The designer of a tank has to take three things into account and achieve an effective balance between them because one can only be enhanced at the expense of something else: Mobility, Firepower, and Armor.
The T-34 was probably the finest medium tank of World War II, with the optimal balance between all three.
It's main gun was more powerful than anything the Germans had in 1941 and was replaced by an even more effective 76 mm. later, but in addition the T-34 was strikingly original in ways that seem obvious now. For instance, it's hull and its turret were no heavier than the Germans' but both were sloped. What this did was establish a high angle of incidence for incoming shells, meaning that hits were more likely to bounce off the sloped surface. More than that, a high velocity shell might "dig into" the T-34's armor but because of the slope, the shell would have to pass through more armor to get through it. All of this was achieved without an increase in weight, which would have sacrificed speed.
The German tanks also had narrow treads compared to the T-34's wide tracks, which increased mobility with little sacrifice. The wider treads made it possible for the T-34 to travel over marshland and unstable ground that would have been otherwise impenetrable.
Were there flaws? Yep. It was uncomfortable as hell and the design of the interior flung hot empty shell casings all over the deck. And there was little in the way of radio communications between units so attacks were difficult to coordinate.
Advisors urged the German technical community to copy outright the T-34 and produce them in large numbers but Hitler decided to counter the threat in another way -- build bigger and ever more complicated tanks, ending with the giant and over-engineered Tiger. It had a huge gun, impenetrable armor, and broke down regularly in the field. The Germans were barely stopped from producing the gargantuan 188 ton "Maus", which would have been the largest and most powerful armored vehicle ever seen. It's top speed would be about 8 miles per hour, compared to around 25 for most medium tanks. Even more than the Tiger, the Mouse would have crushed any bridge it was likely to cross. The Tiger, like the Mouse, had sacrificed mobility in favor of everything else.
The Germans lost the war, of course, yet the West was to hear little of the superb T-34 because of media reluctance to express any admiration for any achievement of a nation and a dictator that had become a Cold War adversary. That's why our initial deployment of troops in the Korean War were so surprised to see their bazooka rounds bounce harmlessly off those sloped surfaces.
The T-34 was probably the finest medium tank of World War II, with the optimal balance between all three.
It's main gun was more powerful than anything the Germans had in 1941 and was replaced by an even more effective 76 mm. later, but in addition the T-34 was strikingly original in ways that seem obvious now. For instance, it's hull and its turret were no heavier than the Germans' but both were sloped. What this did was establish a high angle of incidence for incoming shells, meaning that hits were more likely to bounce off the sloped surface. More than that, a high velocity shell might "dig into" the T-34's armor but because of the slope, the shell would have to pass through more armor to get through it. All of this was achieved without an increase in weight, which would have sacrificed speed.
The German tanks also had narrow treads compared to the T-34's wide tracks, which increased mobility with little sacrifice. The wider treads made it possible for the T-34 to travel over marshland and unstable ground that would have been otherwise impenetrable.
Were there flaws? Yep. It was uncomfortable as hell and the design of the interior flung hot empty shell casings all over the deck. And there was little in the way of radio communications between units so attacks were difficult to coordinate.
Advisors urged the German technical community to copy outright the T-34 and produce them in large numbers but Hitler decided to counter the threat in another way -- build bigger and ever more complicated tanks, ending with the giant and over-engineered Tiger. It had a huge gun, impenetrable armor, and broke down regularly in the field. The Germans were barely stopped from producing the gargantuan 188 ton "Maus", which would have been the largest and most powerful armored vehicle ever seen. It's top speed would be about 8 miles per hour, compared to around 25 for most medium tanks. Even more than the Tiger, the Mouse would have crushed any bridge it was likely to cross. The Tiger, like the Mouse, had sacrificed mobility in favor of everything else.
The Germans lost the war, of course, yet the West was to hear little of the superb T-34 because of media reluctance to express any admiration for any achievement of a nation and a dictator that had become a Cold War adversary. That's why our initial deployment of troops in the Korean War were so surprised to see their bazooka rounds bounce harmlessly off those sloped surfaces.