T-34-85

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T-34-85 (This Tank From Soviet Union(1943-58),an estimated built 55,000 unit this tank)

T-34-85 is the final modification of T-34 On 1943.

The History

After improved German Panzer IVs with the high-velocity 75 mm (2.95 in) gun were encountered in combat in 1942, a project to design an entirely new Soviet tank was begun.with the goals to win the armour protection and adding the modern feature like a torsion-bar suspension and three man turret,and the new tank is T-43 Prototype As a possible to replace T-34 Medium And KV-1 Heavy,However The T-43 Have Good Armour But Can’t Proof To german 88mm  guns,and the mobility is good ,Finally T-43 Shared 70% equipment to T-34 and manufacturing it would still have required a significant slow-down in production,Consequently, the T-43 was cancelled..

Not Only The Gun German improve Their Armor,Soviet firing tests against a captured Tiger I heavy tank in April 1943 showed that the T-34’s 76 mm gun could not penetrate the front of the Tiger I at all, and the side only at very close range. A Soviet 85 mm antiaircraft gun, the 52-K, was found capable of doing the job, and so derivatives of it were developed for tanks,The Result the gun can’t penetrate the side armor Tiger I  From 600-800m but Tiger I Destroy T-34 From 1,500-2,000m,and the result The State Defense Comitte Decided To Retool T-34 and improve 85mm Gun From the T-43 To Fit In T-34This was a larger three-man turret, with radio (previously in the hull). Now the tank commander needed only to command, leaving the operation of the gun to the gunner and the loader. The resulting new tank, the T-34-85, was seen as a compromise between advocates for the T-43 and others who wanted to continue to build as many 76 mm-armed T-34s as possible without interruption.

Design The T-34-85

Gun: The M1939 (52-K) air-defense gun was efficient and well-proven, sporting a 55 caliber barrel. It had a muzzle velocity of 792 m/s (2,598 ft/s). General Vasiliy Grabin and General Fyodor Petrov directed the team responsible with the conversion, initially into an anti-tank gun. Soon it appeared ideally suited for a tank, and the first to use a derivative model, the D-5, was the SU-85, a tank destroyer based on the T-34 chassis. This was an interim measure as the gun had to be integrated on the T-34/85, but the time necessary in order to create the turret delayed its adoption.

Other teams soon proposed the S-18 and the ZiS-53 for the same purposes. The three guns were tested at Gorokhoviesky Proving Grounds, near Gorkiy. The S-18 won the competition at first and its design was approved for use in the modified turret, but dropped when it was apparent that it was not compatible with the D-5 mounting for which the turret was designed. However, the D-5, conceived by Petrov, was retested and showed a limited elevation and other minor defects, but equipped the first production series (model 1943) of the T-34/85 as the D-5T. At the same time, Grabin’s gun, the ZiS-53 showed mediocre ballistic performances and had to be reshaped by A. Savin. On December 15, 1943 this modified version, named the ZiS-S-53, was chosen to be produced en masse and equipped all T-34/85’s model 1944. Around 11,800 had been delivered during the next year only..

Turret: By choosing either the D5T or ZIS-85, guns with a very long barrel and without a muzzle brake, the recoil dictated a very large turret, or at least very long. This roomier design also had the advantage of being roomy enough for three crewmen, the commander being freed from having to load the gun. This in turn helped him concentrate on possible targets and generally to have better awareness of the battlefield. The advantage of a three-man turret was already known by the British since the twenties, and the Germans found it very convenient for their main tanks, the Panzer III and IV. The advantages of such a configuration became obvious during the campaign in France. Having the commander free to focus on his tasks and excellent tank-to-tank communication gave them a clear-cut tactical superiority over the French, whose tanks mostly had one man turrets.

This new turret, ordered by The People’s Commissariat for the armour Industry, was partly based on the T-43’s turret and was hurriedly adapted by Krasnoye Sormovo Factory chief engineer V. Kerichev. It was a compromise design with a slightly reduced base ring, two periscopes and the commander cupola relocated to the rear, for full peripheral vision. The radio was also relocated, allowing easier access, better signal and range.

