.
By the way, the problem of increasing the caliber of the main armament of the tank was of paramount importance. Sometimes you can hear the question: why was the transition to an 85-mm cannon necessary? Could it be possible to improve the ballistic characteristics of the F-34 by increasing the barrel length? After all, this is what the Germans did with their 75-mm cannon on the Pz.lV.
The fact is that German guns were traditionally distinguished by better internal ballistics (ours are just as traditionally external). The Germans achieved high armor penetration by increasing the initial speed and better testing of ammunition. We could respond adequately only by increasing the caliber. Although the S-53 cannon significantly improved the firing capabilities of the T-34-85, as Yu.E. Maksarev noted: “In the future, the T-34 could no longer directly, in a duel, hit new German tanks.” All attempts to create 85-mm guns with an initial speed of over 1000 m/s, the so-called high-power guns, ended in failure due to rapid wear and destruction of the barrel even at the testing stage. To “duel” defeat German tanks, it was necessary to switch to a 100-mm caliber, which was carried out only in the T-54 tank with a turret ring diameter of 1815 mm. But this combat vehicle did not take part in the battles of World War II.
As for the placement of the driver's hatch in the front hull, we could try to follow the American path. Let us remember that on the Sherman the driver and machine gunner’s hatches, originally also made in the sloping frontal plate of the hull, were subsequently transferred to the turret plate. This was achieved by reducing the angle of inclination of the front sheet from 56° to 47° to the vertical. The T-34-85's frontal hull plate had an inclination of 60°. By also reducing this angle to 47° and compensating for this by slightly increasing the thickness of the frontal armor, it would be possible to increase the area of ​​the turret plate and place the driver’s hatch on it. This would not require a radical redesign of the hull design and would not entail a significant increase in the mass of the tank.
The suspension hasn't changed on the T-34-85 either. And if the use of higher quality steel for the manufacture of springs helped to avoid their rapid subsidence and, as a result, a decrease in ground clearance, then it was not possible to get rid of significant longitudinal vibrations of the tank hull in motion. It was an organic defect of the spring suspension. The location of the habitable compartments in the front of the tank only aggravated the negative impact of these fluctuations on the crew and weapons.
A consequence of the layout of the T-34-85 was the absence of a rotating turret floor in the fighting compartment. In combat, the loader worked standing on the lids of cassette boxes with shells placed on the bottom of the tank. When turning the turret, he had to move after the breech, while he was hampered by spent cartridges falling right there on the floor. When conducting intense fire, the accumulated cartridges also made it difficult to access the shots placed in the ammunition rack on the bottom.
Summarizing all these points, we can conclude that, unlike the same "Sherman", the possibilities for modernizing the hull and suspension of the T-34-85 were not fully used.
When considering the advantages and disadvantages of the T-34-85, it is necessary to take into account one more very important circumstance. The crew of any tank, as a rule, in everyday reality does not care at all about the angle of inclination of the frontal or any other sheet of the hull or turret. It is much more important that the tank as a machine, that is, as a set of mechanical and electrical mechanisms, works clearly, reliably and does not create problems during operation. Including problems associated with the repair or replacement of any parts, components and assemblies. Here the T-34-85 (like the T-34) was fine. The tank was distinguished by its exceptional maintainability! Paradoxical, but true - and the layout is “to blame” for this!
There is a rule: to arrange not to ensure convenient installation and dismantling of units, but based on the fact that until they completely fail, the units do not need repair. The required high reliability and performance are achieved by designing a tank based on ready-made, structurally proven units. Since during the creation of the T-34, practically none of the tank’s units met this requirement, its layout was carried out contrary to the rule. The roof of the engine-transmission compartment was easily removable, the rear hull sheet was hinged, which made it possible to dismantle large units such as the engine and gearbox in the field. All this was of enormous importance in the first half of the war, when more tanks failed due to technical faults than from enemy action (as of April 1, 1942, for example, the active army had 1,642 serviceable and 2,409 faulty tanks of all types, while while our combat losses in March amounted to 467 tanks). As the quality of the units improved, reaching its highest level in the T-34-85, the importance of the repairable layout decreased, but one would hesitate to call this a disadvantage. Moreover, a good one came in handy during the post-war operation of the tank abroad, primarily in the countries of Asia and Africa, sometimes in extreme climatic conditions and with personnel who had a very mediocre, to say the least, level of training.
Despite the presence of all the shortcomings in the design of the "thirty-four", a certain balance of compromises was maintained, which distinguished this one favorably combat vehicle from other tanks of the Second World War. Simplicity, ease of operation and maintenance, combined with good armor protection, maneuverability and fairly powerful weapons, became the reason for the success and popularity of the T-34-85 among tankers.
Bibliography:
M. Baryatinsky. Medium tank T-34-85. Armor Collection 4.99

Encyclopedia of tanks. 2010 .