Variants
Identification of T-34 variants can be complicated. Turret castings, superficial details and equipment all differed between factories. New features were added in the middle of production runs or retrofitted to older tanks. Knocked-out tanks were rebuilt, sometimes incorporating newer-model equipment and even new turrets.
The Red Army never had a consistent policy for naming the production models. Since at least the 1980s however, 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, as T-34 Model 1940. Some Russian historians use different names: they refer to the first T-34 as the T-34 Model 1939 instead of 1940, all T-34s with the original turret and F-34 gun as Model 1941 instead of Models 1941 and 1942, and hexagonal-turret T-34 as Model 1942 instead of 1943.
German military 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. When the German Wehrmacht used captured T-34s, it designated them Panzerkampfwagen T-34(r), where the "r" stood for russisch ("Russian").
The Finns referred to the T-34 as the Sotka, after the Common Goldeneye, a sea duck, because the side silhouette of the tank resembles a swimming waterfowl (as related in the memoirs of Finnish tank ace Lauri Heino). The T-34-85 was called pitkäputkinen Sotka ("long-barreled Sotka").
The T-34 (German designation: T-34/76) was the original tank with a 76.2 mm gun.
- Model 1940 (T-34/76A): Early production run with interim L-11 76.2 mm tank gun in a two-man turret.
- Model 1941 (T-34/76B): Main production with heavier armour and the superior F-34 76.2 mm gun.
- Model 1942 (T-34/76C): Many minor manufacturing improvements.
- Model 1943 (T-34/76D, E, and F): New cast hexagonal turret, nicknamed "Mickey Mouse" by the Germans because of its appearance with the twin, round turret-roof hatches open. Main production had a new commander's cupola.
- T-34/57: Fewer than 324 T-34s in 1941 and 1943–44 were fitted with the ZiS-4 or the ZIS-4M high-velocity 57 mm gun to be used as tank hunters. Some of them took part in the Battle of Moscow.
The T-34-85 (T-34/85) was a major improvement with a three-man turret and long 85 mm gun.
- Model 1943: Short production run of February–March 1944 with D-5T 85 mm gun
- Model 1944: Main production, with simpler ZiS-S-53 85 mm gun, radio moved from the hull into a turret with improved layout and new gunner's sight
All T-34-85 models are externally very similar. Various technical improvements continued to be made to the T-34-85, including major refurbishing programs in 1960 and 1969. One can recognise the widely exported Czechoslovakian-built T-34-85s by a semi-conical armoured fairing (like a rear-facing scoop) on the left rear slanting side-panel of the engine compartment sponson.
T-34 Model 1940 |
T-34 Model 1941 |
T-34 Model 1942 |
T-34 Model 1943 |
T-43 prototype |
T-34-85 | T-44 | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Weight | 26 t | 26.5 t | 28.5 t | 30.9 t | 34 t | 32 t | 31.9 t |
Gun | 76.2 mm L-11 | 76.2 mm F-34 | 76.2 mm F-34 | 76.2 mm F-34 | 76.2 mm F-34 | 85 mm ZiS-S-53 | 85 mm ZiS-S-53 |
Ammunition | 76 rounds | 77 rounds | 77 rounds | 100 rounds | 60 rounds | 58 rounds | |
Fuel | 460 L (120 U.S. gal) |
460 L (120 U.S. gal) |
610 L (160 U.S. gal) |
790 L (210 U.S. gal) |
810 L (215 U.S. gal) |
642 L (170 U.S. gal) |
|
Road range | 300 km (185 mi) | 400 km (250 mi) | 400 km (250 mi) | 465 km (290 mi) | 300 km (185 mi) | 360 km (225 mi) | 300 km (185 mi) |
Armour | 15–45 mm (0.60–1.8 in) |
20–52 mm (0.8–2.1 in) |
20–65 mm (0.8–2.6 in) |
20–70 mm (0.8–2.8 in) |
16–90 mm (0.6–3.5 in) |
20–90 mm (0.8–3.5 in) |
15–120 mm (0.6–4.7 in) |
Cost | 270,000 rubles | 193,000 rubles | 135,000 rubles | 164,000 rubles | |||
Notes: dimensions, road speed, engine horsepower did not vary significantly, except for the T-43 which was slower than the T-34. |
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