Other modifications: Apart from the turret, the hull was almost unchanged except for the turret ring. It had to be enlarged from 1.425 m (56 in) to 1.6 m (63 in) to give a more stable and sturdy base, but this made the entire upper hull more fragile. The space between the huge turret and hull was also quite large and created natural shot traps. But the large hull supported quite well the added weight without excessive stress on the suspension and main body frames, a testimony to the ruggedness of the original design. Stability was not compromised, as trials at Kubinka showed. The hull was nonetheless reinforced and the turret frontal armour rose to 60 mm (23 in), like the T-43. With an unchanged engine, transmission, gearbox and suspension, weight rose by only one ton (32 compared to 30.9 for the model 1943). Fuel capacity was augmented to 810 liters (215 gal), which gave a 360 km range (223 mi). However, since over time the weight continuously rose without any changes to the engine (the original T-34 model 1941 weighed just 26 tons), this lowered its top speed to just 54 km/h (32 mph). However a clear gain appeared in terms of cost-efficiency. The new T-34/85 unit cost was 164,000 rubles, which was higher than that of the T-34/76 model 1943 (135,000), but still largely inferior to that of the model 1941 (270,000) and certainly far less than any completely new model would have cost. Production rose after the introduction of this new model, notably due to the opening of new lines in “Tankograd”. Since the hull parts of the model 1943 had been simplified, the new T-34/85 model 1943 inherited these, and deliveries rose to 1200 each month by May 1944, shortly before the launch of the most massive operation planned by the Stavka: Bagration.

T-34-85 Model From 1943-46

T-34-85 ( Model 1943)

In August 1943, at a session of the, the implications of the battle at Kursk were studied. The German tanks not only had thicker armor but their excellent guns gave them a ‘longer arm’.
Work on an 85mm-armed T-34 assumed considerable urgency.
Three teams worked on the new weapon :

• The team of Gen. F. Petrov, who had developed the 85mm D-5 gun used on the KV-85, SU-85 and IS-1, and
• that of V. Grabin of the TsAKB (Central Artillery Design Bureau) in Moscow prepared designs.
• A third project at Zavod Nr, 92 in Gorki, was under study by a 23-year old engineer, A. Savin who had taken charge in place of Grabin.

At the end of 1943, all three prototypes were installed in two-man turrets on T-34 chassis and sent to the Gorokhovieski Proving Grounds outside of Gorki for trials.
The turret was clearly too small for efficient handling of the gun and the guns themselves clearly had problems.
In the meantime, the design bureau at Krasnoye Sormovo Zavod Nr. 112 in Gorki, under V. Krylov, began final preparation for the production of a three-man turret.
The larger tur­ret, designed by V. Kerichev, easily accomodated the 85mm gun.
Unfortunately, it was soon realized that the winning ZiS-53 gun, as designed, would not mate properly with the new turret.
Both design teams were insistent on staying with their own scheme.
Finally, GKO had to step in, ordering Grabin to modify his gun to fit.
On 15 December 1943, even though it existed only in the form of two unarmed prototypes, the new T-34-85 was ac­cepted for service use in the Red Army and production orders were given.
Firing tests of the modified ZiS-53 85mm gun revealed more problems.
As a stop-gap measure, the runner-up D-5T gun was selected for use in the first production batch of T-34-85 Model 1943s.

T-34-85 Model 1944.

These entered production at Zavod Nr. 112 in January 1944.
That same month, the modification of the ZiS-53 was taken in hand by Petrov, Savin and Grabin.
The resulting ZiS S-53 Model 1944 (S for Savin) finally resolved the gun’s problems and was approved for production.In March 1944, it replaced the D-5T on the assembly lines at Krasnoye Sormovo resulting in the standard T-34-85 Model 1944,With the simpler 85mm Gun ZiS-S-53 gun,radio was moved from the hull into the turret and the commander’s cupola was moved rearward. There was an improved layout and a new gunner’s sight.

T-34-85 Model 1945

Model 1945 T-34/85 actually entered service during 1944. It featured a larger cupola that extended very close to the port edge of the turret, requiring a tiny “lip” underneath on the turret side. The cupola hatch was revised from the original two-part split hatch to a large, single “flap” hatch. The lower turret sides had a “flattened” lateral profile on vehicles produced at Nizhniy, Tagil and Chelyabinsk. A small, rectangular bulge was added to the casting for the Model 1945 and all subsequent models to accommodate an electric turret traverse. Smoke racks and dispensers were added to the rear hull of this model as a standard item, although late-production Model 1944s were also equipped with these. (Photo Courtesy of Vasily Goncharov)

T-34-84 Model 1946

The Model 1946 entered service during 1945 and saw front-line action in the closing days of “The Great Patriotic War”.

