Author Archives: SdKfz.000

When the T-43 was cancelled, the Soviet command made the difficult decision to retool the factories to produce a new model of T-34 with a turret ring enlarged from 1,425 mm (56 in) to 1,600 mm (63 in), allowing a larger turret to be fitted. The T-43’s turret design was hurriedly adapted by V. Kerichev at the Krasnoye Sormovo Factory to fit the T-34. The resulting new T-34-85 tank had a much better gun and finally, a three-man turret with radio (which had previously been in the hull). Now the commander needed only to command the tank, leaving the operation of the gun to the gunner and the loader. Although a T-34-85 još uvek se nije poklapao sa Panterom, poboljšana vatrena moć ga je učinila mnogo efektivnijim nego ranije. Odluka o poboljšanju postojećeg dizajna umesto da se dotegne za novi omogućila je Sovjetima da proizvode tenkove u tolikom broju da bi se razlika u sposobnostima mogla smatrati beznačajnom. U maju 1944, Vermaht je imao samo 304 Pantera koji su radili na Istočnom frontu, dok su Sovjeti povećali proizvodnju T-34-85 na 1.200 tenkova mesečno.

Izvor: T-34 85 na Vikipediji