The Soviet medium tank T-34-76 of the Great Patriotic War era went into mass production in 1940. From 1942 to 1944, it was the main tank of the Red Army. In 1943, the revised T-34-85 model was developed.
The combat vehicle was developed by the design bureau of the tank department of the Factory No. 183 in Kharkov. The project was led by Mikhail Ilyich Koshkin. He was a Soviet design engineer, head of the tank-building Design Bureau of the Kharkov Komintern Locomotive Factory.
In February and March 1940, serial samples were tested at a landfill near Kharkov. Already on March 6, the T-34-76 tanks drove almost 750 kilometers off-road from Kharkov to Moscow in six days — that was the mileage required for testing. Thus, the management demonstrated the reliability of the new tank. The higher ranks noted its extraordinary driving, and on March 31, 1940, it was decided to mass produce the tank for the needs of the army.
For the first time, a long-barreled gun was mounted on a medium tank. This design decision made it possible to surpass all existing analogs at that time in terms of muzzle velocity (612 m/sec) and, accordingly, the penetration force. Thus, it was possible to increase the survivability of the tank.
The T-34-76 was powered by a diesel engine of 500 hp (19.2 hp per ton of weight), which back then was rather advanced. The tank had a classic design. The engine was in the stern; in the front part there were the driver’s and radio operator’s seats. The tank commander was housed in the turret, to the left of the gun. He served as a gunner. To the right of the gun sat the loader.
From 1942 to 1945, the main large-scale production of the T-34 began at machine-building plants in the Urals and Siberia, which continued in the post-war years. Ural Tank Plant No. 183 became the leading factory that produced modifications of the T-34.
The T-34 tank significantly contributed to the outcome of the war and the further development of the tank industry worldwide. Due to its combat qualities, the T-34 was recognized as one of the best tanks of the Second World War. When developing it, Soviet designers managed to achieve the optimal balance between the main combat, tactical, protective, operational, driving and technological characteristics.
