A comprehensive tour of the WWII T34 Russian Tank.

dinkydow · 11-03-2018, 07:14 PM

In two parts....

44044 · 11-03-2018, 08:17 PM

Good videos

I would have hated to served in that...

dinkydow · 11-04-2018, 10:15 AM

A good tank at the time... for the time. I read once that when the Wehrmacht was at Moscow's gates, those tanks were completed, rolled out the door of the factory and after a short drive went into combat. Many were not even painted.

Typically...Russian tankers of that era were NOT big guys. I also read that after many T34's had been run for several days, many of them were simply abandoned along roads or in fields for use as spare parts as the engines had seized... or something else major had failed. THOSE were still useful as "Pillboxes" if the cannon still functioned...even though the tank could not move.

That type of un-bushed track was worn out after 500 miles.

44044 · 11-04-2018, 11:31 AM

There are a lot of videos of T-34’s

being pulled from rivers and lakes

as well as the over engineered German

tanks...some still have their crews in them

...

MrKalashnikov · 11-04-2018, 12:50 PM

A few years ago I was at a WWII re-enactment in Rockford, IL. There was a fully restored & operational T34 there to take part in a mock battle with some German & American armor of the same period. I spoke with the crew (who were all dressed as WWII russki tankers) and they told me Mikhail Gorbachev had gifted the T34 to a veteran's museum in Wisconisn. I have a bunch of pics of it on my cell phone, I should try to post up a few.

MrKalashnikov · 11-04-2018, 12:57 PM

I just remembered...Mikhail Kalashnikov was a T34 tanker. He was about 5'4 and severely wounded in combat with German armor late in the war. So the story goes, he started to think about designing an assault rifle to counter the Kraut Sturmgewehr weapon while in the hospital. And the rest as they say, was history.

11-03-2018, 07:14 PM	#1
dinkydow Moderator Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: The Great White North Posts: 96,463	A comprehensive tour of the WWII T34 Russian Tank. In two parts.... __________________ Our forefathers would have already been shooting...by now. "Let your plans be dark and as impenetrable as night, and when you move, fall like a thunderbolt." "Violence of action means the unrestricted use of speed,strength, surprise and aggression to achieve total dominance against your enemy...any fighting technique is useless unless you totally commit to violence of action." Burning huts in commy vills worldwide since 1968

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11-03-2018, 08:17 PM	#2
44044 slug Join Date: Apr 2010 Location: swampeastmissouri Posts: 50,922	Good videos I would have hated to served in that...

11-04-2018, 10:15 AM	#3
dinkydow Moderator Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: The Great White North Posts: 96,463	A good tank at the time... for the time. I read once that when the Wehrmacht was at Moscow's gates, those tanks were completed, rolled out the door of the factory and after a short drive went into combat. Many were not even painted. Typically...Russian tankers of that era were NOT big guys. I also read that after many T34's had been run for several days, many of them were simply abandoned along roads or in fields for use as spare parts as the engines had seized... or something else major had failed. THOSE were still useful as "Pillboxes" if the cannon still functioned...even though the tank could not move. That type of un-bushed track was worn out after 500 miles.

11-04-2018, 11:31 AM	#4
44044 slug Join Date: Apr 2010 Location: swampeastmissouri Posts: 50,922	There are a lot of videos of T-34’s being pulled from rivers and lakes as well as the over engineered German tanks...some still have their crews in them ...

11-04-2018, 12:50 PM	#5
MrKalashnikov Deplorable Join Date: May 2008 Location: Behind The Iron Curtain Posts: 8,053	A few years ago I was at a WWII re-enactment in Rockford, IL. There was a fully restored & operational T34 there to take part in a mock battle with some German & American armor of the same period. I spoke with the crew (who were all dressed as WWII russki tankers) and they told me Mikhail Gorbachev had gifted the T34 to a veteran's museum in Wisconisn. I have a bunch of pics of it on my cell phone, I should try to post up a few.

11-04-2018, 12:57 PM	#6
MrKalashnikov Deplorable Join Date: May 2008 Location: Behind The Iron Curtain Posts: 8,053	I just remembered...Mikhail Kalashnikov was a T34 tanker. He was about 5'4 and severely wounded in combat with German armor late in the war. So the story goes, he started to think about designing an assault rifle to counter the Kraut Sturmgewehr weapon while in the hospital. And the rest as they say, was history.