How good was the T-34? Really?

[Rich46yo]

Interesting article. Ive read bits and bites of it in other articles but never had a presentation so well organized. I dont buy into the theory the T-34 sucked but Im interested in some of the findings. We "Americans" found some similar issues with the tank as well. http://chris-intel-corner.blogspot.com/2012/07/wwii-myths-t-34-best-tank-of-war.html

[icepac]

There is a reference to porsche being given a T34 tank and the engineers saying that the engine was down on power and cheap soviet stuff....etc.

Ferry Porsche walked up, disconnected the governor, and the power shot up to levels that made the engineers embarrassed.

Some of the armor in many of the T34s was forged in a rolling mill making it stronger than either welded or cast armor.

Again, Dr. Porsche got to the bottom of it and found that germany had sold the most powerful "rolling mill" in the world to russia before the war.

You won't find many references to these two discoveries.

[Chalenge]

Actually, the cold-rolled welded turret was replaced with a cast turret on the majority of T-34/76 Tanks to speed production. They had also switched from the Christie approach to the suspension to a torsion bar method, which was far more efficient. By the time the T-34/85 arrived things were looking up for the design.

These problems all go away in AH though, because we don't have mechanical breakdowns.

[nrshida]

Ferry Porsche walked up, disconnected the governor, and the power shot up to levels that made the engineers embarrassed.

Sounds like typical Porsche self-promoting claptrap to me 

[MiloMorai]

Actually, the cold-rolled welded turret was replaced with a cast turret on the majority of T-34/76 Tanks to speed production. They had also switched from the Christie approach to the suspension to a torsion bar method, which was far more efficient. By the time the T-34/85 arrived things were looking up for the design.

These problems all go away in AH though, because we don't have mechanical breakdowns.

T-34s got torsion bar suspension?

[Vraciu]

The T-34 was a great trainer.

Julie Clark does amazing stuff in it.

Oh wait...

[Ack-Ack]

T-34s got torsion bar suspension?

I thought only the T-34M prototype had the torsion bar suspension?

[DaveBB]

Nicholas Moran, currently a Major in the U.S. Army Reserve, former M-1 TC in Iraq, and Bradley commander in Afghanistan, reviews the T-34-85.  His full time job is a tank historian for the Russian game "World of Tanks".  He doesn't cut the T-34-85 any slack though.

He's coming out with a book on tank destroyers if/when he gets it published.  Don't imagine there is a big market for that.

Here's the review

[Ack-Ack]

Nicholas Moran, currently a Major in the U.S. Army Reserve, former M-1 TC in Iraq, and Bradley commander in Afghanistan....

He's coming out with a book on tank destroyers if/when he gets it published.  Don't imagine there is a big market for that.

A good book on tank destroyers is "American Knights: The Untold Story of the Men of the Legendary 601st Tank Destroyer Battalion" by Victor Failmezger. 

[Chalenge]

T-34s got torsion bar suspension?

Well, it was as accurate a statement as what icepac went with. The point being that if you don't know the history of the tank an examination of one tank could easily lead you off mark.

[Chris79]

If memory serves, the T34 was designed to be a simple, cheap, tough, and easy to operate vehicle with a 1 month operational life. As Lenin once said, "Quantity has a quality of its own".
As for AH, modeling potentional defects would be counter productive.

[Chalenge]

Exactly.

[DaveBB]

If memory serves, the T34 was designed to be a simple, cheap, tough, and easy to operate vehicle with a 1 month operational life. As Lenin once said, "Quantity has a quality of its own".
As for AH, modeling potentional defects would be counter productive.

The steering was very complicated to operate.

[branch37]

I've heard the only steering was the brakes. If you wanted to turn right you pulled the right brake. Let off both brakes you're going forward.

I've read somewhere that the very early T-34s were such crap that a hammer was standard issue to the driver to bang on the gearbox to complete the gear changes. Although rolling out of a tractor factory directly into the streets of Stalingrad may account for some of that.


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[icepac]

Well, it was as accurate a statement as what icepac went with. The point being that if you don't know the history of the tank an examination of one tank could easily lead you off mark.

How was I led off mark.

I said "some" not "all" when referring to the t34s with forged armor.

The statement is true and also shows I knew that not all were forged.