T-34 Variants - Model Naming

Model Naming

German intelligence in World War II referred to the two main production models as T-34/76 and T-34/85, with minor models receiving letter designations such as T-34/76A—this nomenclature has been widely used in the west, especially in popular literature. Since at least the 1980s, many academic sources (notably AFV expert Steven Zaloga) have used Soviet-style nomenclature: T-34 and T-34-85, with minor models distinguished by year: T-34 Model 1940. (This page has adopted that convention.)

Since the break-up of the Soviet Union, newly declassified sources have demonstrated that all T-34s with the original turret and F-34 gun (conventionally known as Models 1941 and 1942) were officially called "Model 1941", and hexagonal-turret T-34 (Model 1943) was officially called "Model 1942".

Because many different factories manufactured T-34s, with components built by subcontractors, the listing below merely gives a broad overview and does not capture every possible variant. Also, not every factory implemented all model changes at the same time. For example, factory No. 112 continued building narrow-turret 76 mm armed models long after all other plants had switched to hexagonal-turreted tanks.