It could be distinguished from the Model 1945 by its “fuller” lower turret sides and the new configuration of ventilator domes. Previous models of the T-34/85 had twinned ventilator domes toward the rear of the turret roof. The Model 1946 introduced separate domes – one at the rear and one toward the front of the turret roof (note that some Model 1944 Laminate Turret T-34/85s shared this feature).The hull was similar to previous models but stowage of on-vehicle equipment was revised. Later Model 1946 T/34s reduced the external fuel drums from three to two.(Photo James Blackwell)

Variants

Besides the SU-100, which was built using the T-34/85 model 1944 chassis, other common variants of the T-34/85 were:

– The flame-thrower OT-34/85, mounting an AT-42 flame-thrower replacing the coaxial DT machine-gun, with a range of 80-100 m.

– The PT-3 mineroller, the mine removal version, a device which comprised of two rollers suspended under a pair of arms, protruding 5 meters in front of the hull. Each engineer regiment was comprised of 22 regular T-34’s alongside 18 PT-3’s (from “Protivominniy Tral” (counter-mine trawl)). The engineers also used bridgelayer or mobile crane conversions of the chassis.

– T-34/85-I , this version was equipped with the KV-85 turret and given only to elite Red Guard regiments. The gun could penetrate the frontal armour of the Tiger or the Panther. However, total conversion figures are unknown.

T-34-85 In Action

When the first T-34/85’s delivered by Zavod 112 appeared, they were given to the best units, the elite Red Guards battalions. However they were in training during December 1943, so it is uncertain whether they saw action before January or February 1944. By then around 400 had already been delivered to front-line units and instantly became popular with the crews. They gradually replaced the T-34/76 and in mid-1944 the T-34/85 outnumbered the older versions. By then they formed the bulk of the tank units on the eve of Operation Bagration, the Soviet response to the Allied landings in Normandy, and the biggest offensive ever planned by the Red Army to date. This was the final push, aimed at Berlin. Before the production built-up, the T-34/85 model 1943 were usually given to chosen crews, usually of the Guard units.

The T-34/85 took part in all subsequent engagements with the rarefying Panzer divisions, encountering a mix of Panzer IVs Ausf. K, H or J, Panthers, Tigers and many tank-hunters. There was no starker contrast than between the nimble and low Hetzer and the Russian model, towering relatively high above the ground. It was certainly not the highest in use, the Sherman being taller, but the broad turret still made a relatively easy target when seen from the side, adding to the fact it was less sloped than the hull sides. Finishing was still rough and quality had deteriorated due to the lack of skilled manpower. Reliability, however, kept pace with their intensive use. They were still easy prey for many German tanks of the time, just like the previous T-34/76, but the high-velocity and range of the 85 mm (3.35 in) were clearly an advantage in many engagements. It scored kills at ranges of 1100-1200 m (3610-3940 ft), although better optical equipment and training would have probably increased this figure. The ZiS and DT were not really used at their full potential due to crews habits and tactical doctrine that still advocated trading range for penetrating power.

By late 1944, when entering formerly occupied East European countries and Eastern Prussia, T-34/85 tank crews faced a new threat. This did not come from German tanks (although the Königstiger and many late tank hunters were quite impressive, if few in numbers), but from the average infantryman, even from citizen militias (Volksstrurm) armed with the Panzerfaust, the first shaped-charge launcher. To deal with this sneaky and effective weapon, the Russian crews took the matter in their own hands. They mounted makeshift protections made of bed frames welded on the turret and hull sides, but far enough from the hull itself to make the charge detonate sooner and spewing its high pressure metal jet harmlessly on the surface. This improvisation became usual during the battle of Berlin. This was not the last time the T-34/85 saw action, as in August, a tremendous build-up of forces was done on the Eastern frontier, on the northern borders of Manchuria. Aleksandr Vasilevsky attacked with 5556 tanks and SPG’s, of which over 2500 were T-34/85’s, alongside 1,680,000 men reinforced by 16,000 Mongolian infantrymen. To face the onslaught the Japanese (under command of Otozō Yamada) had 1155 tanks and 1,270,000 plus 200,000 Manchuko infantry and 10,000 Menjiang infantry. Compared to the Russian tanks, which had evolved quickly to match-up German technology, most Japanese models were largely prewar models, including many tankettes. The best was the up-gunned Type 97 Shinhoto Chi-Ha, but only a handful were available at the time and they were hopelessly outclassed by the T-34.

Reference

http://www.o5m6.de/RussianArmour.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T-34

http://www.tanks-encyclopedia.com/ww2/soviet/soviet_T34-85.php

http://www.clubhyper.com/reference/t3485bg_2.html